Browse By Tags

Budget & Taxes TAX DODGERS DOGGING CA: California's budget is so in the red that Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has placed a multi-billion tax measure on the state's November ballot to try to avoid having to make deep cuts to education and public...

Budget & Taxes OBAMA FIRES OPENING BUDGET SALVO: At a meeting with union leaders and other liberal activists last week, President Barack Obama announced that he intended to begin budget negotiations with congressional leaders by calling for $1...

Budget & Taxes HARRISBURG HEARINGS REVEAL FISCAL PROBLEMS BUT NOT CONSENSUS: Six hours of testimony this month failed to produce any consensus on what caused the financial crisis that has gripped Pennsylvania's capital city. But the first...

Budget & Taxes 'CYBER MONDAY' SPURS PUSH FOR ONLINE SALES TAX: By most accounts, "Cyber Monday," was a good day for online retailers. Adobe Systems Inc. said Cyber Monday sales, based on data from retailers like Best Buy Co....

Budget & Taxes BUSINESS INCENTIVES BIG NEWS: Corporate tax incentives have featured prominently in the headlines following The New York Times' series last month criticizing the deals. Much of the news has been critical of the Times' piece...

Budget & Taxes VA GOV PITCHES RADICAL TRANSPORTATION FUNDING PLAN: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) proposed a radical plan this month to address his state's transportation funding shortage: replacing the state's gas tax, a shrinking...

Budget & Taxes NATION NEARING SEQUESTRATION CLIFF: The automatic federal budget cuts that were part of the 11th-hour debt-ceiling deal Congress reached in August of last year - cuts no one really wants - are set to take effect in a few months...

Budget & Taxes VA TRANSPORTATION PLAN GETS MIXED RECEPTION: As the deadline for Virginia's House and Senate to pass bills to the opposite chamber came and went last week, Senate Democrats refused to go along with Gov. Robert McDonnell's...

Budget & Taxes STILL NO SEQUESTER DEAL IN SIGHT: In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama said both Democrats and Republicans agree that the $1.2 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester "are...

Budget & Taxes SANDY'S ECONOMIC TOLL COULD TOP $20B: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), whose state was among those hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy, said last week that the damage from the storm was going to be "almost incalculable."...

Budget & Taxes POLITICAL DIVIDE ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY: States finally emerging from the long economic downturn are now faced with the dilemma of deciding the best way to facilitate their recovery. Two states in particular are taking approaches...

Budget & Taxes TAX TALK ABOUNDS IN STATES: Last month, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) proposed doing something no state has done for over three decades: eliminating income taxes. (The last to do so was Alaska, which abolished its personal income...

Budget & Taxes GOVERNMENTS PAYING PRICE FOR CORPORATE INCENTIVES: States, counties and cities are handing out more than $80 billion in incentives to companies each year, according to an investigation by The New York Times. But a full accounting...

Budget & Taxes CA STRUGGLES TO BALANCE ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC CONCERNS: The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), passed in 1970, has been credited with helping to preserve the state's lush wetlands and keep condos off the slopes of...

Budget & Taxes HEALTH REFORM LAW DOESN'T HALT MAJOR RATE HIKES: One of the main objectives of the Affordable Care Act was to stem the rising cost of health insurance for American consumers. But that hasn't stopped health insurance companies...