Blog Post Round-Up
June 29, 2008
- Dubious BATSA Scoring from the NGA: As the Council on State Taxation pointed out back in 2005, the NGA study uses an imprecise methodology and is biased to overstate the BATSA revenue loss.
- Thoughts on the BATSA Hearing: Yesterday, several Tax Foundation staffers and interns attended a hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. The subject of the hearing was H.R. 5267, the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2008 (BATSA), and the Tax Foundation submitted testimony analyzing the issue of business presence for taxation purposes.
- The Carbon Tax as a Tool for Redistribution: A growing number of conservative economists are becoming enamored with carbon taxes as a means of using market forces to address global climate change. While acknowledging the serious impact a carbon tax could have on the entire economy, these economists argue that the substantial revenues generated by the tax could be used to cut other economically inefficient taxes such as the corporate income tax.
- IRS Increases Mileage Reimbursement Rates: The IRS announced yesterday an increase in some mileage reimbursement rates.
- Virginia Holds Legislative Special Session on Transportation Taxes: Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D) has a list of ideas for $1.1 billion in new taxes, which will be debated beginning today at a week-long legislative special session.