August 8, 2011 05:14 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | On Sunday, 45,000 Verizon employees went on strike to protest the company’s push for employees to give back $1 billion in health, pension, and other contract concessions. What makes these demands particularly galling is that Verizon is both highly […]
August 5, 2011 10:08 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress proposes to help companies that engage in “life sciences” research by combining two terrible tax policies — the research and experimentation (R&E) credit and a tax holiday for repatriated offshore profits — into one […]
August 4, 2011 01:03 PM By Rebecca Wilkins, Senior Counsel, Federal Tax Policy at CTJ | Permalink | Levin-Grassley Incorporation Transparency Bill Would Help Identify Mysterious $1 Million Contribution to Romney Campaign Today, NBC News reports that a Delaware company made a $1 million contribution to a PAC supporting Mitt Romney about six weeks after […]
August 3, 2011 05:38 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Late last week the Massachusetts legislature passed, and the Governor signed, legislation making Massachusetts the 17th state to offer a back-to-school sales tax holiday. This is the same Deval Patrick who recently said he supported the legislation “frankly, not because it […]
August 3, 2011 04:03 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Being a member of the working poor has never been easy, but these past few years have been particularly tough on working families who must contend with increasing health care costs, high unemployment, food inflation and high gas prices, among other […]
August 2, 2011 05:21 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The so-called “Budget Control Act” that President Obama signed into law this week to increase the federal debt ceiling and reduce the federal budget deficit marks the second time the Obama administration has capitulated on tax policy to the most extreme […]
August 2, 2011 05:12 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) offers a series of Policy Briefs designed to provide a quick introduction to basic tax policy ideas that are important to understanding current debates at the state and federal level. This week, ITEP […]
August 2, 2011 05:06 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s budget chief, Steve Anderson, has announced that a new tax study committee will be formed to recommend ways to reduce or even eliminate the state’s income tax, according to an article in the Wichita Eagle. Legislation to […]
August 2, 2011 09:58 AM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | In a year when most state leaders across the country embraced an anti-tax, cuts-only approach to addressing short- and long-term budget shortfalls, Connecticut lawmakers agreed to a budget for the current fiscal year that addressed the state’s deficit crisis with […]
July 28, 2011 05:37 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Lawmakers have made one important decision this week as the debt ceiling negotiations come down to the wire: the wealthy should not have to sacrifice even a dime of their tax cuts or loopholes to reduce the deficit. Both […]
July 28, 2011 01:08 PM By Rebecca Wilkins, Senior Counsel, Federal Tax Policy at CTJ | Permalink | On July 27, Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act (H.R. 2669) in the House of Representatives with 53 cosponsors. The Senate version was introduced July 12 by Sen. Carl Levin. The U.S. […]
July 27, 2011 05:36 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | In September, Missouri lawmakers are expected to reconvene for a special session aimed at passing a jobs creation package to promote economic development. Legislation that increases corporate tax exemptions and general business incentives, though deeply flawed as policy, isn’t a novel […]
July 27, 2011 05:10 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) offers a series of Policy Briefs designed to provide a quick introduction to basic tax policy ideas that are important to understanding current debates at the state and federal level. Over the coming […]
July 27, 2011 01:19 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to consider a national sales tax (often misleadingly called a “Fair Tax” by its proponents) and a value-added tax (VAT). A national sales tax and a VAT are […]
July 26, 2011 05:42 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | UPDATE: The Boston Globe is reporting that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will sign a controversial 2011 sales tax holiday bill for the Bay State, conceding, “We do it frankly, not because it’s particularly fiscally prudent but because it’s popular…. It costs […]
July 26, 2011 05:32 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Blue Dog Research Forum asked CTJ for 500 words on whether the U.S. corporate tax code encourages companies to offshore jobs. Our legislative director leapt at the chance to engage with these thoughtful political centrists. His essay, “U.S. Jobs Hurt by […]
July 21, 2011 04:46 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Recent polling makes clear that most Americans do not agree with the Tea Party-backed members of Congress who believe the only “concession” they should make in deficit negotiations is to prevent a calamitous default on U.S. debt obligations. The question is, […]
July 21, 2011 04:20 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Congress, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Justice continue the attack against tax dodging, including schemes using offshore tax havens. Congress In Congress, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) has introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which would strengthen the […]
July 21, 2011 01:55 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | On Tuesday night, the House of Representatives passed the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act (CCBA), which would cap spending at levels set forth in the Ryan budget and allow an increase in the debt ceiling only after the adoption […]
July 21, 2011 10:15 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Here’s a headline that shouldn’t surprise anyone: “Business groups complain about Illinois taxes.” That’s the headline that ran in Tuesday’s State Journal-Register after a hearing in Chicago on Illinois corporate income taxes adjourned. Three more hearings on this same issue will […]
July 20, 2011 07:11 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | From Duluth to Edgerton the wheels of Minnesota government will start turning soon. Wednesday morning Governor Mark Dayton signed into law legislation that will end the nation’s longest state shutdown in a decade. The compromise legislation was passed during a marathon […]
July 19, 2011 01:19 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Twice in a span of just three days, the Wall Street Journal has run articles suggesting that anti-tax Minnesota lawmakers got their way because the voters were on their side. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Last week, in an […]
July 15, 2011 02:06 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | Amazon.com announced this week that it plans to bankroll a California ballot initiative that would make it easier for online shoppers to commit sales tax evasion. At issue is a new California law expanding the group of retailers required to collect […]
July 15, 2011 01:07 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | “Relieved, but not celebrating” is one of the headlines in Friday’s StarTribune. Governor Dayton and the state legislature finally reached a compromise that would balance the budget and reopen the state by delaying payments to schools and issuing bonds against future […]
July 15, 2011 11:47 AM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | On Wednesday, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) unveiled “ALEC Exposed,” a new website showing how corporations and right-wing politicians have partnered through ALEC to spread anti-tax legislation and other damaging bills. The website includes over 800 model bills released […]