Tag Archive for Tax Hike

California’s Prop 55 – Poor Tax Policy

California’s tax hike, Prop 55 on the 11/8/16 ballot, passed (62-38). Its story dates back to 2012.

In 2012, a need for revenue led voters to enact two temporary tax increases (Proposition 30). The state sales tax was increased from 7.25% to 7.50% for four years (2013 through 2016). Also, new personal income tax brackets (10.3, 11.3, and 12.3 percent) were added to the existing top rate of 9.3 percent for seven years, starting at income levels greater than $250,000. The income tax rate increase was retroactive back to January 1, 2012.

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Written by | Posted in Tax Policy • United States

The Tax Burden In America Is Not High Enough?

By a vote of 69-27, the United States Senate has passed yet another tax hike. Instead of curbing spending, they have decided that raising taxes on the Internet is the best way to pay the debt.

The bill aims to enforce a sales and use tax on businesses that rely on the Internet to reach their customers. While the specifics of the bill are about as long as Obamacare, here are the top three problems with the Internet sales tax:

•  Online businesses would be responsible for collecting and filing their sales tax from customers that don’t reside in their state.

•  Businesses would be forced to use software that will generate a database to keep track of their tax paying customers. This also puts their customers at risk should the database be hacked, spilling millions of sensitive personal information records into the wrong hands.

•  States might no longer seek to lower their taxes for business friendly environments. They’d be encouraged to raise their taxes in order to collect tax money from other states, thus hurting potential business development. Read More

Written by | Posted in Federal • Sales/Use Tax