September 2, 2009
Stateline.org Interviews Director of State Projects Joseph Henchman on “Millionaires’ Taxes”
"State tax hikes take aim at top earnes"
By John Gramlich
Two months into the current fiscal year and still without a budget, Connecticut state senators voted at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday (Sept. 1) to send Gov. M. Jodi Rell (R) a spending plan that generates revenue by hiking income taxes on the state's wealthiest residents.After finally closing the books on budgets that began July 1, many legislatures must now call members back to square spending with revenues that can't seem to keep up. ...
Only two other states, California and New Jersey, collect a double-digit income tax from their highest earners, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that examines state tax trends and has been critical of higher income tax rates for the wealthy.
While states around the country have raised a variety of taxes this year as the recession has sapped their revenues - at least 10 states raised cigarette taxes, for example - "it's certainly a record year" for income tax hikes specifically targeting wealthier earners, said Joe Henchman, director of state projects with the Tax Foundation. Before Maryland approved its "millionaire's tax" last year, Henchman said, only three other states had done so: California and New Jersey in 2004, and New York in 2003.
