California

: TaxVox

Tax Day Is Here, And State Budget Offices Share Your Fears And Hopes For A Good Return

With Tax Day here, taxpayers are scrambling to finish up their returns—both federal and state (that is, if their state has an individual income tax)...

April 15, 2019Lucy Dadayan

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

The Ups and Downs Of California’s Gas Tax

Last year, California raised its excise taxes on motor fuels. The tax on gasoline increased from 34.7 cents per gallon to 46.7 cents per gallon...

November 1, 2018Robert McClelland

: TaxVox

Lessons Learned 40 Years After A Monumental Tax Law

Forty years ago, California voters were sent a 63-page pamphlet explaining the 13 questions on the primary ballot that June. At the end of the...

June 21, 2018Kim S. Rueben Richard C. Auxier

State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Fixing Connecticut’s Budget Woes? Tread Carefully When Implementing New Fiscal Controls

Late last October, Governor Dan Malloy approved a two-year $40.2 billion budget for Connecticut more than 100 days after the fiscal year began. A strongly...

March 9, 2018Kim S. Rueben

State and Local Issues: TaxVox

The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program: Why pension reform turns inefficiently to the states

Starting as soon as it can be made operational, perhaps in 2018 , as many as 7 million private-sector California workers who currently have no...

December 2, 2016C. Eugene Steuerle Pamela Perun

State and Local Issues: TaxVox

The Trouble with State Tax Triggers

State policymakers are increasingly using “triggers” to pass big tax cuts while ducking tough decisions on how to pay for them. They are bad tax policy. Naturally, they are incredibly popular. Here’s how a tax trigger works: A state cuts taxes over a period of years. There may be an initial tax cut

September 24, 2015Norton Francis

: TaxVox

Rewarding Work, Paying by the Mile, a Windfall, and… Tax Magic  

Redesign the EITC to help more low-income workers. TPC’s Elaine Maag thinks that’s the way to go. She explains in her new paper : “A worker credit based on individual earnings, and not contingent on having children at home, could provide substantial benefits to all low-income workers, ease

May 21, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Wishes, Dreams, and Bittersweet Denials

Be careful what you wish for. Businesses have backed an overhaul of the US tax code for quite some time, but their tune changes when it comes to corporate tax reform in other countries. The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project, or BEPS, is an effort by the Organization for Economic Cooperation

May 14, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Revenues and Rate Hikes: What’s an Elected Official to Do?

There’s a revenue surge in California. The state is exceeding its 2013 tax collections and beating 2014 forecasts. The Franchise Tax Board netted $7.6 billion in personal income taxes between April 1 and this past Monday. It collected $6 billion during the same period in 2014. The state’s school

April 22, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Bipartisan or Partisan: Tax Efforts Abound

There’s a bipartisan House effort to double the federal gas tax. It would raise the 18.4 cents-per-gallon tax to about 30 cents, would be inflation adjusted, and would rise again in three years if Congress does not find another way to pay for federal transportation projects. The bill’s sponsors—

April 17, 2015Renu Zaretsky