Free Republic

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) discussed the state’s projected $36 billion budget shortfall over three years and stated that taxpayers leaving the state is part of the issue along with the fact that the economy is slowing down. DiNapoli stated, “I think there are a couple of factors happening: There’s no doubt the economy certainly is slowing and we are feeling the effects in the current year collections of the slowdown, as far as financial services, Wall Street’s a very important part of the economy in...

A group of state lawmakers on Thursday proposed a first-in-the-nation state wealth tax that would hit about 30,400 California residents and raise an estimated $7.5 billion for the general fund. The tax rate would be 0.4% of net worth, excluding directly held real estate, that exceeds $30 million for single and joint filers and $15 million for married filing separately. California is facing a big budget deficit because of the health and economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus, and “we can’t simply rely on austerity measures,” to close it, said Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, lead author of AB2088. “We must...

Is it better to live in a state with no income tax? It’s a great question considering we already have to set aside a portion of our paychecks for the federal government. The case for removing an individual income tax typically goes like this: states that don’t dip directly into their residents’ pay become beacons for growth. They’re better at creating jobs and keeping a core of young, educated workers from moving to other states. The American Legislative Exchange Council reports that over the past decade the nine states without a personal income tax have consistently outperformed – on GDP...

As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Republicans capped the state and local tax (SALT) deduction at $10,000. This was an important provision as it helped offset revenue losses in the least harmful way possible. Most tax-reform advocates recognize that the SALT deduction is wasteful, inefficient, and regressive. This is why Reagan tried to eliminate it as part of the 1986 tax reforms. Nonpartisan advocates of tax reform should be celebrating RepublicansÂ’ recent success in chipping away at it.This has not stopped some Democratic partisans from framing the SALT-deduction cap as part of a sinister plan...

New Jersey’s shakedown tactics have spread. California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, and Virginia have been among the states named in congressional testimony for trying to levy corporate taxes on firms whose only substantial connection is a visiting truck. In one typical case, when a small Milwaukee transportation firm, LTL Trucking, answered a Nebraska tax questionnaire by acknowledging that its trucks had driven through the state in recent years, it received a back-tax bill of $1,321, despite having no inventory, customers, or sales there. Manufacturers delivering products to customers in locations where the firms don’t otherwise operate have found...

Cash-hungry governments are shaking down nonresident businesses and workers.Revenue-hunting states have lately gone beyond raising their own taxes; now they’re trying to shake down firms and workers in other states. Stretching the limits of the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause to the breaking point, local revenue agents have seized out-of-state trucks simply passing through their jurisdiction, refusing to release them until the firms that dispatched them fork over corporate income taxes. Finance departments have slapped out-of-state businesses with bills for thousands of dollars in corporate back taxes, based on little more than a single worker visiting the state sometime during the...

U.S. states could collect millions of dollars in online sales taxes, with members of both parties in Congress sponsoring legislation Thursday that would resolve states' decades-long struggle to tax businesses beyond their borders. "Small businesses and states alike are suffering from the inability to collect due — not new — taxes from purchases made online," said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., adding the legislation is a "bipartisan, bicameral, common-sense solution that promotes states' rights and levels the playing field for our Main Street businesses." Legislation on the Amazon tax, named for the colossal Internet retailer, has languished for years. ..... <...

5 Unusual Sales Taxes You Need To Avoid With the economy still struggling, states are getting fairly crafty with how they charge consumers via sales taxes. It's no secret that dubious, yet all-too enforceable government laws have been with us since the dawn of the civilized world. In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs taxed cooking oil – of course, the main seller of cooking oil was the pharaoh. During the first century AD, the Roman empire taxed urine – a popular source of ammonia for common tasks like tanning hides and cleaning clothes. Then at the height of the Dark Ages...

September 22, 2011Combined State and Local Sales Taxes: New Report by TF StaffToday we released a new report on local sales taxes, which updates a study we published in February.  The new report updates the state and local sales tax rates across the country and ranks each state on its combined state rate and average local rate.  Click here to read the report. Most shoppers have some idea of the sales tax rate imposed by their state, or they can at least find the rate by looking at the receipts they receive with every taxed purchase. However, it's easy to forget...

To the dismay of the Seneca Nation of Indians the House of Representatives followed the lead of the U.S. Senate and overwhelmingly approved the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act, sending the measure to President Obama. The Senecas called the PACT Act vote a “sucker punch to our federal treaty rights” and “a victory for Philip Morris and other global tobacco companies to wipe out competition anyway they can.” If signed by Obama, the legislation would ban the delivery of tobacco products through the U.S. mail. For the Senecas, that would curtail a significant business and, they say, jeopardize 1,000 jobs...

Idahoans may soon be able to use silver to pay taxes By Dustin Hurst March 15th, 2010 If Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, has his way, Idahoans could soon be able to pay their taxes with silver medallions produced in the state of Idaho. Hart said the bill serves several purposes, including creating jobs in Idaho, as well as giving citizens in the state a way to store wealth in what he believes is a more stable form of currency. Hart said that though the U.S. Constitution dictates that the government should use nothing but gold or silver for public currency,...

SACRAMENTO - Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way. The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That's an increase of about 1,500 percent. Beall said the tax would generate $2 billion a year to fund health care services, crime prevention and programs to prevent underage drinking and addiction. "The people who use alcohol should pay for part of the cost to society, just...

Arizona voters may get the chance to scrap the state income tax on what they earn in favor of expanded sales taxes on what they buy. The proposal by Rep. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, would establish a levy on every transaction in the state. That would include not just the products subject to the current state sales tax but also services that now are exempt. HCR2053 even would extend to wholesale transactions — purchases made by those who are not the ultimate consumers but plan to either resell the item or use the materials to make something else. These sales, too,...

WASHINGTON - State tax receipts jumped nearly 10 percent last year as a strong national economy increased individual earnings and corporate profits. Most states showed increases without raising tax rates, meaning the gains were caused primarily by an expanding economy, said Corina Eckl, fiscal program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It's absolutely attributable to an improving national economy," Eckl said. "Very few, very modest tax changes happened last year." Nationally, states collected a total of $649 billion in taxes in the 2005 budget year, which ended in June for most states, according to a report Thursday by...

Where you live can have a big impact on how much you pay in taxes each year. The spread, according to numbers crunched by the nonprofit Tax Foundation, might not be enough to make you pull up stakes and move to a new state, but it can give you a case of tax envy. The state and local burden ranges from 6.4% (Alaska) to 13% (Maine).