sales tax

: TaxVox

Local Tax Threats, Hikes, and Indignities

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Without school pension money from the state, property taxes will jump. Facing a tough runoff in his race for reelection, Emanuel is looking for fiscal help from the state, including from its GOP governor. He wants the state to help fund pensions for Chicago’s teachers as

March 16, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

A Replacement, A Vision, and Promises

An Obamacare replacement? Senate Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch, House Energy and Commerce chair Fred Upton, and GOP Senator Richard Burr have released their health reform plan, called the Patient CARE Act. The proposal, similar to a bill Hatch and Burr introduced last year, would repeal the

February 6, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Tax States of the States: Mixed, Murky and Sometimes Mercurial

Governor LePage wants big tax cuts for Maine. Republican Paul LePage’s new budget proposal would cut the top income tax rate by 2.2 percentage points to 5.75 percent, and apply it to single tax filers with incomes over $50,000, instead of the current threshold of $21,200. The plan would cut

January 12, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Income Inequality and Time for State Action

Income inequality may shrink state tax revenues. A new report from Standard & Poor’s tells the tale. Incomes have grown rapidly among the wealthy, but have barely kept pace with inflation for many others. But high income earners both shelter their income from taxes and save more, reducing state

September 16, 2014Renu Zaretsky

State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Do Sales Tax Holidays Ever Make Sense?

Politicians love sales tax holidays as good campaign fodder. Retailers celebrate them with gaudy signs announcing tax-free shopping, and consumers line up to take advantage of the deals. But economists and policy analysts across the ideological spectrum condemn them as poorly targeted tax policy

August 18, 2014Richard C. Auxier

: TaxVox

“You Got to Know When to Fold ‘Em”

Gambling with the Highway Trust Fund: The House always wins? As expected , the House rejected the Senate’s four-and-a-half month $8 billion highway funding patch passed earlier this week. The House returned its own 10-month $10.8 billion patch—the one that includes pension smoothing — back to the

August 1, 2014Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Summer Blockbuster? Congress’ Week Is Tax-Action Packed

Another big inversion deal heads to closing. Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie agreed to purchase UK drugmaker Shire , making it the largest US company so far to move its address overseas for lower taxes. The deal, now estimated to be worth about $55 billion, will likely close despite any US action to

July 21, 2014Renu Zaretsky

State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Close But No Cigar: The Politics of Class, Race, and Taxes

This week, the District of Columbia City Council approved a major tax reform bill. And, as it happens, some important—but unspoken-- issues of race and class are underlying key changes to the revenue code. Earlier this year, the DC Tax Revision Commission proposed a broad rewrite of the city’s tax

June 26, 2014Howard Gleckman

: TaxVox

Revenues, ‘Rithmetic, and the Power of Magical Thinking

What’s a nation to do with as-yet-untaxed US multinational corporate income? The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analyzes what a repatriation tax holiday might mean for the US economy. In short: it wouldn’t help. The Business Roundtable , a group of corporate chief executives, doesn’t want

June 20, 2014Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Fruit, Pizza, Roads, Short-term Fixes and Shifts

A tax break on the vine is worth none in the bush? TPC’s Howard Gleckman describes yet another stupid tax trick in his latest post. A provision for some fruit and nut growers was slipped into a bill restoring extra tax breaks for business investment. The goodie, also examined in depth by Marc

June 16, 2014Renu Zaretsky