Tax Justice Digest stories about Rhode Island
With the release of the House of Representative's budget proposal for fiscal year 2010 earlier this week, it appears not only that the end of that debate may be in sight, but that it will close on a positive note. The House's budget plan contains a number of changes in tax policy, changes that are at once a repudiation and an affirmation of the commission's recommendations. Those recommendations, as embodied in the budget that Governor Carcieri put forward in March, would have eliminated
The commission recommendation that the House budget plan does include is a major step forward for tax fairness - the elimination of preferential rates for income from capital gains.
In addition, the budget plan appears to include changes in law, similar to those adopted in
To learn more about the shortcomings of the commission's recommendations and the Governor's budget proposal, see this helpful fact sheet from the Rhode Island Poverty Institute -- and this one as well. (In fact, check out the Institute's budget webinar too.) For more on the other states still offering capital gains tax breaks, see this March report from ITEP.
For nine states -- Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin -- one straightforward approach would be to repeal the substantial tax breaks that they now provide for income from capital gains. In tax year 2008 alone, these nine states are expected to lose a total of $663 million due to such misguided policies, with individual losses ranging from $10 million to $285 million per state. A new ITEP report explains that repealing these tax preferences would help states reduce their large and growing budgetary gaps, enhance the equity of their current tax systems, and remove the economic inefficiencies arising from such favorable treatment.
This report explains what capital gains are, how they are treated for tax purposes, and who typically receives them. It also details the consequences of providing preferential tax treatment for capital gains income for states' budgets, taxpayers, and economies in nine key states. Lastly, it responds to claims about both the relationship between capital gains preferences and economic growth and the role capital gains taxation plays in state revenue volatility. (Appendices to the report provide detailed state-by-state estimates of the impact of repealing capital gains tax preferences.)
Read the report.
Definitions
of irresponsibility aside, the Governor may be about to put his plan
into action. The Strategic Tax Policy Workgroup that the Governor
initially convened in May of last year met for the final time last week
and will soon present the Governor with a report on its work. For
several months it seems that the Workgroup would make revenue-neutral
recommendations, but now it appears that they will put forth options
that would cut taxes by as much as $140 million. Keep in mind that
total tax revenue in
The Governor has requested
-- and will likely receive -- a postponement of the deadline by which
he must submit his budget for the coming fiscal year. It seems likely
that his "otherwise irresponsible" plan will feature prominently in
that document.
So, what does Governor Don Carcieri think the state ought to do in response? Why, repeal the estate tax, of course. After all, repealing it would drain away another $35 million that the state can ill afford to lose and would benefit fewer than 5 out of every 100 people who die in
Others have offered more sensible approaches to addressing
To learn more about the need to preserve federal and state estate taxes, see CTJ’s latest report.
At the very least, this means states' income taxes should provide meaningful exemptions to poor taxpayers and use a graduated rate structure to ensure that the very wealthy are paying their share. Unfortunately, though, as a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities documents, some states with personal income taxes are actually taxing the poor deeper into poverty. In fact, the Center's report finds that, in 18 of the 42 states that levy income taxes, two-parent families of four with incomes under the federal poverty level actually paid state income taxes in 2007. It also finds that 15 states make single parents with two children living below the poverty line pay state income taxes.
The House of Representatives in
Requests to reverse tax breaks for high-income Rhode Islanders, such as the capital gains tax or flat tax alternative were ignored. The one tax increase is on health insurance premiums which would be borne by the major insurers—Blue Cross, United and Delta Dental. These companies will likely pass on those costs to consumers, as they did last year when the tax was expanded. With no other tax revenue increase, the remaining sources of savings or revenue all come with high degrees of uncertainty. Lawmakers are looking to unspecified state personnel cuts to save about $91 million. But this money is only guaranteed if planned labor negotiations go smoothly. In addition, the state anticipates savings of $67 million on Medicare programs; this money hinges on federal approval.
Sen. Paul E. Moura, D-East Providence, happily declares, “I think we are coming out of it looking good. Any time in an election year you knock on someone’s door and you haven’t raised their taxes, it certainly makes the walk a lot easier.” As Senator Moura proudly indicates, the motives behind
Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri last week announced the formation of a Tax Policy Workgroup to consider fundamental changes to the
While that legislation – and even more far-reaching companion legislation in the House of Representatives – holds promise, the state Division of Taxation is ready to deliver some measure of reform now. On Monday of this week, the Division proposed new rules that would clamp down on the state’s film production tax credit – and with good reason. According to the
For more on state tax giveaways and what can be done to combat them, see Good Jobs First's new blog, Clawback.
If the facts aren't on your side, why not just buy yourself a favorable change in tax policy? Well, federal authorities are now investigating whether that sort of approach helped to get legislation to cut capital gains taxes passed in Rhode Island a few years ago. As the Providence Journal reports, former House Majority Leader Gerard Martineau recently plead guilty to two federal corruption charges for the business relationships he maintained with CVS and Blue Cross & Blue Shield while a member of the Assembly and "could still face charges for influencing capital-gains tax-cut legislation" at the request of the former company, the nation's largest retail pharmacy chain.
In 2002, despite scant evidence that tax breaks on capital gains promote economic growth, Rhode Island enacted legislation to gradually eliminate the taxation of capital gains held for five years or more. As the Rhode Island Poverty Institute notes, the Assembly froze the scheduled reduction this year, but in light of the state's continued fiscal problems and the sordid manner in which the initial legislation may have been adopted, restoring the tax should be at the top of the Assembly's agenda in 2008.