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California, New York and other states are showing many of the same signs of debt overload that recently took Greece to the brink — budgets that will not balance, accounting that masks debt, the use of derivatives to plug holes, and armies of retired public workers who are counting on benefits that are proving harder and harder to pay. And states are responding in sometimes desperate ways, raising concerns that they, too, could face a debt crisis. New Hampshire was recently ordered by its State Supreme Court to put back $110 million that it took from a medical malpractice insurance...

State Changes to Individual Income TaxesIncreasesCalifornia in May added 0.25% to each income tax bracket, retroactive to January 1, 2009 and expiring December 31, 2010. Connecticut in September added a new top bracket of 6.5% on income over $500,000, retroactive to January 1, 2009. Delaware in June added a new top rate of 6.95% on income over $60,000 retroactive to January 1, 2009. Hawaii in May added three new brackets retroactive to January 1, 2009: 9% on income over $150,000; 10% on income over $175,000; and 11% on income over $200,000. New Jersey in June added three new brackets retroactive...

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Brad Borofsky hopes a sales tax holiday this weekend will draw more buyers to his outfitters shop in search of kayaks, canoes and other high-end outdoor items. After all, who wouldn't like a break on their taxes? Yet a growing chorus of national tax experts — both on the right and left — are panning sales tax holidays as a gimmick that does little to boost the economy and hurts already-sagging state revenues more than they help consumers. Massachusetts, Maryland and the District of Columbia have cut back on sales tax holidays or scrapped them altogether recently....

High corporate income taxes are often justified by the rhetoric that businesses—and their high-income investors—should "pay their fair share." In Tax Foundation Special Report No. 169, "The Corporate Income Tax and Workers' Wages: New Evidence from the 50 States," Senior Fellow Robert Carroll, Ph.D., finds that states with high corporate income taxes have likely depressed their workers' wages over the long term, while states with low corporate taxes have boosted worker productivity and real wages. "These findings are not only consistent with a growing body of research on international corporate income taxes and wages, but they get to the heart...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Caught with near-chronic budget shortfalls, U.S. states are scrambling to change their tax codes and bring in more revenues, the Tax Foundation said on Wednesday. The foundation has compiled an annual index on 37 categories of states' taxing and spending since 1937. This is the first time that it has had to update the report in the middle of the year. "Many states have started the new fiscal year with tax codes that are vastly different compared to just a few months ago," Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge said in a statement. Hawaii, for example, has recently...

The anemic economy decimated state tax collections during the first three months of the year, according to a report released Friday by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The drop in revenues was the steepest in the 46 years that quarterly data has been available. The blow to state coffers, which the report said appeared to worsen in the second quarter of the year, reflects the gravity of the recession and suggests the extent to which many states will probably have to resort to more spending cuts or tax increases to balance their budgets. Over all, the report found that state...

Less than two months into the state’s fiscal year, revenue collections are about half of what they were last year, according to a report issued by the state comptroller on Tuesday. The findings reinforced what seemed to be a foregone conclusion almost as soon as Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders agreed last month to the state’s $131 billion budget: Lawmakers will need to return to Albany at some point this year to make further cuts. The comptroller’s report said the state collected $4.8 billion in revenue in April, compared with $8.6 billion collected in April 2008, a 44...

With states facing nearly $100 billion in combined budget deficits this year, we're seeing more governors than ever proposing the Barack Obama solution to balancing the budget: Soak the rich. Lawmakers in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Oregon want to raise income tax rates on the top 1% or 2% or 5% of their citizens. New Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn wants a 50% increase in the income tax rate on the wealthy because this is the "fair" way to close his state's gaping deficit. Mr. Quinn and other tax-raising governors have been emboldened by recent...

Just when you think, you have heard it all something else pops up. I have stated my opinion on the state's effort to utilize tolls as the future funding for highways in Texas. Just in case you missed it, I oppose the idea of tolls being the primary source of funding for state highways. I need to clarify my opposition by stating I am not so much opposed to new toll roads, but rather the idea of tolling existing roads. A large portion of the price for a gallon of gas goes to the state and federal folks for highway...

While the media continues to blame the big oil companies for gouging U.S. motorists as they collect record breaking profits, the windfall profits raked in by the government in the form of energy tax revenue actually dwarf the oil companies' jackpot. The press sounded the alarm last year when the largest U.S. oil company, ExxonMobil Corp, announced profits of $36 billion. But according to the Tax Foundation, the biggest price gouging profiteer was the U.S. government, cashing in to the tune of $54 billion in oil and gas taxes. "Tax collections on the production and import of gasoline by state...

New York State is losing more residents than any other state in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released early today. Based on surveys taken between 2000 and 2004, the figures show that New York replaced California as the net migration outflow leader, with an average of 182,886 people leaving a year, nearly double California's average for the same period. California led the nation between 1990 and 2000. The findings track the state-to-state movement in America. They do not include international immigration numbers. The New York City metropolitan region - which includes Long Island and parts of New...

Total tax per capita ... Vermont….. 3,600.16 Hawaii….. 3,477.93 South Dakota….. 1,430.46 Total tax ... California….. 98,434,685 New York….. 50,190,396 South Dakota….. 1,110,035

T exas policymakers are once again dealing with the most difficult of all policy areas: taxes. Taxes are necessary because government has to be financed, but no one wants to pay taxes. To the extent possible, all are happy to let someone else bear the financial burden of government. Anyone who has managed to avoid that burden understandably seeks to protect the privilege. Tax avoidance demonstrates that taxes are an economic negative even where there is a benefit from the financing of government. Some level of government is necessary and beneficial. The proper level of government is not considered here...

Where you live can have a big impact on how much you pay in taxes each year. The spread, according to numbers crunched by the nonprofit Tax Foundation, might not be enough to make you pull up stakes and move to a new state, but it can give you a case of tax envy. The state and local burden ranges from 6.4% (Alaska) to 13% (Maine).

For the second time in just over a year, Oregon voters have voted to reject a tax increase crafted by state lawmakers. Just minutes after 8 p.m., early unofficial returns in Yamhill County are not much different than they are around the state. Of nearly 25,000 ballots counted so far, 16,443, or nearly 66 percent, are in the "no" column. Little more than 8,400, or about 34 percent, supported the measure. With 22 percent of the vote counted, Measure 30 is failing 58 percent to 42 percent. "It's not going to be close," Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts told KATU-TV a...

By Lori Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, May 16, 2003; Page B01 As tax revenue continues to lag behind expectations, state fiscal analysts warned yesterday that Maryland will probably end the fiscal year with a deficit for the first time in more than a decade.. . .  At a time when Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) is threatening spending cuts that could force the state to lay off hundreds of workers, scale back health care for the poor and increase tuition at public colleges and universities, state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Prince George's) called the new estimate...

When Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez stepped onto the field at the All-Star Game last July in Milwaukee, there was a huge cheer from the crowd. There may have been cheering at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue as well: By appearing in the event, Rodriguez obligated himself to pay more than $8,000 in Wisconsin income taxes. Rodriguez and hundreds of other athletes and entertainers are finding that some of their biggest fans are state tax collectors. A growing number of states -- and some cities as well -- are aggressively pursuing high-income nonresidents who earn income from within the states'...