Taxes

Imagine a worker who gets a raise and ends up paying more in tax than their raise. This is the case for an Italian worker who earns just above the average wage. With an increase in pay of just EUR 448, he would face a 116 percent marginal tax rate. Therefore, despite the pay increase,…

Over the past decade, policymakers from both parties in Harrisburg have proposed reducing Pennsylvania’s 9.99 percent corporate net income tax (CNIT) rate but could not agree on an approach—until now. With enactment of HB 1342 as part of the 2022-2023 state budget, lawmakers finally succeeded in cutting what had been the second highest state corporate…

A pending tax ballot measure in Idaho may take the prize for gaffe-riddled drafting. Proponents had a straightforward goal: to create a new top marginal individual income tax rate of 10.925 percent on high earners. That is dubious enough, as it would create the highest rate between New York and California. But through a series of…

You’ve heard the term capital gains tax. But what is that exactly? Is that something you pay? If so, when? Whenever you sell something — a house, car, company stock, or even gold or silver coins — you typically either make or lose money on the investment. That’s also referred to as a gain or…

Key Findings Ten states enacted individual income tax rate reductions. Six states enacted corporate income tax rate reductions. Oklahoma became the first state to make permanent the full expensing of capital investments by C corporations in the year they made the investments. Two states permanently exempted groceries from their respective sales tax bases. Five states…

Key Findings Over the past two years, a wave of tax reform has swept the country, with a historic number of states improving their tax competitiveness by reducing income tax rates and enacting flatter structures. Since 2019, Wisconsin has made improvements to its three lowest marginal individual income tax rates, but its top marginal rate…

The European Union requires EU countries to levy a minimum excise duty of €0.36 per liter (US $1.55 per gallon) on gasoline (petrol). Today’s map shows that only Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland stick to the minimum fuel tax rate, while all other EU countries opt to levy higher excise duties on gas. The Netherlands has…

While the bulk of the proposed tax increases and spending programs remain under debate, Democratic lawmakers have reportedly agreed on prescription drug pricing provisions as a starting point for a revived Build Back Better package. Advocates of the drug pricing policy argue it would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, but it amounts to government…

Oklahoma lawmakers and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) are at a standstill on efforts to secure tax reform in special session, but lawmakers did accomplish something important in the waning days of the state’s regular session—a national first for which the Sooner State deserves substantial credit. Full expensing—or the immediate write-off of all business investment—is now…

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 made several changes to the U.S. tax system to enhance competitiveness and discourage profit shifting to low-tax jurisdictions by U.S. multinationals. Among them were a new 10 percent minimum tax on companies with significant cross-border transactions (BEAT) and new tax rates on deemed intangible income (GILTI…

Today’s map looks at the design of excise taxes for vaping and tobacco alternatives, which is important in the pursuit of harm reduction from smoking. Higher vapor taxes on products such as E-cigarettes could encourage vapors to go back to smoking cigarettes and will discourage cigarette smokers from switching to vaping products.  Since vaping entered…

After an unpredictable legislative journey, the European Union has entered the final stage of negotiations on the world’s first carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). It would appear that some in the United States Congress are paying attention. On June 8th, the European Parliament rejected a proposal to reform the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) which…