Tax News Feb. 14 - 18

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News
THURSDAY
Paying use tax for items you buy out of state? Pennsylvania is cracking down on businesses
This is part of the agency’s efforts to find every scrap of tax revenue as the state scrambles to address a budget deficit of more than $4 billion.
Connecticut governor proposes sweeping tax hikes
In his fiscal 2012 budget released Wednesday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed increasing state income and sales tax by $1.5 billion.
Amazon's Exit Spurs Tax Fight in Texas
That position had caused discomfort for Gov. Rick Perry, who promotes his policies as job-creating. In a rare public disagreement with a fellow Republican, he said Ms. Combs made the wrong call.

WEDNESDAY
Geithner: Cut Corporate Tax Rate Substantially
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that the United States needs to cut the corporate tax rate substantially with a goal in the high 20% range, down from the current 35%.

TUESDAY
Big Role for Tax Increases Fuels Criticism From Business Groups
Rather than offer a tax-overhaul plan, the budget includes numerous measures that, on net, would raise taxes on businesses and high-income individuals by about $327 billion during the next decade.
Raising taxes to cut the deficits
The White House would raise some $350 billion by getting rid of tax breaks in the coal, oil and gas sectors, resurrecting an environmental corporate tax, and targeting "loopholes" in the international tax system.

Economist Comments
FRIDAY
Time to Write Off the Mortgage Interest Deduction
Congress should take the bold step President Obama didn't on housing subsidies.

THURSDAY
EDITORIAL: The cell-phone tax burden
Obama’s plan is to expand wireless so he can tax it.

WEDNESDAY
Top 5 silliest state tax hikes
The Daily Caller has compiled a list of the five silliest revenue raisers implemented and floated in the rush to raise money for state coffers. While some voters might be angry about the overspending that has brought about these tax hikes, the creativity is undeniable and, in a weak moment, almost impressive.
Obama's 2011 Tax Budget Lowest Since World War II
...the trough will be 2011, 14.4%, thanks to persistently high unemployment, the extension of the Bush tax cuts, federal stimulus, and the temporary cut in Social Security taxes.
Race to the Top of the Laffer Curve
David Leonhardt of the New York Times has it exactly backward: America’s corporate tax rates are driving economic activity abroad.
It's Time to Abolish State Corporate Income Taxes
Currently, states and localities collect about 14.7 percent of all corporate income tax in the United States in a typical year.

TUESDAY
Slash mortgage deductions for the rich? Fat chance
The president once again proposed in his budget to curtail high-income earners' tax deduction for mortgage interest payments and charitable contributions.
Want to Boost the Economy? Lower Corporate Tax Rates
The increased flow of capital to the U.S. would result in greater productivity and higher real wages.

MONDAY
How to fix a budget crisis? Cut taxes!
That's the path some governors want to take to get their states back on the right economic track.
Laffer Curve Pays Billions If Obama Just Asks
The U.S. is about to have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world because our competitors have noticed that revenue goes up as rates go down. Multinational corporations today nimbly move their profits to the friendliest environment, rewarding tax havens like never before.

Blogs
FRIDAY
Time to Get Rid of the Corporate Income Tax?
Yes, America's corporate tax rate is very high, but that is just one of the layers of taxation imposed by the internal revenue code. Both the capital gains tax and the tax on dividends result in corporate income being taxed at least two times.
Where will Obama find new tax revenues?
Most corporations and individuals won't get hit with a tax increase, but money to reduce the deficit has to come from somewhere.
E-Commerce Surge May Hit Tax Revenue
The Commerce Department reported Thursday that e-commerce retail sales totaled $44 billion in the fourth quarter last year, up from $38 billion a year earlier.

THURSDAY
Taxpayer Calculator: High-Speed Rail
Among the line items in the $3.7 trillion budget blueprint President Obama outlined this week is a six-year $53 billion investment in a national high-speed intercity passenger rail network.

WEDNESDAY
A super-high tax for the super rich? Wouldn't be the first time.
A proposal to raise the marginal tax on incomes over $15 million to 70 percent seems unrealistic to some, but under President Eisenhower, the highest marginal tax rate was 91 percent.
Obama Tarries on Tax Reform, Loads Up New Tax Breaks
As Gleckman points out, the 2012 budget, while cutting some tax preferences for energy companies and the wealthy, actually loads up the tax code with even more. We can't be inserting new tax breaks that further narrow the base while misallocating resources to boondoggle government projects.
Obama plans to cut taxes. And raise them, too.
...it appears that the deficit-reducing revenue increases, as the Administration measures them, total about $425 billion over the next ten years.

MONDAY
Tax Makes Fiji Water Turn off the Tap
Sure, taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and now even bottled water seem like a quick and easy way to offload the burden of government on an unpopular minority.

Reports
None.