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Sales Tax

• Snowmass wrestles with its high sales tax

  [Aspen Times, December 1, 2008] As a nationwide recession comes even to the Roaring Fork Valley, the Town of Snowmass Village faces a Catch-22-type conundrum. Should it lower its 2.5 percent marketing and special events tax at a time when resorts are competing especially hard for travelers? Or should the town leave its marketing tax alone — and live with a sales tax that creeps over the 10 percent threshold?

• Tax On Talking

  [Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2008] Among the better ideas John McCain announced last week is a ban on new cellphone taxes. For America's 257 million wireless subscribers, the GOP Presidential candidate is advancing a sensible policy with political punch, says the Wall Street Journal.

• California Won't Walk Talk On Climate Change

  [Detriot News, February 14, 2008] Despite all the talk about climate change, there is no groundswell for a gas tax hike -- which most economists agree is the fastest way to get drivers to drive less and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles -- in California, where even the nation's greenest electorate recoils at the idea of putting its money where its mouth is.

• Bridge To Our Wallets

  [Investor's Business Daily, January 16, 2008] A federal panel wants to triple the gasoline tax to improve the nation's infrastructure. A better solution is to limit spending from gasoline tax revenues to essential -- and real -- highway projects.

• The Tax They Didn't Tell You About

  [Investor's Business Daily, January 14, 2008] The new energy law contains stiff new fuel-efficiency standards for U.S. automakers. But make no mistake, what you got from Congress was a big tax hike.

• Fair Tax Flaws

  [Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2008] If words were deeds, we could simply declare that by switching from a federal income tax to a "Fair Tax" (i.e. national retail sales tax), tax cheating would end, code complexity would be a thing of the past, and illegal immigrants would start paying taxes.

• Anything But Sales Tax Fairness

  [Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, December 28, 2007] Congressman William Delahunt (D-Mass.) has sponsored the "Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act," an attempt to get Congress to approve a massive revenue grab by various state and local politicians

• Canada's Tax Lab

  [Investor's Business Daily, October 3, 2007] Eventually, the mad science of carbon taxation will put a drag on Quebec's economy. Because the energy sources being taxed are inputs across the economy, the prices of consumer goods are bound to rise.

• Hail To The Taxers

  [Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007] Already 14th in tax burden among the 50 states, according to the Tax Foundation, Michigan is now headed up in the rankings.

• Tax 'Fairness' In Action

  [Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2007] Every state has its problems, but Maryland, where Gov. Martin O'Malley has been undertaking something close to a tax-increase-a-day tour, seems particularly vexed.

• Job Loss Likely In Wake Of State Tax Hikes

  [Baltimore Business Journal September 21, 2007] Maryland governor Martin O'Malley's tax increase proposals could lead to significant losses of high-paying jobs.

• Questions To Ask Before Raising The Federal Gas Tax

  [The Tax Foundation, August 27, 2007] Two proposals have recently been put forth by members of Congress to raise the federal excise tax on gasoline. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) has proposed one, along with a carbon tax, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• Tell Congress to Ban Taxes on Internet Access for Good

  [National Tax Payers Union, August 30, 2007] The current ban that stops taxes expires on November 1, 2007, and opponents are wasting no time in preventing a continuation of the ban.

• Don't Raise The Federal Gas Tax

  [National Tax Payers Union, August 22, 2007] House Transportation Committee Chair James Oberstar has discussed a plan to increase the gasoline tax "temporarily" by 5 cents per gallon.

• Sales Tax, Sin Levies On The Rise

  [Arizona Republic/CCH Inc., July 10, 2007] According to a midyear survey of state consumption taxes, don't drive in Washington state or Pennsylvania, take up smoking in New Jersey or try to buy much of anything in Rhode Island.

• Most States Hold Line On Gas, Sales Tax

  [Forbes, July 5, 2007] In general, states across the nation haven't raised gas taxes in the past year, but unfortunately, generalities don't always offer solace.

• Keep the Internet Tax-Free

  [Investor's Business Daily, July 2, 2007] Passage of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act of 2007 would provide the crucial first step needed to ensure that Internet access is not subject to discriminatory taxes that would limit consumer choice.

• Taxing the Internet

  [Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Seattle Times, July 1, 2007] A new voluntary tax agreement -- the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement -- between 22 states means residents could now be charged a sales tax they're unaccustomed to paying on certain Internet and catalog purchases from businesses in other states.

• New York Can Afford Tax Reform

  [New York Sun, June 8, 2007] New York City's business tax rate dwarfs those of other cities and needs to be reviewed to make the city more competitive.

• William Fox on the Merits of State Sales Taxes and Local Property Taxes

  [Tax Foundation: Podcast (22 minutes, 27 seconds), April 5, 2007] In this podcast, Dr. William Fox, economics professor and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, discusses the merits of state and local reliance on property and sales taxes.

• Days May Be Numbered For Tax-Free Net Sales

  [CNet, April 17, 2007] A powerful alliance of politicians is arguing that out-of-state retailers -- most notably large internet companies like Amazon.com -- must be required to charge sales taxes on purchases.

• Blagotax Will Harm Illinois' Economy

  [Chicago Sun-Times, April 2, 2007] Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's scheme to enact the largest tax increase in the state's history is bad public policy because it would raise prices on virtually all goods and services.

• A Penny Not Saved

  [American Enterprise Institute, March 12, 2007] Several states now have an "Item Pricing Law" (IPL) requiring that, for most goods in retail stores, each item have its own individual price sticker. The argument for the IPL is that, without individual price tags, consumers could not tell if pricing errors are made.

• Democratic Tax Cutter

  [Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2007]Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe recently made good on the promise by striking a deal with a reluctant Democratic legislature to cut sales taxes that manufacturers pay on their utility bills.

• Tax Pyramiding: The Economic Consequences of Gross Receipts Taxes

  [Tax Foundation, December 4, 2006] State governments have started looking for alternative ways to taxing businesses. This search for new business taxes has ironically sparked a resurgence in one of the world’s oldest broad-based tax structures: the gross receipts tax, also known as the “turnover tax.”

• Holiday Season 'Tax Holidays' No Break for Taxpayers

  [Tax Foundation, November 22, 2006] Tax holidays essentially allow the government to artificially influence the timing of purchases. By doing so, the government places itself in the business of deciding economic winners and losers – a function that should always be the sole responsibility of the free market.

• Taxing the Internet

  [Heartland Institute, December 1, 2006] Competition is the key to healthy state and local economies, but the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement -- which was created to push Congress to tax the Internet -- threatens states' autonomy to shape their own tax policies, costs each state's economy jobs and devastates their technology sectors.

• Sales Tax Holidays: Politically Expedient but Poor Tax Policy

  [Tax Foundation, August 3, 2006] Sales tax holidays are advertised as a generous tax cut on back-to-school shopping items, particularly for low-income residents, but overall sales tax holidays amount to poor tax policy.

• Income Tax Cuts Benefit All Payers

  [USA Today/Tax Foundation, October 2, 2006] Americans of every income have benefited from a drop in federal income tax rates as Bush administration tax cuts enacted since 2000 took effect, an independent analysis of newly released IRS data shows.

• Tax Cut, or Shift?

  [USA Today, August 25, 2006] Many states are offsetting property tax cuts by raising other taxes, especially the sales tax, and spending budget surpluses to replace lost revenue, making the trend more of a tax shift than a net tax cut, says Dennis Cauchon in USA today.

• State and Local General Sales and Gross Receipts Tax Collections Per Capita

  [Tax Foundation, June 1, 2006] Tax Foundation's assessment of state and local general sales and gross receipts tax collections per capita in 2004.

• State Selective Sales Tax Collections Per Capita, 2005

  [Tax Foundation, April 28, 2006] Tax Foundation's assessment of state selective sales tax collections per capita in 2005.

• State General Sales Tax Collections by State, 2005

  [Tax Foundation, April 28, 2006] Tax Foundation's assessment of state general sales tax collections by state in 2005.

• Tax Reform: Thinking Outside the Box

  [NCPA Study #275, September 29, 2005] Dr. John C. Goodman, with the assistance of Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, developed a 14 percent flat-rate sales tax that would do more to help low-income families.

• National Retail Sales Tax Anthology

  [NCPA, May 2005] A compendium of key reports on sales taxes prepared by columnist Bruce Bartlett.