April 2019 Posts

Fair Share Tax Plan - 2019 Edition

Posted by Marc Stier on April 18, 2019 3:47 pm
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The main reason that Pennsylvania’s tax system is so upside-down—with the top 1% paying only 6% of their income in taxes while the middle 20% pays 11.1% and the bottom 20% pays 13.8%—is that the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits us from enacting a graduated personal income tax. Sales and property taxes tend to take a higher percentage of the income of taxpayers at the bottom and in the middle than at the top. But graduated income taxes in many states—including all of our neighbors—compensate by taxing those at the top at a higher rate.

Tax Freedom Day? Not Really.

Posted by Diana Polson on April 15, 2019 10:55 am
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Every year the Tax Foundation, a conservative think tank, releases a report about “Tax Freedom Day,” a made-up day of the year that indicates when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay this year’s federal, state, and local taxes. This year, the report says, Tax Freedom Day falls on April 16, 2019.

A New Proposal Would Give a Much-Needed Boost to Pennsylvania’s Working Families

Posted by Jeff Garis on April 10, 2019 12:42 pm
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Senator Bob Casey today joined Senators Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, Dick Durbin, and Ron Wyden to introduce the Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA), legislation that would begin to fix our tax laws to help working people with low-wage jobs make ends meet as they work to support themselves and their families. The proposal would strengthen the highly successful Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families with children and working people without children at home, ensure that millions of poor children aren’t left out of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and boost the CTC for families with very young children. A summary of key provisions of the WFTRA is included below.

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