Taxes
Covering topics such as bonds, cryptocurrency, federal aid and pensions.
Office workers’ exodus should be countered with wiser state and federal tax incentives, and there’s a novel municipal bond angle to promote. But cities themselves must step up to stem the urban maladies that feed public fears.
The Safe Streets for All program is awarding millions of dollars directly to cities and counties to improve roadways for all users. Many are applying multiple times.
Households in rural areas that earn less than $60,000 for a family of four can receive up to $75 per month for a broadband subsidy, but if those funds run out, many homes will be unable to afford continued Internet connection.
In a busy year for ballot initiatives, Ohio voters approved abortion rights and marijuana legalization, while voters elsewhere were wary about taxes, public ownership of major assets and participatory budgeting.
The DonorsChoose Grant Program, a popular crowdfunding platform, allows teachers to list what they want for their classrooms and will fulfill up to $500 for each wish list upon approval from the state. The funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
City officials have until Nov. 1, 2024 to submit a plan to the state as to how they will close the $3 billion shortfall and have the system fully funded by 2055, but it remains unclear how officials will do so.
Halloween seems an apt metaphor for what state and local financiers will encounter over the next year and beyond: plenty of tricks but a modest supply of treats.
Three state-level officials demonstrate the characteristics of good governance, without the chaos playing out in the nation’s capital.
A new report from the Urban Institute tracks how a year of infrastructure and housing grants align with federal priorities for equitable spending.
User fees in particular have the potential to fund a variety of programs, from traditional services like disease intervention to new initiatives dealing with social determinants of health, such as housing and food insecurity.
Proposition 4 could usher in a bevy of property tax changes for homeowners and businesses. If passed, the measure includes using $12.7 billion from a record state budget surplus to lower school district taxes. Unanswered is the proposition’s affordability.
If approved, the new program would offer small, no-interest loans to civilian federal employees who work in Maryland but are not otherwise eligible for unemployment insurance payments.
Since federal protections keeping the medical insurance intact during the pandemic ended in April, approximately 3 in 4 patients have lost coverage due to “procedural reasons.” At least one-third of those patients are children.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $4.7 billion for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells, but new standards, a workforce shortage and less visible leaks may mean that the money will only make a small dent in fixing the problem.
Vulnerable homeowners need financial help when flood, fire or dangerous winds strike. But whose job is it to provide the money?
The annual Medicare-plus advertising blitz now under way should remind us that smarter post-employment benefit designs for state and local employees are long overdue.
