The Heartland Institute

Catherine the Great is supposed to have said, “A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.” In Washington, winds are stirring for corporate tax reform. But while there is broad bipartisan agreement that tax rates should be reduced, there is less consensus regarding what the tax rate should ...

I know, I know. Another article on cloud computing? Sometimes we tax commentators are like our favorite sales tax auditors: We’re dogs with a bone, and we can’t let go. The tax implications of cloud computing have received tremendous coverage, both in this publication and others. Perhaps it’s because we tax people really just ...

Reports of the death of labor union influence in American politics are greatly exaggerated—and a bit premature. Organized labor no doubt has had a rough time of it in recent months and indeed years. For many people, the focus on unions’ woes began in June when Wisconsin voters refused to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R). Walker ...

The funding level of Kentucky’s public employee retirement systems has declined every year since 2000. Though the state’s pension plans collectively ran a surplus as recently as 2002, by 2011 they had on hand just 53 percent of the assets necessary to meet their long-term pension obligations for state and local government employees ...

Corporate Income Taxes Problem All 50 states currently have a higher combined federal and state corporate tax rate than France, whose rate is third-highest among OECD countries 1. Although corporate income taxes make up a fairly minor part of state tax revenue, they have a harmful impact on economic behavior. Nonetheless, many ...

The U.S. Senate has passed the 2012 Farm Bill with a vote of 64-35 but the bill was pulled from the House calendar just before Members adjourned for their August recess after it became clear there were not enough votes to pass it. Some House members balked at its huge price tag, arguing too much of the money would go ...

Among potential tax reforms under discussion by Congress is revising the tax treatment offoreign source income of U.S. multinational corporations. Some business leaders have beenurging a movement toward a territorial tax, which would eliminate some U.S. income taxes onactive foreign source income. Under a territorial tax, only the ...

In states and municipalities across the country, the high cost of traditional defined-benefit public pensions has become a hot-button issue as unfunded liabilities have raced out of control. These increasing liabilities are further complicated by the fact that in many instances the regulators controlling pension funds have overestimated ...

Myth 1: A tax on Internet sales just enables states to collect taxes they are already legally entitled to collect. Fact: A state is not legally entitled to collect taxes from Internet sellers with no physical presence in that state. In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that a mail-order or ...

Problem States across the country continue to struggle with balancing their budgets as a result of increasing spending and a lagging economy. Many states also have accumulated massive amounts of debt that taxpayers will have to pay due to years of overspending combined with state employee pensions and benefits. Thirty-one states ...

At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, many major fiscal events are set to occur all at once. They include the expiration of the 2001/03/10 tax cuts, the winding down of certain jobs provisions, the activation of the $1.2 trillion across-the-board “sequester,” an immediate and steep reduction in Medicare physician payments ...

Stockton, California, has gone into bankruptcy, making this city of 300,000 residents the nation’s largest city to seek protection under the U.S. bankruptcy code. The Stockton City Council voted 6-1 on June 26 to adopt a spending plan for operating under bankruptcy protection, and to file a motion with the courts to enter ...

California legislators in late June approved dozens of amendments to this year’s state budget, but opponents say it's still unbalanced and incomplete. The budget depends on voters approving an $8 billion tax increase in November. If they refuse it, billions in spending cuts will kick in on January 2013. ‘Worst in California ...

This report from California Common Sense cites three main factors contributing to the city’s bankruptcy: The housing bust and financial collapse decimated the city’s property tax (and related) revenues. This problem was made worse by a skyrocketing home foreclosure rate. The real estate bubble encouraged large spending increases ...

State and local governments in Illinois collectively owe more than $200 billion in retirement benefits for government workers, according to a report by the Illinois Policy Institute. Illinois has long drawn attention for its huge unfunded pension liability, currently pegged by state officials at $83 billion. But that figure is ...

State and local governments in Illinois collectively owe more than $200 billion in retirement benefits for government workers, according to a report by the Illinois Policy Institute. Illinois has long drawn attention for its huge unfunded pension liability, currently pegged by state officials at $83 billion. But that figure is ...

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and minimum wage laws have been two of the primary mechanisms the federal and state governments have used to help low-income families move out of poverty. A debate is currently ongoing in many state legislatures and Congress over which of these two policies is more effective and should ...

States across the country have accumulated at least $900 billion in off-balance-sheet liabilities, potentially leaving future taxpayers with much heavier tax burdens than states currently are imposing or acknowleding, according to a new study from the Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA). Government employee pensions and health ...

California is facing a worse budget predicament than previously thought, and while the governor touts additional short-term fixes of tax hikes and spending cuts, opponents are calling for systemic reform. In January, the state was staring down a $9.2 billion deficit. By mid-May, the projection had ballooned to $15.7 billion. Gov ...

The first gold rush in the United States was not — as widely thought — in California in 1849; rather, it was in Georgia in 1828. Gold occurred naturally in a band from Virginia to Alabama, with especially rich veins around the town of Dahlonega in northern Georgia. During the next two decades, thousands of miners began ...