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Amazon still gets a prime deal in Illinois. Despite budget woes and GOP Governor Bruce Rauner’s concerns, Illinois has kept its tax break commitment to Amazon. The state told the firm in May that it will receive about $975,000 annually for the next ten years. In exchange, Amazon will build a warehouse in Joliet and hire 1,000 full-time employees. However, the online retail giant won’t get state job training money or other tax breaks because of the state’s ongoing budget problems.
Apple’s deal leaves a bitter aftertaste in Ireland. The nation will likely face censure from European antitrust authorities. Ireland’s tax arrangements let Apple pay an effective tax rate of less than 2 percent between 2002 and 2012. Ireland is poised to fight the decision.
California dreaming? A gas tax proposal that voters oppose. Democratic Governor Jerry Brown's has proposed raising the state’s gasoline tax by six cents a gallon and the diesel levy by 11 cents. He’d also impose a $65 annual fee on all vehicle owners. The proposal would raise an estimated $3.2 billion- a- year for road repairs and $400 million for public transit. Brown has one problem: A recent poll finds 63 percent of California voters oppose a state gasoline tax increase.
Study says a tax revamp could bring jobs to Philadelphia. Research commissioned by the Philadelphia Growth Coalition finds that Philly could cut wage and business taxes if it taxed commercial real estate at a higher rate than residential property. Currently, it taxes all real estate at 1.4 percent. The study concludes such changes could bring an estimated 79,000 jobs to the city over ten years. Philadelphia residents pay a 3.91 percent wage tax, nonresidents pay 3.48 percent. The business net income tax is 6.41 percent.
Individual tax revenues’ as a share of the economy will grow by 40 percent by 2090. TPC’s Jim Nunns and Jeff Rohaly illustrate and explain the trend in a new paper. Most of the increase “occurs because current law does not adjust some individual income tax parameters for inflation and none of the parameters for changes in real income.” TPC’s Howard Gleckman concludes “as lawmakers debate the future of the tax code, they should keep in mind this large projected increase in individual income tax revenues, think about who it benefits, and what, if anything, they want to do about it.”
Excise taxes accounted for 3 percent of total federal revenue in fiscal year 2014. That’s according to a new TPC report by Joseph Rosenberg. The federal government raised $93.4 billion from excise taxes on goods and services including gasoline, alcohol, tobacco, air travel, and health care.
Tax policy and climate change: What might help and how? TPC’s Howard Gleckman thinks a carbon tax is likely to play a role in future climate change policy. Meanwhile, a new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that “clean energy tax credits” benefit higher-income Americans more than any other group. The bottom three income quintiles have only received 10 percent of all credits, while the top quintile received about 60 percent. Those in the top quintile received about 90 percent of credits available for electric vehicles.
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