No progress in negotiations after a White House meeting on the debt limit. The good news is both sides got together to talk. The bad news is there isn’t much time to make a deal before the debt ceiling breach occurs, which could happen in a few weeks. Both the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) dismissed the idea of a short-term extension to provide more time to negotiate.
Billionaire Harlan Crow refused to provide Senate Finance Committee with documentation on gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Late Monday night, Crow sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) declining to answer questions about Crow’s financial arrangements with Justice Thomas. Wyden might subpoena Crow for the records. Sen. Mike Crapo, top Republican on the panel, says such a response would “undermine the independence of the Supreme Court and its individual Justices,” reports Politico.
Colorado legislature votes to put property tax relief bill on November ballot. After a contentious vote in the General Assembly, lawmakers approved a ballot measure. Colorado voters will decide whether to approve a 10-year plan to curb property tax growth and whether the state should distribute $2 billion in Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund checks next year in equal amounts rather than according to income level, which provides more money to higher earners.
Minnesota’s House passes a tax to fund affordable housing. The metro region sales tax would be the state’s first ongoing revenue source for affordable housing. The state Senate is expected to approve the measure, which would raise $200 million annually for housing projects and programs in the seven-county Minneapolis metropolitan area.
In Georgia, April's net tax revenue collection fell 16.5 percent. Net tax collections for April totaled $4.19 billion. This is $829.5 million less than collections in April 2022. Year-to-date, net tax collections totaled $27.79 billion, or a 0.9 percent increase compared to the previous fiscal year. April’s numbers reflect lower individual income tax collections of $2.14 billion, down 32.4 percent from April 2022, when collections totaled $3.16 billion. Why the sharp year-over-year decline in collections? One big reason: Tax year 2022 is the first year of full implementation of HB 149, legislation that allows certain pass-through entities to make entity-level tax elections on behalf of their partners.
Missouri legislature votes to eliminate state taxes on Social Security. Under state law, single tax filers who earned more than $85,000 and joint filers who earned more than $100,000 owe some state income tax on Social Security. The bill, passed by the state’s House this week and by the Senate in April, removes that cap. The bill, now headed to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk, also renews a property tax credit for those age 65 and older. Eliminating the tax on Social Security will cost Missouri $318 million a year.
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