Rejoice, Massachusetts taxpayers. You’ll have a bit more money in your paychecks come January, and, if state assumptions are correct, another long-awaited reprieve — with potentially bigger budget ramifications — could follow. The state income tax rate will drop from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent at the start of the new year, the latest step in a yearslong, legislatively created process that will march the tax rate toward 5 percent and eventually fulfill the will of the voters from two decades ago. The impact next year is likely small for the average taxpayer. For example, someone who is single, has no children, makes $50,000 a year, and rents his or her home stands to save $20, according to the Department of Revenue. Close … [Read more...] about State income tax to drop, edging closer to 5 percent
State income taxes
Rich get richer: State income tax edition
click to enlarge Sen. Jim Hendren Tweets from the state's tax-cutting task force meeting this morning that the group had backed the plan preferred by Gov. Asa Hutchinson to phase in a change in the state income tax to three rates with a drop in the top rate from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent. This means a 14 percent reduction in the income tax on top-dollar income, a whopping windfall for the richest Arkansas taxpayers, as I noted earlier based on 2016 data from the state Finance and Administration Department. The chart at top comes from material distributed at the meeting this morning, with its cumulative almost $200 million reduction in general revenue over the phase-in. Previous data indicates the bottom 38 percent of taxpayers would get no cuts — actually a tax rate increase for the very poorest that is supposedly to be offset by an increase in the standard deduction. About half of the taxpayers, the 638,000 making between $20,000 and $80,000, would realize about 25 … [Read more...] about Rich get richer: State income tax edition
State income tax relief approved for Carson residents dealing with environmental contamination
By Nick Green | [email protected] | Daily BreezePUBLISHED: October 3, 2018 at 5:00 pm | UPDATED: October 3, 2018 at 5:02 pm Almost 300 Carson households who will receive compensation while oil-soaked soil beneath homes in the Carousel tract is removed will no longer have to pay state income taxes on the payments, officials said Wednesday. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed off on a bill authored by state Sen. Steve Bradford, D-Gardena, permitting the exemption. It’s similar to legislation that did the same thing for thousands of residents of Porter Ranch in 2015 who were forced to leave their homes because of the Aliso Canyon gas leak, Bradford said in a press release. “For half a century, these 285 households in Carson have stood above oil-soaked ground,” he said. “These homes were wrongfully built atop former oil reservoirs and the residents have suffered from toxic contamination ever since. This bill will finally give clarity and equity to residents, ensuring they do … [Read more...] about State income tax relief approved for Carson residents dealing with environmental contamination
GOP candidates discuss tolls, state income tax in Ch. 3 debate
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Suspended Minnesota attorney charged with failure to pay state income taxes
Few Minnesota lawyers in the past decade have found themselves so frequently on the wrong side of the law as William Bernard Butler. The 54-year-old Minneapolis attorney has been denounced by federal and state district judges, sanctioned and held in contempt for filing frivolous lawsuits over house foreclosures, then failing to pay the fees and fines when he was sanctioned. When his cases were thrown out, he’s been accused by exasperated judges of refiling the same suits. Butler was suspended from practicing law in 2015 by the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, which has yet to reinstate him. But Butler may be facing his biggest legal problem yet. Despite earning hundreds of thousands of dollars while he still had a law license, Butler has not paid his income taxes since 2010, according to the Minnesota Department of Revenue. He’s now charged with two felony counts of failing to file state income taxes in 2013 and 2014, each count carrying a sentence of up … [Read more...] about Suspended Minnesota attorney charged with failure to pay state income taxes