State and local tax news — from state income tax quirks to property tax fights, because not all tax battles happen in Washington.
Illinois has announced that it will delay tax refunds for individual taxpayers through March. As tax authorities continue to struggle over to how best prevent identity theft-related tax fraud, it’s very likely that the processing of returns and refunds will be slow – at least at the beginning of the tax season.
The city of Seattle has the authority to impose a tax on guns and bullets according to Judge Palmer Robinson of King County Superior Court. Judge Robinson ruled in favor of the City of Seattle this week after the National Rifle Association (NRA), the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the Second Amendment Foundation, and others filed…
According to the National Rifle Association (NRA), Americans have acquired over 170 million new firearms since 1991. While it’s tough to pinpoint the number of guns currently in the U.S., a 2012 Congressional Research Service suggests that the number hit 310 million in 2009. A U.S. Congresswoman believes that those numbers present a unique opportunity…
From pumpkins to costumes to candy, Americans are expected to spend up to $6.9 billion on Halloween sales in 2015. According to the National Retail Federation, 157 million Americans will scare up an average of $74 per person in Halloween holiday spending. You know, of course, that I’m one of those folks who goes crazy…
Raise taxes or else. Those were the marching orders issued to the Alabama House of Representatives from Gov. Robert Bentley (R) earlier this year. Specifically, the “or else” included a threat to cut a number of services to taxpayers including closing prisons. Kicking up the rhetoric, he warned taxpayers in April, “You might not care about…
Author’s Update: The Illinois Lottery disagrees with the characterization that a promise to pay in the future is an IOU, reaching out to say, “At no time has the Illinois Lottery issued an ‘IOU’ to winners, nor does it plan to do so.” The Lottery has released the following statement: “Due to the ongoing budget situation…
Think your property tax rates are high? It’s all relative. The Tax Foundation has compiled a list of property tax rates by state – with a twist. It’s not always easy to rank property tax rates because states tax real property using a variety of methods. In my home state of Pennsylvania, for example, the formula to calculate…
Years ago, Benjamin Franklin opined that, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” A New Jersey trade association claims that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark was trying to take advantage of both by selling headstones to parishioners, a move the trade association has labeled unfair and scrambled…
If you’re a gun owner (or hoping to be) in the city of Seattle, it’s going to cost you: Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a new tax on gun and ammo sales. Under the new law, referred to as the “gun violence tax,” gun and ammo sales in the city are subject to a tax…
Calling property taxes “unethical, unchristian-like and above all, it is thievery,” tax protester Steven Piotrowski finally paid off his 2013 Montgomery County property taxes this week, preventing a sheriff’s sale at the last minute. He would not, however, go quietly. He initially decided to make a statement by paying off his bill with 83,160 pennies….