Legislative proposals
Tax Loopholes Seen Costing Billions Annually
by bob ()
WASHINGTON - Tax and accounting loopholes that largely benefit rich taxpayers and companies cost the government $20 billion a year even as the pay gap between chief executives and employees has widened, two groups said on Monday.
The biggest loss comes from a "stock option accounting double standard" that allows corporations paying executives stock options to deduct more than their actual expenses, they said.
Read the full article on Reuters.
Executive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay
by bob ()Our 15th annual Labor Day report (with the Institute for Policy Studies) finds that tax subsidies directly related to executive pay total $20 billion. Average CEO pay is 344 times the pay of an average U.S. worker.
2008 Estate Tax Lobby Day Success
by bob ()There was electric excitement in Washington, DC, during the UFE co-sponsored Estate Tax Lobby Day, where participants inspired each other and advocated for their belief in a strong estate tax.
Fair Taxation
by Ben (- Activism/Actions
- Collaborative
- Commonwealth
- Estate Tax
- Fair tax
- Government Accountability
- Legislative proposals
- Policy
- Progressive tax
- Regulation
- Revenue
- State tax
Tax fairness is the key to a fair economy, where the cost of maintaining a common government is shared on the basis of one's ability to pay.
Where They Stand on the Estate Tax
by Anonymous ()A snapshot of the presidential candidates' positions on taxes, including the estate tax.
Estate Tax
by Ben ()
UFE has been working to preserve the federal estate tax since 1999. The federal estate tax is the country's most progressive tax, and its only wealth tax. It helps prevent the concentration of wealth that weakens democracy.
President and Congress at Odds Over Estate Tax
by Anonymous ()President Bush's FY 2008 budget still reflects full estate tax repeal, but Congress is fighting him.
Windfall Profits Tax
by bob (- Budget
- Collaborative
- Commonwealth
- Corporate Accountability
- Fair tax
- Legislative proposals
- Progressive tax
- Revenue
- State tax
Recently, oil companies have been raking in record profits off the price of crude oil and gasoline. These profits are coming at the expense of consumers, whose wallets have been increasingly pinched at the gas pump. In an effort to recover a portion of this obscene largess, legislators at the state and federal levels have been considering the imposition of a windfall profit tax (WPT).
Disclosure of Subsidy Deals
by bob (- Collaborative
- Commonwealth
- Corporate Accountability
- Government Accountability
- Legislative proposals
- State tax
Economic development subsidy decisions are often made in secret by political and corporate powerbrokers. Rarely is there public input into subsidy deals - or even knowledge of basic information like costs and benefits. And yet, such deals total $50 billion per year in taxpayer expenditures.
Taxes on Services
by bob ()Expanding the Sales Tax to Services
While all states with sales taxes tax goods (i.e., furniture, computers, cars, etc), only a few impose the sales tax on services - of which there are over 100 potentially-taxable categories (i.e., car repairs, exterminators, architecture, etc.).
Expanding the sales tax to services would not only raise substantial new revenue, but would make state tax systems more fair, more stable, easier to administer and more economically neutral.
