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State Attorneys Generals to Guard Tobacco Funds
State attorneys general are vowing to fight a new ruling that could whittle down the $6.5 billion yearly payments shared by 46 states from their 1998 settlement with the nation’s four major tobacco companies. An independent arbiter sided with tobacco companies Tuesday (March 28) in a dispute over whether the cigarette makers are losing market […]
Governors to Meet With President Bush
The federal budget deficit, the Iraq war and al Qaeda terrorism may be federal – not state – issues, but their impact on the states colors what’s on minds of governors as they gather in Washington, D.C., over the next several days. The National Governors Association’s annual winter meeting, which runs Feb. 25-28, will […]
Report: 9 states May Lose Under Bush Plan
Nine states would receive less money from Washington, D.C., if Congress adopts President Bush’s 2007 budget proposal, while most others would see modest increases in federal funding, a new analysis suggests. Click the image above for a state-by-state breakdown of federal funding to states. (Expand new window fully) A preliminary state-by-state review of the administration’s new […]
Federal Red Ink Shrinks Money for States
President Bush is offering states no help in paying for congressionally ordered changes to driver’s licenses and would foist new costs on states to provide food for low-income pregnant women while slashing money to revitalize poor neighborhoods. One day after Bush released his .77 trillion proposed 2007 budget , analysts scouring the document concluded […]
Bush Budget Short on State Aid
With the federal government swimming in a sea of red ink, states can be grateful that their own financial pictures have gotten rosier because there is little extra money to trickle down from Washington, D.C. President Bush on Monday (Feb. 6) unveiled a $2.77 trillion budget proposal for the 2007 fiscal year that squeezes […]
Rising revenues spur tax cuts, spending
From Massachusetts to Hawaii, signs abound that the immense pressure placed on state budgets by the fiscal crisis early this decade has eased — and put tax cuts and new spending in the realm of possibility for the first time in several years. In Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is counting on a $1.3 billion […]
States Lead Way on Minimum Wage Hikes
Nearly one-half of Americans now live in states that require wages higher than the $5.15 an hour set by Congress nine years ago. And the trend of states raising their minimum wages in the face of federal inaction shows no sign of fading. Just since the start of the year, one state has increased its […]
Md. vote may pave way for ‘Wal-Mart’ bills
Round two in the battle over whether states should require large employers such as Wal-Mart to spend a certain amount on employee health benefits could get under way this week with supporters of such measures bolstered by a recent victory in Maryland. Washington state’s House and Senate each will hold hearings Thursday (Jan. 19) on […]
States push taxpayers to file online
The books are barely closed on 2005, but state revenue officials are already trying to entice more taxpayers to file ’05 state income tax returns electronically. In Illinois, where recent increases in electronic state personal income tax filings mimic a national trend, slightly less than half of returns were filed by computer last year. But […]
Visions of Money Dance in States’ Heads
This holiday season may be a little less cheery for some online shoppers. The sales tax break that had delighted many an Internet gift purchaser is going the way of free digital music downloads and the one-horse open sleigh. More and more companies voluntarily are collecting state and local sales taxes on online purchases—and […]
Visions of $$$ Dance in States’ Heads
This holiday season may be a little less cheery for some online shoppers. The sales tax break that had delighted many an Internet gift purchaser is going the way of free digital music downloads and the one-horse open sleigh. More and more companies voluntarily are collecting state and local sales taxes on online purchases — […]
Battle Looms Over Drug Payments
More than half of the states expect to face higher costs in 2006 when the federal government begins paying prescription drug costs for 6.4 million elderly people whose pharmacy bills had been paid in part by the states. The new burden on states has prompted a legal challenge from Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo (D). […]