News
Politico | Pew: States don't track tax breaks
Every state offers tax incentives to attract the private sector but none knows for sure whether the policies produce a reasonable return on investment, a new report says.
CNN Money | Millionaires' effective tax rates top most
A lot gets lost in the rhetoric about the Buffett Rule, which would impose a minimum 30% tax on millionaires.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | Rebuffing Obama’s gimmicky ‘Buffett Rule’
“There are others who are saying: ‘Well, this is just a gimmick. Just taxing millionaires and billionaires, just imposing the Buffett Rule, won’t do enough to close the deficit,’ ” Obama declared Wednesday. “Well, I agree.”
Smart Money | 10 Things I Hate About Tax Day
This is the time of year when everyone seems to scream about just how much the federal government is costing us all. Weirdly enough, that's not one of the things that really gets me. It's the things that apparently no one else -- at least no one else in the media -- seems to notice.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: The Internet Taxes that Could Be Coming
If you’ve ever bought anything on the Internet, over the phone, or from a catalog, you might have noticed that when you buy from some stores, you don’t pay any state sales tax, but if you buy from other stores, you do. That’s because a Supreme Court decision protected out-of-state businesses from revenue-hungry states. But a new bill working its way through Congress would change all that, turning every online retailer into a sales tax collector.
Tax Foundation | Nebraska Approves Modest Income Tax Reduction
I'm in Kansas today presenting some of our recent studies, but today's state tax news comes from neighboring Nebraska, where Gov. Dave Heineman yesterday signed into law a modest income tax reduction package.
The American | Does Obama want to undo the Kennedy tax cuts, too?
We already know Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts for small business and wealthier Americans expire. Indeed, there is some evidence that he wants the Bush tax cuts for middle-incomers to expire, as well.
Neighborhood Effects | When Taxpayer Dollars Are Used to Advocate for More…Taxpayer Dollars
Back in 2010, I noted that government spending can beget further spending. I cited research by Russell Sobel and George Crowley which shows that when the federal government transfers money to the states (as the stimulus bill did), the states tend to increase their own future taxes after the federal money goes away. They found that for every $1.00 the feds send to the states, states increase their own future taxes between $0.33 and $0.42.
The American | Shouldn’t the Buffett Rule be 14%, not 30%?
Now in practice, says the NYTimes, “The Buffett Rule would set a minimum tax rate of 30 percent for individuals on their annual income above $1 million.” (Note the word “minimum.”) But as the above chart from the Congressional Budget Office shows, the average tax rate for middle-incomers is more like 14%.
