Archive: Tax reform

  • Statement of Principles for Telecommunications Tax Reform March 15, 2013

    Statement of Principles for Telecommunications Tax Reform 1.  Taxes should be economically neutral and equitable. A tax is economically neutral, or efficient, if it does not induce taxpayers to change their behavior in response to the tax.  In other words, a taxpayer would make the same decision regardless of the tax.  A tax narrowly applied to one particular segment of industry would not be neutral if it could induce taxpayers to shift their spending or investment away from the taxed goods or services to other competing untaxed goods or services. A tax is equitable if the burden if distributed fairly, […]

  • Use Tax Elimination Act March 15, 2013

      Use Tax Elimination Act Summary The use tax was created as a “counter-part” to the sales tax, and designed to capture tax revenue from sales made outside the state. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Quill, the use tax is unenforceable since out-of-state sellers cannot be forced to collect that tax from in-state buyers. Even when use tax collection lines are placed on individual income tax returns, collections are paltry. The use tax has thus created a “nation of tax cheats.” In the name of simplicity and fairness, the use tax should be abolished. Model Legislation […]