Tax
Where State Unemployment Compensation Trust Funds Stand in December
With 2020 nearing its close, state unemployment compensation trust funds continue to struggle under the weight of so many pandemic-created beneficiaries, though some funds are beginning to stabilize as people increasingly return to work. As of December 17th, 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands have drawn a collective $44.3 billion in Title XII Advances—federal…
Read MoreState Tax Collections Down Through September, While Local Tax Collections Rise
State tax collections declined 4.4 percent in aggregate through the end of September compared to the same nine months in 2019, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. The median state experienced a decline of 3.6 percent, and total state tax collections were $37.4 billion lower in the first nine months of 2020 than…
Read MoreWealth Taxes in Europe
Net wealth taxes are recurrent taxes on an individual’s wealth, net of debt. The concept of a net wealth tax is similar to a real property tax. But instead of only taxing real estate, it covers all wealth an individual owns. As today’s map shows, only three European countries covered levy a net wealth tax,…
Read MoreArkansas Lieutenant Governor Looks to Eliminate Income Tax
Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Tim Griffin (R) recently announced his goal for the state to eliminate its income tax. He did not outline any specific plan but indicated that this would be a long-term process with the “conversation begin[ning] today” to make sure tax-related decisions would be made with this goal in mind. Lt. Governor Griffin’s…
Read MoreRanking Unemployment Insurance Taxes on the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index
Today’s map is the final in our series examining each of the five major components of the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index. Compared to individual, corporate, sales, and property taxes, unemployment insurance (UI) taxes are less widely understood, but they have important implications for a state’s business climate. A state’s performance on the UI tax component accounts…
Read MoreCongress Should Include More Unemployment Benefits And Another Stimulus Payment In A New Relief Bill
One of the major skirmishes in the months-long battle over the fate of a new pandemic relief bill is this one: Should a new effort…
Read MoreSenate Policymakers Release $908 Billion Bipartisan COVID-19 Relief Proposals
Monday, a bipartisan group of congressional policymakers released two compromise relief bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic, totaling about $908 billion: The Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act and the Bipartisan State and Local Support and Small Business Protection Act. The latter bill addresses both state and local aid and liability protection for businesses operating during the…
Read MoreBiden’s Corporate Rate Increase Would Raise Revenue Efficiently and Progressively
President-elect Joe Biden has proposed major changes to the corporate income tax regime, including: Raising the federal statutory corporate income tax rate from 21% to…
Read MorePreliminary Details and Analysis of State and Local Aid Under the Bipartisan State and Local Support and Small Business Protection Act of 2020
On Monday, members of the bipartisan Gang of Eight negotiating an end-of-year pandemic relief package announced that they had settled on language and had divided the package into two bills: a pandemic aid package and a $160 billion state and local support package. Full language is not yet available, and some of the data on…
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