October 21, 2008

Best of the Blogosphere: Nonpayers, Fact Checking the Candidates, Maryland's Woes, and ND Measure 2

by Matt Moon

More hits from the blogosphere on the Tax Foundation work, old and new. Here are the highlights:

• Yesterday, I spoke with Catherine Rampell of the New York Times Economix Blog, and she posted a piece on "nonpayers" into the federal income tax system. Rampell rightfully pointed out that Scott Hodge's study on "nonpayers," showing that the McCain and Obama tax plans would increase the percentage of tax filers who have zero income tax liability from 33 percent currently to 43-44 percent, only includes federal income tax and does not include federal payroll or excise tax. Still, the main point of the discussion should center around whether or not we should continue to use the tax code to reward "governnent-approved behavior" through tax credits and deductions.
• Senior Economist Gerald Prante gets some love from Texas journalist Kay Bell on her blog, "Don't Mess With Taxes." Bell cites Prante's fact-checking pieces on both McCain's and Obama's claims on each other's tax plans, and bemoans the fact (like Gerald does) that there's "enough tax exaggeration blame to go around."
• "Salisbury News" picks up the biggest story from our 2009 State Business Tax Climate Index: Maryland drops from 24th in our 2008 Index to 45th in 2009. Why? Maryland was the only state in the union to pass a major tax increase package last year, raising its sales tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax, and cigarette excise tax.
• And finally, a shout out from a North Dakota blog, "Say Anything," which highlights Tax Counsel Joseph Henchman's work on North Dakota's Measure 2, the Income Tax Cut Initiative, which will be on the November 4 ballot in the Peace Garden State.