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MT: Disclosing Corporate Tax Dodgers
http://www.progressivestates.org/dispatch Thursday, March 8, 2007In Today's Dispatch:
MT: Disclosing Corporate Tax Dodgers
Every wonder which corporations are dodging your state corporate income tax? Unfortunately, you usually can't find out since corporations have maneuvered to keep their tax returns secret from the public-- including from state legislators who have to write tax policy without knowing which companies are abusing loopholes to evade paying their fair share of taxes.
The Center on Budget Policy & Priorities just this month released a report, State Corporate Tax Disclosure: The Next Step in Corporate Tax Disclosure, which notes that only the state of Wisconsin presently discloses corporate income tax payments for all individual corporations (and that disclosure is relatively limited and hampered by expensive fees to access the information), while seven states require company-specific disclosure of certain economic development tax breaks. As the report argues, "Company-specific tax disclosure may well be the precondition to meaningful progress in restoring the state corporate income tax to a significant role in financing state services." While the Montana tax disclosure bill faces an uphill battle in the state House, it should be an example to other states to encourage more transparency in corporate tax disclosure. Missouri has also introduced a bill requiring individual corporations to file annual tax disclosure statements, and we can hope more states will follow. |
That could change in Montana, with Growing Economy |
by J. Mijin Cha |
Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) Advance in the States
As we first highlighted in our Dispatch last December, renewable energy portfolio standards (RPS) are a great way to stimulate renewable energy development. By requiring that a certain percentage of a state's electricity come from renewable energy, RPS jump starts economic development and job creation.
This session, the states have taken the idea and run with it. Leading the pack is Minnesota, which just passed a requirement of 25 percent use of renewables by 2020. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ellen Anderson and Rep. Aaron Peterson, easily passed both houses with wide bipartisan support and was signed into law by Governor Pawlenty. Minnesota is taking the lead but is not alone:
- Oregon is aiming for "25 by '25". SB 373 introduced by Sen. Brad Avarkian starts with a 5 percent requirement by 2011 and increases to a requirement of 25 percent of electricty sales to come from renewables by 2025.
- North Carolina is also following with a bill introduced by Rep. Pricey Harrison that would require an RPS of 20 percent by 2020. HB 77 has fifty-five sponsors and co-sponsors, a stark change from when Rep. Harrison first introduced the bill in 2005.
- New Mexico's legislature increased its RPS four-fold and now requires 20 percent renewables use by 2025. Led by Sen. Michael Sanchez, SB 418 was signed into law by Governor Richardson this past Monday.
- Colorado is also looking to increase its standard from 10 percent to 20 percent by 2020. HB 1281, sponsored by Rep. Jack Pommer and Robert Witwer and Sen. Gail Schwartz, passed through the House and is currently in the Senate.
- California accelerated their RPS from 20 percent by 2017 to 20 percent by 2010. The Public Utilities Commission is now looking at ways to increase the percentage of renewables to 33 percent by 2025.
In Congress, a 20 percent by 2020 bill was introduced in the House by a bi-partisan coalition of congressmen, but states are already way ahead. As Governor Pawlenty said when signing the Minnesota bill, "Today, we are leading the nation on the path to a better, cleaner, more independent energy future."
Increasing Democracy |
By Nathan Newman |
NJ: A Progressive Alternative to Highway Privatization Ripoffs
Since we've condemned the recent spate of privatization proposals, it's encouraging to see a debate in New Jersey on an innovative proposal to manage state highways that doesn't involve a rip-off of the taxpayer and the loss of democratic control over a public asset.
The idea being proposed is to have the state pension fund take ownership of the Turnpike Authority, creating an infusion of funds into general revenue coffers to pay off other debts, while locking in future tolls as a revenue source for paying off state pension payments to public employee retirees.
On one level, this would just be a bookkeeping shuffle within the New Jersey government, moving debts from one state account to another, but it's a shuffle with a political logic behind it:
- Because public assets like highways provide benefits over such a long time-frame, regular government authorities can sometimes undervalue and underinvest in them because their time horizon is limited by year-to-year budgets.
- Public pension funds, on the other hand, inherently have a multi-decade time horizon and the guaranteed year-after-year revenues generated by tolls are a good fit with their need to cover pension payments to retirees.
- And because public pension funds are accountable to the state government, highway ownership by a pension fund means decisions over tolls and other highway management decisions would ultimately still be subject to democratic control-- unlike the situation under privatization to private investors where democratic control would be gutted.
There are many logistical and legal challenges to such a transfer of assets and the public pension system may not have the capital to invest in the highway system while maintaining prudent investment diversification. But as an alternative to the privatization ripoffs being proposed around the country, the New Jersey debate is worth watching.
Research Roundup
Research Roundup
A major report (large PDF) by the bi-partisan Commission on the National Guard and Reserves bolsters criticisms by states that the Iraq war has led to neglect of the domestic mission of the National Guard and that coordination with states has been lacking. The report recommends reforms to put a higher priority on domestic missions and increase the influence of governors over National Guard deployments.
Want to fight illegal immigration? Raise immigrant wages. That message is one counterintuitive implication of Drum Major Institute's updated "Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: 2007 Edition," which highlights that an intelligent immigration policy needs to eliminate sweatshops, enforce the minimum wage and encourage higher wages for all workers, native and immigrant.
Also on the immigration front, the Public Policy Institute of California argues in a just-released report that immigration to California in the last decade-and-a-half did not undercut other workers' wages, while a report by the Immigration Policy Center shows that immigrant men aged 18 to 39 had an incarceration rate one-fifth that of native-born adults of similar age.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released an updated A Chartbook about the Roles of Medicaid and SCHIP detailing the health needs of low-income children and how Medicaid and SCHIP operate to address those needs -- and which state practices are most effective in doing so.
While some people try to argue against minimum wage hikes in favor of an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), this Economic Policy Institute brief explains that the minimum wage and EITC are complementary policies that offer different benefits that are not substitutes for each other-- so minimum wage increases are needed regardless of changes in tax policy.
Using data from interviews with 42,033 households, a new RAND study has found that well-designed urban design, including four-way intersections and a dense, diverse business environment, are key factors in encouraging people to walk more. This follows a RAND study last fall that found suburban sprawl to be a cause of chronic health ailments due to less physical activity.
If we want to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities, a new report by The Center for American Progress argues for stronger support for community health programs that do active outreach and education to whole communities to reduce higher-risk behaviors that contribute to hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
MT: Disclosing Corporate Tax Dodgers
Montana SB 242
Missouri, HB 883
Sen. Jim Elliott, Corporate Income Tax and the Public's Need to Know
Center on Budget Policy & Priorities, State Corporate Tax Disclosure: The Next Step in Corporate Tax Disclosure
Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) Advance in the States
Progressive States Network: Renewable Portfolio Standards Across the States
Apollo Alliance, Renewable Portfolio Standard
Union of Concerned Scientists, Experts Agree: Renewable Electricity Standards are a Key Driver of New Renewable Energy Development
RPS Bills: Minnesota, Oregon, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado
NJ: A Progressive Alternative to Highway Privatization Ripoffs
New York Times Pension Fund as Tollkeeper: A Way Around the Skeptics
Progressive States Network, Ripoff Privatizations-- And Why They Keep Happening
Eye on the Right
Although the Florida House has been talking about alternative fuels, they're decidedly less bold when it comes to action. The first bill seen by the energy committee loosens regulations on construction of coal power plants. Eligible plants would use integrated gasification combined cycle technology, which drastically reduces particulate emissions, but does nothing to curb CO2 emissions. While the sentiment is appreciated, IGCC should be the standard for new coal plants, not a laudable achievement. After all, the effort and incentives of such a bill could have gone towards cleaner technologies, considering the state's moniker boasts about sunshine and the closest substantial coal mine is three states away.
3 Steps Forward
1. WA: Children’s health care bill heads for governor’s office
2. States move to close tax shelter that benefited Wal-Mart, others
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Masthead
The Stateside Dispatch is written and edited by:
Nathan Newman, Policy Director
Mijin Cha, Policy Specialist
Adam Thompson, Policy Specialist
John Bacino, Communications Associate
Suggestions
Please shoot me an email at jbacino@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features.
John Bacino
Editor, Stateside Dispatch
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