Governing on Taxes

As part of a point-counterpoint series, Governing Magazine interviewed yours truly, getting my answers to the following questions:

• Should states cut taxes in a recession like this one?
• Can you cut spending and taxes in times like these?
• Given the states’ desperate need for revenue, why isn’t raising taxes a sound idea?
• Several states that have raised income taxes have targeted the highest brackets, passing so-called “millionaire taxes,” the idea being that it doesn’t effect spending the way a tax increase on lower income people would. What’s your take on the millionaire tax?
• Some states have begun to talk seriously about extending the sales tax to services. What’s your reaction to that?
• As parents get their kids ready to go back to school, many states – nearly a third of them – have sales tax holidays. How good an idea are those?
• In the tax-versus-spending continuum, how do you see things shaping up for states in the coming year?

Check out my answers here.