Taxes

Timber Tax Cuts Cost Oregon Towns Billions. Then Polluted Water Drove Up the Price.

Rural communities in Oregon paid millions of dollars for clean, safe drinking water because the state didn’t protect their watersheds from logging-related contamination.

  • By Rob Davis and Tony Schick, ProPublica

Atlantic City Auctions Off Right to Push Button on Trump Casino Demolition

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Massachusetts contemplates lobster restrictions to save whales … Country music star was paid $1.7 million to perform at Texas governor’s inaugural ball … Kansas mayor resigned after mask threats.

  • By Bill Lucia and Laura Maggi

The Pandemic Created New Hunters. States Need to Keep Them.

“If we let them go next year, they're not going to be coming back.”

  • By Alex Brown, Stateline

Seeking To Boost Savings and Safety, One State Eliminates Paper Tax Forms

Missouri will stop printing paper taxes forms and encourage residents to file electronically, which a spokeswoman said most taxpayers already do.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Deepening Statehouse Divisions Foretell Big Policy Fights

Staunchly partisan lawmakers may heed their most ardent constituents.

  • By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Two-Decade Push to Build a Grocery in a Food Desert Finally Pays Off

A mix of public and private support has come together to make the project in northeast Oklahoma City possible.

  • By Bill Lucia

Biden Names Intergovernmental Affairs Chief

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | New Orleans nixes Mardi Gras parades due to Covid … Mississippi governor calls for axing state’s income tax … Leaders in both parties urge against out-of-state political supporters moving to Georgia ahead of special election.

  • By Bill Lucia

States Go After Small Businesses on Amazon—and Sometimes Amazon—for Millions in Back Sales Taxes

The Supreme Court in 2018 gave states the power to make new rules for collecting sales taxes online. But back taxes on products sold by small businesses on Amazon’s marketplace are still a major point of dispute.

  • By Liz Farmer

San Francisco Voters Approve ‘Overpaid Executive Tax’

The surcharge will apply to businesses where top executives earn more than 100 times the median pay level for a company’s employees in the city.

  • By Bill Lucia

Rejecting the ‘Fair Tax’ Ballot Measure, Illinois Voters Decide to Keep a Flat Income Tax

Illinois voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the state to implement a graduated income tax. Campaigns for and against the initiative together raised more than $120 million.

  • By Emma Coleman

If You Soak the Rich, Will They Leave?

COMMENTARY | States and cities struggling through the pandemic recession are wondering if higher taxes will raise revenue, or cause a mass exodus.

  • By Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic

Report: Amazon Got $741 Million in Tax Incentives to Build 36 Warehouses Around Chicago

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Nevada county considers allowing brothels to open for non-sexual escort services … Utah hospitals preparing to ration care … Maine town booms during pandemic.

  • By Laura Maggi

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New Hampshire to Sue Massachusetts Over Income Tax Policy

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Michigan governor accuses President Trump of inciting terrorism … Trump administration reverses stance on California wildfire relief … Wisconsin to deploy National Guard as poll workers.

  • By Emma Coleman

Some States See Better Than Expected Revenues, But Budget Outlook Is Still Tough

Evaporating federal aid and uncertainty over what will happen next with the virus and the economic recovery are casting a long shadow over states’ finances.

  • By Bill Lucia

Remote Work Boom Complicates State Income Taxes

“The nature of work is changing.”

  • By Elaine S. Povich, Stateline

Ohio Just Ordered GM to Repay $28 Million in Tax Breaks for Closing the Lordstown Auto Plant

General Motors received more than $60 million in tax credits to operate a massive assembly plant in Lordstown until 2040. But after the facility closed last year, the state says GM must pay back roughly half of those tax benefits.

  • By Dan O'Brien, ProPublica

Why States and Localities Should Increase—Not Decrease—Spending

COMMENTARY | State and local governments that cut public spending after the Great Recession fared worse than those that increased spending. Let’s not make the same mistake again.

  • By Jeremy Mohler

New Jersey Leaders Agree On Deal to Hike Taxes on Millionaires

Governor Phil Murphy and top Democratic lawmakers announced plans on Thursday for a higher tax rate on incomes between $1 million and $5 million. The bulk of the revenue from the tax increase would cover the cost of a new middle class tax break.

  • By Bill Lucia

Paid Leave Measure to Appear on Colorado Ballot This November

The medical and family leave program would be funded by a tax paid by employers and workers in the state. Eight other states now have similar programs in place.

  • By Bill Lucia

In One State, a Threat to Freeze Property Taxes in Cities That ‘Defund’ Police

The proposal from Texas’ governor and other Republicans in the state comes in response to cuts and other changes that Austin made to its police budget.

  • By Bill Lucia

Michigan’s ‘Tampon Tax’ Challenged in New Lawsuit

The litigation is part of a national movement toward exempting menstrual products from states' sales taxes.

  • By Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th