The Heartland Institute

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 ...

Absent Congressional action, several tax increases will go into effect at the end of the year. Allowing the 2001–03 tax cuts to expire, combined with tax increases under the Obama health care plan, what some critics are calling “Taxmageddon” would be a historic hike in tax rates across the board. One of the most significant ...

The results of a ballot measure that would raise California’s cigarette tax from 87 cents to $1.87 a pack are too close to call. After 100 percent of precincts reported 50.4 percent opposed versus 49.6 percent in favor, the final tally won’t be released until hundreds of thousands of mailed-in, dropped-off, and provisional ...

As Republican delegates railed against a state income tax hike shortly before legislators approved it in mid-May, a lone freshman Democrat from one of the most liberal and affluent districts inside the Capitol Beltway got up to explain why she too could not vote for the taxes. “I believe this discriminates against two-income ...

A proposal from the Obama administration that has generated significant opposition from the financial sector is the enterprise value tax. This is because high taxes on investment income can be a hindrance to investment by reducing incentives for investors and financial managers to engage in certain financial activities or higher ...

Explosive growth in the purchase and delivery of digital goods and services through the Internet cloud is a sure source of economic vitality and optimism for our nation. With the deployment of next-generation broadband and wireless broadband networks, businesses and consumers increasingly are taking to digitally-downloadable products ...

Several tax increases are set to go into effect at the end of 2012 unless Congress renews the “Bush Tax Cuts.” One of the most significant increases would be a tax hike on dividends of up to189 percent. It would have a stifling effect on economic growth while slashing the value of retirement plans and other investments ...

A Cook County Circuit Court judge has struck down Illinois’ Internet affiliate tax law, handing a victory to thousands of Internet entrepreneurs across the state. The ultimate outcome is likely to rest with the Illinois Supreme Court, which hears cases in which a statute has been held invalid on direct appeal. For the time ...

After being shut down in the Kansas Senate, resurrected, and debated for several months, major tax reform legislation has been signed into law by Governor Sam Brownback (R). While much of the new tax cut bill that Brownback signed in May promotes sound tax policy – specifically broadening the bases and lowering of the rates ...

One issue currently under debate is how carried interest, the share of the profits of an investment or investment fund that is paid to an investment manager as compensation, will be taxed. Under current law, when an entrepreneur or private equity, venture capital, or hedge fund firm sells a business or takes it public through ...

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-NY) is leading a push to raise that state’s minimum wage from the federally mandated $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour, with future annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index. “It has a moral imperative, and it has a practical imperative. People who work 35 hours a week should ...

The practice of hedge fund managers being compensated through a carried interest in investment partnerships has received a lot of attention from some in Congress and President Obama. Multiple bills have been submitted to change the tax character of carried interests for hedge fund managers to ordinary income. These include the ...

Wisconsin Act 10, Gov. Scott Walker’s landmark budget and unionization reform bill, has allowed school districts across the state to balance budgets without teacher layoffs, according to a new report from The Heartland Institute. “Act 10 virtually eliminated [the state’s] $3.6 billion budget deficit ... and provided school districts ...

After raising the state’s personal income and corporate tax last year, Illinois is considering a $1 per pack hike in the state’s cigarette tax. Advocates claim the tax would help pay for ballooning Medicaid costs, which are over budget by $2.7 billion. Such an increase, however, fails to address the structural problems of the ...

Georgia is already seeing benefits from a tax reform bill Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed into law in April. The new law provides a comprehensive modernization and streamlining of sales tax exemptions for businesses, particularly the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural industries. Deal said two big investments in Georgia can be ...

Although gasoline taxes have long been the main source of funding for building, maintaining, and operating America’s network of highways, roads, and streets, the tax is at best an imperfect user fee. As such, Congress and the states should take action to transition from gas taxes to more efficient vehicle-mile fees. One of ...

California citizens will soon vote on whether to raise the state’s cigarette tax from 87 cents to $1.87 a pack, with supporters saying the money would fund cancer research and opponents saying there’s no guarantee how the money would be used, or where. The June 5 ballot measure known as Proposition 29 and more formally as ...

Wyoming has the nation’s lowest business tax costs for established businesses and Pennsylvania the highest, according to a report by the Tax Foundation and KPMG LLP. “Location Matters: A Comparative Analysis of State Tax Costs on Business” provides a guide for anyone making decisions about new manufacturing facilities, corporate ...

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) has announced a plan to “stabilize Illinois’ Medicaid system and prevent collapse of the program” that includes a $1 per pack increase in the cigarette tax. This would more than double the Illinois cigarette tax. State budget officials project the tax increase would bring in $337.5 million annually ...

North Carolina has been in the media recently for all the wrong reasons, whether it be the state Democratic Party scandal or the John Edwards trial. It is time for the media and the public to talk about a good reason that attention should be paid to the Tar Heel State: The state is home to one of the most pro-taxpayer ...