This week's podcast guest is Kelly Phillips Erb, also known as Tax Girl, a Philadelphia-based tax attorney and blogger. Erb discusses the pending expiration of provisions in the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and what to expect from President Obama's budget, which is scheduled to be released next week.
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The Tax Foundation released a Special Report last week taking an exhaustive look at movie production incentives -- such as film tax credits, cash rebates, grants and select tax exemptions -- which fail to spur economic growth or raise tax revenue. This week's podcast focuses on Iowa's film tax credits program, known as the Film, Television and Video Promotion Program, which a state tax credit review panel recently recommended eliminating in light of revelations of abuse and mismanagement.
Our guest is Joe Kristan of the CPA firm Roth & Company, PC in Des Moines. Kristan writes the company's Tax Update Blog, which has kept close tabs on the Iowa film tax credits scandal. He also wrote a sidebar in the Tax Foundation's film tax credits report.
"The current-law baseline essentially gives the majority credit for simple extensions of these expiring provisions by counting them as tax reductions, when in fact they only prevent a tax increase from taking effect," Camp says. "It still is a massive tax increase on the American people to say that in the midst of a recession, more than $1 trillion in taxes was raised."
Camp also addresses pending tax proposals to fund health care reform and priorities for 2010.
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The combined federal and average state corporate income tax rate of nearly 40 percent in the United States is the second-highest among industrialized nations. This week's Tax Policy Podcast features Richard T. Page, who recently authored a note in the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law examining international trends in corporate income, personal income and estate taxes. In order for the United States to remain internationally competitive, Page argues, the federal corporate income tax rate should be lowered from 35 percent to 12.5 percent. This would match Ireland with the lowest rate among developed countries and send "a very loud signal to the world that the U.S. is back in business and that it's time for this recession to come to an end," Page says.
What were the biggest tax stories of 2009? And what can we expect in 2010? In this week's Tax Policy Podcast, Christopher Bergin, President and Publisher of Tax Analysts, discusses the U.S. Senate's inaction on the estate tax, the IRS's efforts to crack down on tax evaders, health care reform, taxing the rich, a possible value added tax and more. Tax Analysts is a nonprofit publisher that provides tax news and analysis for more than 150,000 tax professionals in law and accounting firms, corporations, and government agencies.
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There's been some talk recently of a second stimulus plan, but a recent Tax Foundation analysis shows that several states are taking advantage of one provision of the first stimulus bill -- increased federal matching rates for Medicaid -- at the expense of some health care providers in their own states and taxpayers in others. Twenty-two states have significant health provider or hospital taxes, six of which were enacted or expanded in the last year, and another four enactments or expansions are pending.
Missouri spends about $544 million a year on various tax credits. Recently, these tax credits have included $5 million a year for sausage casing manufacturers and $25 million for an indoor practice facility and parking lot enhancement for the National Football League's Kansas City Chiefs (which then doubled its parking fees for patrons). State Senator Jason Crowell, who represents the 27th district, wants to change this. He's planning to reintroduce legislation when the General Assembly convenes for its 2010 session early next month to subject all tax credits to the appropriations process. In this week's podcast, Senator Crowell discusses the state of tax credits in Missouri and his hopes for reform.
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Homeownership has come to be viewed as an integral part of The American Dream, and tax policy is just one way that politicians have sought to promote it. The mortgage interest deduction is the second most expensive tax subsidy, second only to the tax exclusion for employer-provided health insurance.
Dennis Ventry, a law professor at the University of California-Davis, recently authored an article on the mortgage interest deduction in the law journal Law & Contemporary Problems titled "The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest." In this week's podcast, Ventry discusses the history of the mortgage interest deduction, its problems and why - despite those problems - it still remains.
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Which state will be "the next California"? The Pew Center on the States has attempted to answer this question by evaluating the factors that led to California's budget crisis and identifying other states that face similar problems. "Beyond California: States in Fiscal Peril" shows that Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin join California as the most troubled states. In this week's podcast, Susan Urahn, Managing Director of the Pew Center on the States, discusses what these states have in common and other key trends of the study. "The interesting thing about this group of states is even though they face many of the same pressures that California does, they're all very different," Urahn says.
The New York Superior Court recently heard oral arguments in the state's so-called "Amazon tax" case. In April 2008, New York Gov. David Paterson signed into a law a budget requiring that out-of-state online retailers collect sales taxes on purchases if the company does at least $10,000 worth of business with in-state affiliates. Amazon.com filed suit shortly thereafter, but the New York State Supreme Court - the state's trial-level court - ruled in favor of the state and upheld the so-called "Amazon tax."
Both the House bill and Senate Finance Committee plan are expected -- according to Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee and Taxation projections -- to reduce the deficit, but whether large cuts to Medicare spending will actually happen remains to be seen. Regardless of whatever health care reform proposal emerges from Congress (or when), it appears tax increases are on the table.
Outside discussions of health care reform, reducing the deficit - whether through spending cuts or tax increases or both - is a policy priority on both sides of the aisle. As the Tax Foundation has reported, higher taxes alone cannot erase the deficit.
This week's podcast guest is Jim Pethokoukis, the Money & Politics columnist and blogger for Reuters. Jim discusses health care reform, the deficit, economic recovery and the possibility of a federal value added tax (VAT).
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The 2009 election is an off-year election for most states. Gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia have taken the spotlight when it comes to election coverage. But several state ballots on Tuesday will feature taxpayer-related measures - notably, Maine's Question 4, which would institute a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" to restrict state and local government spending an require voter approval for any tax increases or spending over the established caps, and Washington's Initiative 1033, a similar tax and spending limit.
Discussing these and other measures on this week's podcast is Josh Culling, State Government Affairs Manager for the National Taxpayers Union, which recently published a ballot guide outlining ballot measures in many states that would affect taxpayers.
All of these factored in to New Jersey's recent last-place ranking in the Tax Foundation's 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index, which measure's states' tax-competitiveness.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently announced a plan to freeze income tax cuts for two years in order to fund education. The cuts, totaling 21 percent, were scheduled to be phased in over five years at a rate of 4.2 percent a year.
Matt Mayer recently was named President of the Buckeye Institute in Columbus, OH. He joins us for this week's Tax Policy Podcast to discuss the governor's proposal and alternative solutions for Ohio's budget problems.
What is income redistribution? How would it change under President Obama's budget proposal? And what about health care reform?
Answering these questions and more on this week's Tax Policy Podcast is Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge, who recently authored three fiscal facts looking at income redistribution based on the Tax Foundation's fiscal incidence project.
The Tax Foundation recently released a report on property taxes compiled from the Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, which found that homeowners in counties and states in the Northeast - especially New York and New Jersey - along with parts of the Midwest tend to pay the most in property taxes.
In this week's Tax Policy Podcast, Tax Foundation Senior Economist Gerald Prante discusses which counties and states have the highest and lowest median real estate taxes - both in dollars paid and as a percentage of median home value - and why.
This week, the Tax Foundation released its 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index, which measures how "business-friendly" a state's tax system is. Equally important to the question of how much states tax, which we answer in our annual State and Local Tax Burdens study, is the question of how those taxes are raised.
In this week's Tax Policy Podcast, Staff Economist Kail Padgitt, who authored Tax Foundation Background Paper No. 59, "2010 State Business Tax Climate Index," discusses which states have the best and worst tax systems for business, as well as some tax policy trends that contributed to this year's rankings.
After a several-month budget standoff between the Connecticut legislature and Governor Jodi Rell, the state budget became law two months after the new fiscal year began - without the governor's signature. In this week's Tax Policy Podcast, Fergus Cullen, Executive Director of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy in Connecticut, discusses the some of the new provisions.
With the majority of the debate on Capitol Hill focused on health care, cap and trade has seemingly slipped to the back burner -- for now. The Senate is expected to pick up cap-and-trade legislation this month.
A new analysis from the Heritage Foundation takes a look at the economic impact of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill that passed the House of Representatives in June. This week's podcast features Nick Loris, a Research Assistant at The Heritage Foundation's Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, and a co-author of the paper, titled "The Economic Consequences of Waxman-Markey: An Analysis of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009." According to Loris, if enacted, Waxman-Markey would cause "very much economic pain for very little environmental gain."
Many state recently wrapped up back-to-school sales tax holidays, periods of time during which certain goods are exempted from the state (and sometimes local) sales tax. Sales tax holidays are politically popular not just for back to school items, but others such as energy-efficient products and hurricane-preparedness materials. However, they're also problematic for a number of reasons.
Even during Congress's August recess, the debate on health care reform continues to make headlines. The focus seemingly has shifted from a proposed surtax on the wealthy to fund an expansion in coverage to whether a public option insurance plan is "essential" to reform. But one issue has not received as much attention: the tax treatment of employer-provided health insurance.
In this week's podcast, Tax Foundation Manager of Media Relations Natasha Altamirano interviews Tax Foundation Senior Fellow Bob Carroll, Ph.D., on health care reform, how to pay for it, and the economic consequences of high tax rates.
This year, several states enacted "sin taxes" -- those targeting perceived negative behavior such as smoking or drinking - to help close budget deficits. The Tax Foundation has long argued against sin taxes as ineffective revenue sources; they're simply a way for government to micromanage the economy by punishing certain industries. Nonetheless, sin taxes have remained popular as politicians tout them as ways to discourage certain activities. A July paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research provides an interesting look at sin taxes and their impact on the apparent "sinful" behavior at question.
California's Commission on the 21st Century Economy has until next month to finalize its recommendation for reforming the state's finances. This week's Tax Policy Podcast features Dr. Steven Sheffrin, a Professor of Economics at the University California Davis, Director of the Center for State and Local Taxation, and former dean of social sciences. Dr. Sheffrin is the author of many books and articles on state taxation and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Tax Association.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court Tuesday after a sometimes contentious confirmation hearing that covered a lot of ground. One area, however, that has not received as much attention is her judicial philosophy on tax issues. In this week's podcast, Tax Foundation Manager of Media Relations Natasha Altamirano interviews Travis Greaves, a law clerk with the Tax Foundation's Center for Legal Reform, who recently published Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 178, which takes a look at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's judicial record when it comes to tax-related cases.
The Tax Policy Podcast is the official podcast of the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization that has monitored tax policy at the federal, state and local levels since 1937. Our economists welcome your feedback via email: podcast@taxfoundation.org.
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Disclaimer: All views expressed in the Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Podcast are those of the individual guests, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Tax Foundation, its Board of Directors, or its financial contributors. The Tax Foundation makes no representation concerning the views expressed, and does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.
