Tag: state revenue

IRS Issues Clarification on Rebates, Says Illinois Taxpayers Can File Returns

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/irs-issues-clarification-on-rebates-says-illinois-taxpayers-can-file-returns/3070195/?utm_source=Wirepoints+Newsletter&utm_campaign=acdd8da238-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_895ee9abf9-acdd8da238-30506353#new_tab

Excerpt:

Millions of taxpayers were asked to delay filing their 2022 tax returns after questions arose over whether or not specific rebates should be included as taxable income, and now the Internal Revenue Service has given their answer.

The IRS said in a press release that “in the interest of sound tax administration,” residents in most states, including Illinois, will not be required to report rebates on their federal tax returns, and that filing of those returns can continue.

There were limited exceptions, including Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend, but for the most part all states that were included in the original notice will not require their taxpayers to report the rebates as income.

Illinois was included in a large group of states whose residents were advised to potentially delay filing their taxes after questions arose about the reporting of rebates given to taxpayers and property owners.

Those rebates, passed as part of the state’s fiscal year 2023 budget, were given to individuals who made less than $200,000, or couples who made less than $400,000. Those rebates returned $50 to each taxpayer.

Property tax rebates of up to $300 were also made available as part of the program.

Under the new IRS guidance, those payments are considered to be “general welfare” payouts, and therefore are not subject to federal income taxation.

Author(s): James Neveau

Publication Date: 12 Feb 2023

Publication Site: NBC Chicago

Nine States Began the Pandemic With Long-Term Deficits

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/12/16/nine-states-began-the-pandemic-with-long-term-deficits

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Excerpt:

Twenty states recorded annual shortfalls in fiscal year 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic triggered a public health crisis, a two-month recession, and substantial volatility in states’ balance sheets. States can withstand periodic deficits, but long-running imbalances—such as those carried by nine states—can create an unsustainable fiscal situation by pushing off some past costs for operating government and providing services onto future taxpayers.

States are expected to balance their budgets every year. But that’s only part of the picture of how well revenue—composed predominantly of tax dollars and federal funds—matches spending across all state activities. A look beyond states’ budgets at their own financial reports provides a more comprehensive view of how public dollars are managed. In fiscal 2020, a historic plunge in tax revenue collections and a spike in spending demands were met with an initial influx of federal aid to combat the pandemic. The typical state’s total expenses and revenues grew faster than at any time since at least fiscal 2002, largely thanks to the unprecedented federal aid. But spending growth outpaced revenue growth in all but five states (Idaho, Maryland, Missouri, South Dakota, and Virginia). And 20 states recorded annual shortfalls—the most since 2010 and four times more than in fiscal 2019.

Despite the sudden increase in annual deficits, most states collected more than enough aggregate revenue to cover aggregate expenses over the long-term. But the nine states that had a 15-year deficit (New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Kentucky, New York, and Delaware) —or a negative fiscal balance—carried forward deferred costs of past services, including debt and unfunded public employee retirement liabilities. Between 2006 and 2020, New Jersey accumulated the largest gap between its revenue and annual bills, taking in enough to cover just 91.9% of its expenses—the smallest percentage of any state. Meanwhile, Alaska collected 130.5%, yielding the largest surplus. The typical state’s revenue totaled 102.7% of its annual bills over the past 15 years.

Zooming out from a narrow focus on annual or biennial budgets—which may mask deficits as they allow for shifting the timing of when states receive cash or pay off bills to reach a balance—offers a big-picture look at whether state governments have lived within their means, or whether higher revenue or lower expenses may be necessary to bring a state into fiscal balance.

Author(s): Joanna Biernacka-Lievestro, Alexandre Fall

Publication Date: 16 Dec 2022

Publication Site: Pew

Report: Illinois overspending taxpayer money year after year

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/report-illinois-overspending-taxpayer-money-year-after-year/article_7bc5b8ba-8c84-11ed-a77d-a77c6a37c073.html?utm_source=thecentersquare.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Ft2%2Fillinois%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Excerpt:

An analysis by Pew Charitable Trusts shows that Illinois is one of only two states in the country with total tax revenue shortfalls exceeding 5% of total expenses, and the only ones with annual deficits in each of the past 15 years. The other state is New Jersey.

Pew state fiscal health manager Joanna Biernacka-Lievestro said Illinois is in select company.

“Nine states failed to collect enough revenue to cover their long-term expenses over the 15 years ending in fiscal 2020,” Biernacka-Lievestro said. “Secondly, Illinois was one of two states that struggled the most.” 

After New Jersey, Illinois had the largest deficit with aggregate revenue able to cover only 93.9% of aggregate expenses. In comparison, Indiana and Iowa were both close to 104%. Alaska collected 103.5%, yielding the largest surplus.

Author(s): Kevin Bessler

Publication Date: 4 Jan 2023

Publication Site: The Center Square

Tax Revenue in Most States Surpasses Pre-Pandemic Growth Trend

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/data-visualizations/2014/fiscal-50

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Excerpt:

As the first quarter of 2022 came to an end and the United States passed the two-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, total state tax revenue was at its highest level since just before its historic decline in early 2020. Collections were 18.1% greater than those for the final quarter of 2019, after adjusting for inflation and averaging across four quarters to smooth seasonal fluctuations. Only Wyoming and North Dakota had not taken in enough revenue to surpass their pre-pandemic levels.

Nationwide and in 31 states as of the end of the first quarter of 2022, cumulative tax receipts since the pandemic’s start, adjusted for inflation, were even higher than they would have been if pre-COVID growth trends had continued—despite fallout from the pandemic and a two-month recession. According to Pew estimates, Idaho led all states, with 16% more cumulative tax revenue than it would have collected under its pre-pandemic growth rate. New Mexico was second at 15.5% above the trend. Nationally, combined tax revenue at the end of the first quarter of 2022 was 3% above estimates of what might have been collected had the pandemic not occurred.

However, estimates also show that cumulative tax revenue fell short of its pre-COVID growth trend in slightly more than a third of states since the pandemic’s onset, and most other states’ recoveries largely followed historical trends.

Looking at cumulative totals since the start of the pandemic offers a way to identify states in which tax revenue has over- or underperformed since January 2020, based on pre-COVID trends. This approach also provides a different view of the strength of collections from the often-astonishing quarterly and annual percentage increases that were skewed by this particularly volatile period. For each of the nine quarters from Jan. 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022, Pew calculated the difference between actual tax revenue and estimates of how much each state would have collected had revenue grown at its pre-pandemic, five-year average annual growth rate.

Author(s): Melissa Maynard

Publication Date: 7 Sept 2022

Publication Site: Pew Trusts

12 States High Earners Are Flocking To

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2022/08/11/12-states-most-high-earners-are-moving-to/

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Excerpt:

U.S. households that earn upward of $200,000 a year can have a significant impact when they move between states, despite their relatively small numbers, according to a recent analysis by SmartAsset. In 2020, these tax filers comprised 6.8% of total tax returns filed across the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

High-earning households’ influence is so great because a state that loses more of them than it gains in a given year may experience a decline in tax revenues and its fiscal situation may worsen.

As part of its analysis, SmartAsset identified the states with the most movement of high-earning households. Researchers examined the inflow and outflow of tax filers making at least $200,000 in each state and the District of Columbia between 2019 and 2020.

Author(s): Michael S. Fischer

Publication Date: 11 Aug 2022

Publication Site: Think Advisor

State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets for 2022

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://taxfoundation.org/state-income-tax-rates-2022

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Excerpt:

Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for 36 percent of state tax collections in fiscal year 2020, the latest year for which data are available.

Forty-two states levy individual income taxes. Forty-one tax wage and salary income, while one state—New Hampshire—exclusively taxes dividend and interest income. Eight states levy no individual income tax at all.

Of those states taxing wages, nine have single-rate tax structures, with one rate applying to all taxable income. Conversely, 32 states and the District of Columbia levy graduated-rate income taxes, with the number of brackets varying widely by state. Hawaii has 12 brackets, the most in the country.

States’ approaches to income taxes vary in other details as well. Some states double their single-bracket widths for married filers to avoid a “marriage penalty.” Some states index tax brackets, exemptions, and deductions for inflation; many others do not. Some states tie their standard deductions and personal exemptions to the federal tax code, while others set their own or offer none at all.

Author(s): Timothy Vermeer, Katherine Loughead

Publication Date: 15 Feb 2022

Publication Site: Tax Foundation

Iowa’s Bold Tax Reform

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/iowas-bold-tax-reform-kim-reynolds-11642614230

Excerpt:

Gov. Reynolds is proposing a bold tax reform that would increase the incentives to work and invest in the Hawkeye State. Her proposal unveiled last week would reshape the state income tax, gradually consolidating brackets en route to a flat 4% rate by 2026. “When the bill’s fully implemented,” she said, “an average Iowa family will pay more than $1,300 less in taxes.”

The flat 4% levy would drop the state’s top rate by more than a third. Under current law Iowans are set to pay 6.5% on earnings above about $80,000, a threshold that catches much of the middle class. That and three other income-tax brackets would be swept away by Gov. Reynolds’s reform.

The plan would also slash the state’s corporate tax, which is even more punishing. Iowa-based companies pay 9.8% of their earnings above $250,000 in state tax. Ms. Reynolds’s reform would gradually reduce the top rate to 5.5%, capping corporate-tax revenue at $700 million a year and using excess revenue to offset annual rate cuts. An immediate rate cut would be better economically, providing more clarity for corporate investment decisions. But the revenue target should be met if the economy continues to grow.

Author(s): WSJ Editorial Board

Publication Date: 19 Jan 2022

Publication Site: WSJ

How High Will California’s Taxes Go Before There’s No One Left To Tax?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://reason.com/2022/01/11/how-high-will-californias-taxes-go-before-theres-no-one-left-to-tax/

Excerpt:

It’s hard to say which of these is the “worst,” but the 2.3 percent gross receipts tax sticks out. That gross receipts taxes are an awful way to structure a business tax is one of the few things that tax policy experts across the political spectrum almost universally agree on. That’s because they make no allowance for the large variance in profit margins that different types of businesses make—whether a business has a profit margin of 0.1 percent or 10 percent, it would still have to pay the same percentage of its total revenues.

That’s a problem with any gross receipts tax, but California’s proposed tax would exacerbate this inherent problem with a rate that is three times the level of the nation’s current highest. The higher the gross receipts tax rate, the more low-margin businesses that could be put in a position where operating in California would lose them money.

Almost as bad is the proposal to institute a payroll tax on businesses with 50 or more employees. Not only are payroll taxes a regressive tax (even if the tax is imposed on the employer, it would be passed on to employees in the form of lower wages), but the 50-employee threshold would create an obvious disincentive for businesses to hire their 50th employee.

Author(s): JOE BISHOP-HENCHMAN AND ANDREW WILFORD

Publication Date: 11 Jan 2022

Publication Site: Reason

Stress Testing in Sacramento

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://mailchi.mp/5ac903164813/stress-testing-in-sacramento-6602594

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Excerpt:

In January the Department Of Finance will issue the Governor’s Budget for 2022-23. No section will be more important than the Stress Test, which forecasts revenue losses in the event of a stock market decline such as in 2001-3 and 2008-9.

Last January, the Governor’s Budget forecast revenue losses of $100 billion. Just two years earlier, the 2019-20 Governor’s Budget forecast losses of $50 billion. That makes sense because, as DOF explains, “the higher levels and valuations in the stock market increase the risk of a large stock market drop leading to a large decline in capital gains revenues” on which California is extraordinarily dependent.

….

Schools and other services need predictable annual funding. You should build reserves to the levels predicted by stress tests.

Author(s): David Crane

Publication Date: 5 Dec 2021

Publication Site: Govern for California (Mail Chimp)

States Are Seeing Steep Income Tax Revenue Growth. Will It Last?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizfarmer/2021/12/01/states-are-seeing-steep-income-tax-revenue-growth-will-it-last/

Excerpt:

States collected nearly $455 billion in total income tax revenue in fiscal 2021—an astounding 14.7% increase over the prior year. That’s according to the latest report from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), which covers spending through June 2021. Over two years, income tax revenue is up 15%.

However, these numbers are highly influenced by unusual economic times. For starters, states delayed their tax filing deadline by several months when the pandemic began. For most, this pushed their 2020 income tax revenue into the next fiscal year. This artificially deflated 2020’s numbers while inflating 2021 collections.

The federal stimulus has also played a role. Since March 2020, the feds have doled out $867 billion in cash to households via three Economic Impact Payments. While those payments weren’t taxable, they could indirectly increase state tax liability for some. (The New York Times NYT +1% has a good explainer on that.) Plus, unemployment insurance — which most states do tax — received a massive boost for about 15 months.

Author(s): Liz Farmer

Publication Date: 1 Dec 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

New CT budget has an unprecedented built-in surplus of $2.3 billion

Mary Pat Campbell
New CT budget has an unprecedented built-in surplus of $2.3 billion

Excerpt:

Question: When was the last time a Connecticut legislature was poised to adopt a state budget with a $2.3 billion surplus built into it?

Answer: Never, until now.

Democrats and Republicans alike were expected to vote for the $46.4 billion, two-year package when it goes before the House of Representatives on Tuesday. But even though about 5% of the funds appears to be left unspent, the anticipated surplus would become a payment into the state’s pension accounts.

That’s because the budget, which boosts spending 2.6% in the fiscal year beginning July 1 and by 3.9% in 2022-23, really is the first of its kind under a new system designed to bring stability to state finances.

Connecticut is four years into a savings program that limits spending of income tax receipts tied to capital gains and other investment earnings, but this is the first time since 2017 that analysts are projecting big revenues from Wall Street before legislators actually approve a budget.

Author(s): Keith Phaneuf

Publication Date: 8 June 2021

Publication Site: CT Mirror

Illinois Comptroller says state’s finances heading in the right direction

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/illinois-comptroller-says-state-s-finances-heading-in-the-right-direction/article_71e04696-c56e-11eb-a0f7-8f7ebd2412e4.html#new_tab

Excerpt:

 Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said the state’s financial condition is moving in the right direction despite a structural deficit, multi-billion dollar backlog of bills and one of the highest unfunded pension liabilities in the nation. 

During a virtual conversation Friday with Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Mendoza said that wasn’t the case last year when things looked dire when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay in tax collections.

“That is why we had to rely on borrowing from the Federal Reserve at a lower rate just to get us through April and May, which typically would be our best months,” Mendoza said.

Author(s): Kevin Bessler

Publication Date: 4 June 2021

Publication Site: The Center Square