Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| Taxation of Online Travel Services Local officials in 25 states and the District of Columbia have sought to reinterpret hotel occupancy tax ordinances to apply to amounts paid by consumers to online travel booking services... |
| A Mortgage Deal With the Wrong Incentives Customers face incentives to hide income or to not work entirely so that they can qualify for the relief provided by the settlement determined by the Justice Department for the banks involved in foreclosure abuses... |
| Facebook Cofounder Gives Up U.S. Citizenship before Company Goes Public A record 1,780 gave up their U.S. passports last year compared with 235 in 2008, according to government records... |
| Stimulus Spending Keeps Failing Once a comparatively low public-debt nation, Japan opted for a Keynesian approach to spending years ago, resulting in a ratio of government debt to gross domestic product around 210 percent -- the largest in the world... |
| California to Impose Tax on Out-of-State Business to Fund College Scholarships A proposed California state bill to levy a tax on out-of-state businesses in order to fund scholarships for middle class students to attend state universities would impose a $1 billion tax hike on those businesses that are not headquartered in California... |
| Glendale's Public Hockey Project The National Hockey League has announced a probable sale of the Phoenix Coyotes to a private owner, but the resulting financial contract would put the city of Glendale on the line for $14.5 million annually until 2033... |
| Taxation, American Style Aggregately, net social welfare outlays in the United States consumed 27.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 -- above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 23.3 percent... |
| Americans Pay More in Taxes than for Food, Clothing and Shelter In 2012, Americans will pay approximately $4.041 trillion in taxes, which is $152 billion, or 3.9 percent, more than they will spend on housing, food and clothing... |
| More Than Good Enough for Government Work Public pensions nationwide are underfunded by a total of $4.4 trillion, despite efforts by many state governments to reform pension programs... |
| Movie Production Incentives in the Last Frontier In 2000, only three states offered subsidies for movie production; by 2010, the number of states offering incentives had peaked at 40... |
