Taxes

Limited Posts

July 15, 2012 Uncategorized

Obviously I haven’t posted much the past couple weeks. I won’t the next week either as I’ll be offshore and (mostly) offline. In the meantime, yes take the Supreme Court’s Medicaid decision seriously. It’ll keep people busy for a while. But ultimately states will come around because they’d be foolish not to and because their […]

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Other NYS County Nursing Homes Being Sold

June 6, 2012 Budget

Despite intense objections, the Essex County, NY Board of Supervisors has voted 12-6 to sell its nursing home, Horace Nye. The 100 bed facility loses about $2 million per year. The sale price is $4.05 million. Essex County is also seeking an increase in its sales tax rate (from 3.75 to 4.0 percent). Mere coincidence? […]

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Are You Kidding Me? No Property Taxes at All?

May 29, 2012 Property Taxes

North Dakota is considering … voting on a Constitutional amendment … abolishing property taxes. I say go for it. Leave the place to wingnuts and survivalists. Those with IQs, both intellectual and social, above mediocre and anyone who prefers that their children be educated will flee. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has a […]

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Taxes Are Not the Only Factor in Migration

May 8, 2012 Business

We hear a lot in New York about how taxes cause people to emigrate, either directly or indirectly because businesses leave. This is particularly a concern when younger people leave. So it’s interesting to see that New Hampshire, a notoriously low tax state (neither a sales nor an income tax), is also suffering from an […]

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The Patient is Recovering, but not Recovered

April 13, 2012 Economics

The Census data regarding state tax collections are now in for 2011. Here’s the report from Governing Magazine and here’s a summary quote: Total tax collections jumped in all 50 states last fiscal year, with oil-rich areas pocketing significant additional revenues. State financial data released today by the Census Bureau shows governments collected $763.7 billion […]

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Private Equity Gets a Lower Tax Rate. Why?

December 19, 2011 Business

Reading a New York Times Story on Mitt Romney’s continued receipt of income from Bain Capital, a company he left in early 1999, I was reminded of the special tax deal that hedge fund and private equity operators get. Tax treatment of hedge fund and private equity compensation has been another point of political contention. […]

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Genesse County, NY Budget History

December 7, 2011 Budget

Going back to 1991, Genesee County, NY has a nice history of its key overall budget figures here. In Firefox, the table runs off the side of the browser page, but it works fine in the latest versions of Chrome and Safari. I didn’t check it with Internet Explorer. In any case, it’s readable. It […]

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What if Federal Income Tax Rates Were Higher at High Income Levels?

December 6, 2011 Economics

The Tax Policy Center, a joint effort of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution dispenses with the question of how much how much tax revenue is generated at higher levels of tax rates. It also undermines some of the supply-side scripture that high marginal tax rates are counterproductive. The evidence here suggests that the […]

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