Reviewing Harris’ plan to make tax filing easier for small businesses. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has proposed a new standard deduction for small businesses that would help simplify the filing process. TPC’s Howard Gleckman suggests that it isn’t an ideal fix and it’s missing some key details. But the proposal attempts to prioritize “an issue that really matters to business owners.”
Tomorrow on Capitol Hill. The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy will hold a hearing tomorrow afternoon on the macroeconomic impacts of potential tax reform in 2025.
Next month: Uncovering gender bias in tax policy. The American Tax Policy Institute hosts a symposium on October 17 and 18: “It’s a Man’s World: Revealing and Addressing Hidden Gender Bias in Tax Law and Policy.” The event will include presentations on marriage, inequality and the tax code, tax and gendered care work, and inequalities in the tax system. Register here.
Wisconsin legislature takes tax case to Supreme Court. The State Legislature argues the Wisconsin Supreme Court incorrectly ruled that the Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) is subject to unemployment insurance taxes, reports Tax Notes (paywall). The rebuttal says that employees and participants in the CCB’s programs are not required to be Catholic and do not receive religious training or teach the Catholic faith. The legislature also argues that the court ruling allows state employees to determine what is a typical religious practice.
Maine will issue its first corporate tax transparency report in January. Maine Revenue Services will provide the state legislature with a corporate tax revenue report on Jan. 31, 2025. The report will aim to help lawmakers see taxes collected or not collected from the largest corporations operating in Maine. Information would include the number of large profitable companies that paid zero state income taxes, reports Bloomberg Law (paywall).
Coming Soon: Atlanta, GA, will have a new “blight tax.” Atlanta’s City Council has increased the taxes on owners of unoccupied properties. The city can apply 25 times the average tax on a property that has been deemed “blighted.” The tax increase aims to encourage property upkeep and to reduce the number of neglected structures. It will apply only to owners of vacant properties and goes into effect at the start of the new year.
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