As fiscal year 2023 draws to a close, North Carolina’s House and Senate have each passed their own versions of the biennial budget for fiscal years 2024-25. While legislative leaders have generally agreed to overall spending levels, negotiations remain ongoing to resolve different approaches to tax policy.
In the closing days of the 2023 legislative session, Oklahoma lawmakers repealed the state’s corporate franchise tax and eliminated the marriage penalty in its individual income tax. Both tax changes represent a positive step forward for the state.
Legislation currently advancing in Louisiana—related to the franchise tax, inventory tax, and corporate rebate and exemption programs—would make the state’s tax code simpler and more competitive.
A recently enacted bill in Mississippi made the Magnolia State only the second state in the country to make full expensing permanent. The bill joins reductions to the individual income tax and capital stock tax rates, already in progress, as model, pro-growth reforms for the region.
The changes put forth in a new package of bills would represent significant pro-growth change for Oklahoma that would set the state up for success in an increasingly competitive tax landscape.
The proposed reforms would be welcome changes to the Commonwealth’s tax code, but the economic principles behind the reforms also have important implications for the Bay State’s income tax system writ large.
Policymakers from both parties in Harrisburg have proposed reducing Pennsylvania’s 9.99 percent corporate net income tax (CNIT) rate but could not agree on an approach—until now. With the enactment of HB 1342 lawmakers finally succeeded in cutting what had been the second highest state corporate tax rate in the nation.
If Sooner State policymakers want to use a portion of their higher revenues to make the economy work better for all Oklahomans, they should consider repealing the franchise tax, trimming the income tax, or both—paired, if desired, with targeted aid to those in the greatest need—not writing a single round of gimmicky checks.
While Tennessee now boasts no individual income tax, there is still more work to be done for businesses—Tennessee is in a good position to get the job done.
Passage of Louisiana Amendments 1 and 2, which are aimed at the sales tax and individual and corporate income taxes, respectively, would substantially simplify the Pelican State’s tax code and provide tax relief in both the short and long term.