As service taxes gain favor as a way to raise revenue, there's a growing movement to stop them. Voters in Arizona joined it on Tuesday.
Voters Lower Cap on Income Taxes in North Carolina
In States With Teacher Strikes, Voters Refuse to Raise Education Funding
While Feds Loosen Payday Loan Regulations, Colorado Voters Clamp Down
Education Funding Concerns Kill Effort to Wean Oklahoma Budget Off Oil
Raising Taxes Could Be Harder Now in Florida
Oregon Voters Could Make It Harder to Raise Revenue
Some two decades ago, Oregon joined more than a dozen states in passing a constitutional amendment that requires a legislative supermajority to approve tax hikes. Three years ago, the state Supreme Court and a subsequent legislative counsel opinion created what some say is a loophole. In November, voters could close it, making it harder for the state to raise revenue.
The Week in Public Finance: Will Oklahoma Finally Wean Its Budget Off Oil?
Oil prices fell to a two-month low this week. Any time they tumble, oil-dependent states like Oklahoma are on edge. More than most states with economies heavily reliant on oil and natural gas, its budget is extremely vulnerable to the ebb and flow of the oil economy.
The Week in Public Finance: Most States' Tax Systems Worsen Income Inequality
A Second State Could Ban Service Taxes
More governments are looking to expand their sales tax to services like Netflix and yoga. Already, half of states tax fitness studio classes or memberships, while places like Chicago, Florida and Pennsylvania have all started taxingonline streaming services in recent years.
But there's a growing movement in conservative states to stop that trend.
The Week in Public Finance: How the New NAFTA Deal Impacts States
After President Trump threatened for more than a year to withdraw from NAFTA, auto-manufacturing states breathed a sigh of relief when he announced a renegotiated trade agreement earlier this month with Canada and Mexico.
A U.S. withdrawal from the 1994 pact would have resulted in the reimposition of tariffs on specific goods between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The impact would have been felt most acutely by states such as Michigan that do a lot of business with the two countries.
The Week in Public Finance: States Intent on Taxing Big Pharma Over the Opioid Crisis
Lawmakers want to raise taxes on pharmaceutical companies to help pay for the cost of the opioid crisis. But success has been elusive.
(Shutterstock)
SPEED READ:
- Minnesota's "penny a pill" bill failed in the state legislature after heavy lobbying removed a key provision. The state plans to try again in 2019.
- An additional 10 states all tried and failed to pass opioid taxes this session. Lawmakers in those states say they will try again nex year.
- Only New York has successfully passed legislation, but the new law is on hold thanks to a lawsuit.
States haven't been very successful at taxing drug companies to help pay for the opioid crisis. But that won’t stop them from trying again next year.
Minnesota State Rep. Dave Baker, a Republican who sponsored a failed “penny a pill” bill during this year's session, has said that he plans on a different focus in 2019: pharmaceutical licensing reform. Liquor stores and bars pay thousands of dollars each year for the privilege of selling alcohol, Baker noted this week at a conference on opioids in Minneapolis, but drug companies only pay a few hundred dollars in licensing fees.
How a State's Age Affects Its Financial Health
As the nation's median age ticks up, recent research from S&P Global Ratings has warned that an older population may burden states' economic growth. As it turns out, a state's own age may also be an economic burden.
The Week in Public Finance: Amid Rising Home Prices, 2 States Take Property Tax Proposals to Voters
Ballot measures in California and Louisiana seek to protect homeowners from huge property tax spikes.
(Shutterstock)
SPEED READ:
- Voters in California and Louisiana face ballot measures that would reduce their property taxes at a time when the median U.S. home price has risen by 40 percent in five years
- California's Proposition 5 would help seniors, the disabled or people who are homeless as the result of a natural disaster.
- Louisiana's Amendment 6 would phase in homeowners’ new property taxes over four years.
Home prices have risen, but when voters in two states head to the polls in November, they could at least reduce their property taxes.
The median home price has risen by 40 percent nationwide in the past five years and is still rapidly rising. The increase is blamed largely on a housing shortage. The problem has been especially acute in California, which -- along with Louisiana -- is considering property tax reductions this fall.
Pensions Are Shelling Out Billions in Fees -- and It's Not Paying Off
The Week in Public Finance: Some States Are Less Prepared for a Recession Than a Decade Ago
The Week in Public Finance: Thanks to SCOTUS, States Are Taxing Online Sales. But the Legal Fight May Not Be Over.
The U.S. Supreme Court may have ruled that states can collect sales taxes for online purchases, but it turns out it's not so easy. Thanks to the complexities of tax structures in some states, the legal challenges may not be over.
The Week in Public Finance: What the Aging Population Means for State Finances
The Week in Public Finance: Do Income Tax Caps Only Benefit the Wealthy?
North Carolina voters will weigh in on the rare policy in November.
The North Carolina Capitol (David Kidd)
For a summary of November's most important ballot measures, click here.
A proposed income tax cap in North Carolina survived a court challenge this week, leaving it to the voters to decide whether to lean in to what is a rare policy in state government.
The November ballot measure would lower the state’s income tax rate cap from 10 percent to 7 percent. That’s still above the state’s current flat income tax rate of just under 5.5 percent. But in the past, the rate has been as high as 8.25 percent for high-income earners.
Capping income tax rates is unusual. Georgia is the only other state that does so, with a 6 percent cap approved by voters in 2014.
3 Ways Blue States Could Still Get Around Tax Reform
The Internal Revenue Service issued new regulations late last month in an effort to end workarounds by blue states hoping to bypass the state and local tax deduction cap introduced under December's federal tax overhaul. But observers say that even with the new regulations, states still have several ways to get around the cap.