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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill in March that took effect Tuesday that decouples Florida’s corporate income tax from the federal corporate income tax, retroactive to January 1, 2009. In 2009, the federal government extended a generous depreciation deduction as part of the stimulus package, and Florida now joins several other states in refusing [...]

The New York Times reports that Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) is proposing to raise the state’s individual income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.57 percent for three years, after which it will drop back down to today’s levels. Rendell justified this increase by stating that Pennsylvania has the second-lowest income tax among the 41 [...]

Today on the New York Times Economix Blog, contributor and economist Nancy Folbre discusses a frequent type of overreaction or panic among the general public on some tax issues, as evidenced by public opinion surveys. Her observations are probably correct.
But then she delves into the issue of how labor is taxed more heavily than capital [...]

Many policymakers portray a cap-and-trade system as a way to curb greenhouse gas emissions without burdensome taxes. However, the financial burden of such a system would be passed on to consumers, not simply borne by energy companies.
A new Tax Foundation calculator now shows how much a U.S. cap-and-trade system would cost individual households annually. The [...]

The Maine legislature passed a major tax reform bill (PDF) last week and is awaiting Gov. Baldacci’s decision. 
The bill would get rid of the graduated income tax rate structure, so that instead of four different rates and brackets, there would be just one flat rate of 6.5%. As reported by the Tax Foundation’s 2009 State [...]

Indiana will avoid an education finance litigation mess inflicted on 27 other states after the decision in Bonner v. Indiana handed down this morning by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Article 8, Section 1 of Indiana’s Constitution establishes a statewide school system and requires that it be “general and uniform,” with the aspirational goal of encouraging “moral, [...]

In November, the Tax Foundation filed an amicus curiae (”friend of the court”) brief in the California Court of Appeal, in the case of Ardon v. City of Los Angeles. The case involves a challenged telephone excise tax, and the question of whether a class action lawsuit can be permitted. Class action lawsuits are useful [...]

State tax expert David Brunori commented yesterday on our Hawaii report, “The Price of Paradise: Hawaii Becomes Fifth State to Adopt New Income Tax Brackets on High-Earners”:
[The tax increase] caused my friends at the Tax Foundation to issue a report noting that Hawaii now has the highest income tax rate (11 percent) in the nation [...]

Tax scofflaws in Hawaii are being offered a tax amnesty:
Over the next month, the state is offering a tax amnesty program encouraging offenders to step forward to pay what they owe without being charged a penalty.
It’s the first time Hawai’i has offered such a program, joining a growing number of states doing the same as [...]

Fiscal policy in the Garden State reads like a “what not to do” for policymakers and stakeholders. The corporate income tax combines a high rate, onerous rules, and lavish subsidies for the politically connected. The sales tax is one of the highest in the country. The state is one of five in the country to [...]