Governing on Taxes
August 19, 2009
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?