Taxes

City leaders fund child care center with tax district typically used for roads, sewer

By creating a tax increment financing district, Madison, South Dakota, looks to build a child care center to improve local economic development and access to child care services.

  • By Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight

Despite falling gas prices, some politicians push ahead with tax breaks

Governors often suspend gas taxes for an easy political win with voters. But fuel taxes already face an uncertain future.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

Looming ‘fiscal cliff’ shows deeper problems with transit funding, researchers say

A new report from the Urban Institute finds that too many transit agencies rely on a single source of funding, and those revenue streams are often volatile.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

Blue and red states slash taxes despite warnings of hard times ahead

Since 2021, half the states have cut personal income tax rates.

  • By Kevin Hardy , Stateline

States pitch mileage tax to bridge gap in federal highway funding

The main source of federal funding for highways and transit could run out of money by 2028, unless Congress finds a way to fix long-standing problems with the gas tax.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

IRS announces 13 states where taxpayers could use its Direct File pilot

Under the pilot program, residents would be able to use the IRS program to file their federal tax returns online for the 2024 tax season. New York and Arizona are developing state-level filing systems.

  • By Natalie Alms

How one city added hundreds of new homes amid an affordable housing crunch

In Missoula, Montana, the city and county government donated land to support the development of three new affordable apartment sites. About 1,000 people, including those who were previously homeless, have signed the interest list for units, one official says.

  • By Keila Szpaller, Daily Montanan

Four tax credits that states can adopt to ease the child care crisis

With the end of federal child care subsidies, states are scrambling for ways to keep the industry afloat and parents working. Plus, more news to use from around the country in this week's State and Local Roundup.

  • By Molly Bolan

Climate change is a fiscal disaster for local governments—our study shows how it’s testing communities in Florida

COMMENTARY | A new study of Florida’s fiscal vulnerability to climate change finds that flooding directly threatens many local tax bases.

  • By Linda Shi, Tisha Joseph Holmes and William Butler, The Conversation

Do opportunity zones work?

The jury is still out. But recent research has provided new insights into the tax incentive meant to lure investment to distressed areas.

  • By Liz Farmer

Are tax incentives boons or boondoggles?

Though there’s lots of evidence that the economic development tool may not be effective, it is still in wide use. Fortunately, there are ways to control the potential waste of taxpayer dollars.

  • By Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene

Under new state law, Texas will bill electric vehicle drivers an extra $200 a year

The new registration fee is meant to make up for the state’s lost revenue from gasoline taxes that are used to pay for road construction and maintenance.

  • By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune
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AT&T, the broadband conundrum and a $204 million tax exemption

The tax break was the latest in favorable legislation for the state’s top political spender.

  • By Adam Friedman and Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

Keep it simple, experts tell feds on planned mileage fee experiment

States have already tested different approaches for how to replace gas taxes, but a federal pilot program mandated by the 2021 infrastructure law would be the biggest yet.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

What happens when high-earners leave cities, taking their spending power with them?

Urban-to-rural migration can shrink a municipality’s tax base, reduce property values and slow new business development, a new report says. Plus, more news to use from around the country in this week's State and Local Roundup.

  • By Molly Bolan

After enacting strict abortion laws, many states are turning to tax breaks for expectant parents

Four states have approved new tax credits or deductions that allow taxpayers to claim unborn children. Nearly a dozen are expected to follow. But do these laws actually help expectant mothers?

  • By Liz Farmer

IRS seeks states’ input on its direct file pilot

States have until Sept. 4 to tell the IRS if they’re interested in participating.

  • By Natalie Alms

State child tax credits can reduce poverty, but only if families apply

Since the federal child tax credit expired at the end of 2021, 11 states have enacted their own fully refundable versions. But for them to be as successful as the federal credit, states have to get the word out.

  • By Molly Bolan

New fiscal year, new taxes

A slate of tax policy changes are set to take effect across 18 states. And just as the first day of July brings tax changes, the last day of June marks the end of another U.S. Supreme Court term. Here are the rulings that impacted states. Plus, more news to use in this week's State and Local Roundup.

  • By Elizabeth Daigneau

Five years after the Wayfair ruling, states' reliance on the sales tax grows

But while the sales tax has brought in billions of dollars for state and local governments, businesses find the patchwork of rules burdensome.

  • By Liz Farmer

Officials Tout Data Centers’ Economic Benefits

Amazon said its facilities in Virginia paid more than $300 million in taxes last year alone, and local leaders said the campuses contribute to economic development.

  • By Chris Teale