It is a completely different type of ballot initiative campaign that Florida Governor Rick Scott is undertaking. Scott recently announced plans to push for an amendment to the state constitution that would require a supermajority in order for state taxes to be increased. Scott, who is term-limited out of office this year and expected to…
Read More »OK, he may not have actually killed it, but declaring it DOA in Albany is about as close to terminal as it gets. A few weeks back, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed the idea of increasing the city income tax on an individual making more than $500,000 ($1 million for couples) by…
Read More »In so many ways, it could be described as poetic justice, but the federal government has threatened to withhold as much as $87 million from Cook Country as a result of their imposition of a countrywide tax on sugary beverages. The rub comes from the fact that purchases made with food stamps are exempt from…
Read More »Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announced a hearing on multiple paid leave bills which provide different funding mechanisms for the family leave bill that passed in December of 2016. The public hearing is scheduled for 10:30 AM on Tuesday, October 10. 10 at 10:30 am. The current law, which was passed by the DC Council in…
Read More »Although Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak had issued restraining orders previously against the new soda tax the county was imposing, it turned out to be a false hope as last Friday, Judge Kubasiak dissolved the injunction he had placed on the new penny-per-ounce levy that was to take effect July 1. When the injunction…
Read More »SEIU-backed Raise Up Massachusetts is looking to score on a trifecta of issues on the coming November ballot as the group filed two petitions with the Attorney General by Wednesday’s initial deadline. The two petitions include increasing the Massachusetts minimum wage to $15 per hour, and mandating up to 26 weeks of paid sick leave.…
Read More »The appeal of the soda tax as a revenue cure-all may be fizzing out a bit based on the money the new tax levy is bringing in in the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia officials this week acknowledged that actual revenue from the 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugary drinks came in at $6.9…
Read More »Having been rejected at both the Court of Common Pleas (initial action) and just last month, the Commonwealth Court (appellate level), plaintiffs challenging the Philadelphia soda tax this week brought the issue to the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court. The American Beverage Association, along with the Pennsylvania Beverage Association and several other local business plaintiffs, appealed…
Read More »Pregnant or not, they’ll be no reasonable accommodation that costs Massachusetts its tax dollar! The state’s House of Representatives rejected the idea of a permanent weekend tax holiday when they passed and sent the Fiscal Year 2018 budget to the Senate. Representatives rejected a proposal to forego the sales tax every year on the third…
Read More »The paid sick leave mandate filed in North Carolina may have little chance of becoming law this session, but the outlook is completely different for the mandated benefit in the Maryland Assembly of Delegates. That democratically-controlled legislature has already moved the bill through the Assembly and on to the Senate for its deliberation. Maryland Governor…
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