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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.