How much charity care do nonprofit hospitals provide? A Wall Street Journal analysis (paywall) finds that nonprofit hospitals, registered as charitable organizations because they are charted to support their communities, wrote off 2.3 percent of their patient revenue as “charity care.” But their for-profit competitors wrote off 3.4 percent. The analysis excludes other revenue non-profit hospitals dedicate to “community benefit” programs, such as health screenings and patient education.
JCT scores Biden’s Green Book revenue proposals. It may be little more than a curiosity now, but the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the revenue provisions of the Administration’s fiscal 2023 budget would have raised more than $1.7 trillion over 10 years. JCT excluded Biden’s proposed minimum tax on “billionaires” from the estimate because the proposal was not sufficiently detailed.
Short of gas tax revenues, North Carolina officials explore ways to fund transportation. The state’s 38.5 cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline is the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) largest source of revenue but it’s not as strong as it used to be. Lawmakers redirected 2 percent of sales tax revenues to the DOT in fiscal 2022-23 and will raise the amount to 6 percent by 2024. North Carolina is one of several states examining a vehicle mileage tax. Unlike some states, it did not adopt a gas tax holiday this spring.
Colorado’s GOP gubernatorial nominee wants to eliminate the state’s income tax. Heidi Ganahl promises to eliminate the 4.55 percent individual income tax, but has not yet said how she’d offset the revenue loss. Incumbent Democrat Gov. Jared Polis says he would replace the income tax too, but only if the state raises other taxes to make up the revenue.
Apple settles its “Netflix tax” lawsuit against Chicago. The city introduced the 9 percent tax on “amusements that are delivered electronically” in 2015 and took in $9.4 million in 2017, the its first full year it was collected. Apple was one of many companies that sued to block the tax. Last week, the parties settled but did not disclose the terms. In 2021, the Netflix tax generated $31.2 million of the city’s $1.5 billion in total tax revenue.
Thursday’s TPC webcast The Prescription: Could the IRS pre-populate income tax returns? Katherine Lim, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, will discuss a study she co-authored that estimates the IRS could accurately pre-populate nearly half of all individual tax returns with the data it has on hand. Register and tune in here for the noontime discussion on July 28 with TPC’s Howard Gleckman.
For the latest tax news, subscribe to the Tax Policy Center’s Daily Deduction. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekdays at 8:00 am (Mondays only when Congress is in recess). We welcome tips on new research or other news. Email Renu Zaretsky at [email protected].
