Taxes
Covering topics such as bonds, cryptocurrency, federal aid and pensions.
Cuts in funding don’t change counties’ obligations to their residents. They will have to figure out how to raise new revenue, cut services or both. But success in navigating this new landscape won’t come from austerity alone.
Since the Great Recession, states have moved to reform their public pension plans, making tough choices and frequently doing so with bipartisan support. Federal lawmakers should keep these lessons in mind.
Two of the best alternatives for user-paid infrastructure are toll roads and variable-fee express lanes. States with fast-growing populations are embracing toll projects because they can't wait for federal funding, and private capital is eager to invest.
Federal mandates that steer contracts to unionized companies exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage. Taxpayers lose when responsible contractors that do a quality job at the best price are frozen out.
With most public retirement systems seeing improved actuarial funding levels, there’s an opportunity to offer options that could make government compensation more competitive. But any impetus for change should come from pragmatic public employers, not partisans or lobbyists.
Some conservatives want Washington to stay out of disaster zones, leaving the job to states and localities, along with private insurance. This won't fly politically or practically.
Florida has a reputation as a low-tax state, thanks to its lack of a personal income tax, but top earners get bigger breaks than low-income individuals.
Hundreds of billions of state and local dollars are sitting stagnant in bank accounts earning almost nothing — balances that have tripled in recent years. It’s not clear why this is happening, but it’s far too much foregone income.
A big slice of Inflation Reduction Act funding comes with a mandate to help underserved communities. Cincinnati is already delivering on the promise.
On Wednesday, senators rejected efforts to roll back guidance from the Treasury Department regarding how state and local governments can spend pandemic recovery funds.
Some interest groups don’t like project labor agreements, but new research shows that they benefit taxpayers and the construction industry while strengthening our skilled trade workforce.
State agencies are trying to address technical shortcomings that led to as much as $135 billion in fraud during the pandemic. But declining and volatile federal funding for administration is impeding those efforts.
The state’s Environmental Finance Authority acts as a bank, a development authority and an aid agency all at once. The agency’s mission is about to get even larger as it will manage $1 billion of federal aid.
A 6-year plunge in federal funding that aids victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse is causing alarm among state and local organizations that rely on those dollars to provide services.
The Louisiana Department of Health found that 81 percent of the state’s population were serviced with A or B grade water systems. But 115 of the state’s systems, mostly in rural areas, were ranked with a D or F.
Research shows that traditional defined-benefit plans still play a key role in attracting and retaining government employees. To maximize these benefits’ impact, employers need to make sure their workers understand them.
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