The Pew Charitable Trusts - State and Consumer Initiatives about Revenue and Spending

National and State Parks Suffering From Budget Cuts

As summer vacation season opens, state and national parks are reeling from budget cuts.

Report: Delaware Has Lowest Business Taxes; Alaska Highest

New report says businesses pay lower taxes in Delaware, Oregon and Utah; higher taxes in Alaska and North Dakota. But what your company pays may depend on the business you’re in.

Not So Fast: Tax Revenue Estimates From Legal Marijuana May Not Materialize

Proponents of legalized recreational marijuana touted millions in taxes that could be collected. But don’t count that money yet.

Legislation Would Take State Mineral Revenue off Chopping Block

Proposals in Congress would save tens of millions of dollars in mineral payments to states from sequestration’s sweeping cuts.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Incentives for companies in Georgia sometimes don’t deliver promised jobs

Hungry for jobs, Georgia has spent hundreds of millions of public dollars in the last decade on grants to recruit and retain businesses.

Mortgage Deduction Rates Vary Widely Among States

The mortgage interest deduction is a tax break that benefits middle-class Americans all over the country—or does it?

Delay in Implementing Sequester Forces Deeper Unemployment Cuts

Unemployment benefits were already on the chopping block thanks to sequestration. But in three-dozen states, the pain for the long-term unemployed is even greater because states have been slow to enact the across-the-board federal cuts.

Small Businesses Seek Relief from ACA Penalties

Big fines for small businesses are among the possible unintended consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to make the Medicaid expansion optional for states.

Federal Road Fund Could Go Broke by 2015

With federal transportation money drying up, will the burden fall to the states?

Jackson Free Press: Lawmakers Must Decide on Raft of Tax-cut Bills

How much is too much? When it comes to tax cuts, that's the question that lawmakers and Gov. Phil Bryant must decide in coming weeks.

Infographic: Spending on Public Health Drops

Our public health systems are meant to be at the forefront of prevention, but state and federal investments are shrinking.

NFL Plays Offense to Get Public Money for Stadiums

Why are so many teams asking taxpayers to build new pro football stadiums this year?

Illinois Follows Nevada with Highest Unemployment

State unemployment numbers fluctuate and once again Nevada tops the country, but the state that comes in second is new.

State Revenues Reach Record High After Recession’s Decline

The Great Recession hurt state tax collections, but many have rebounded and total revenues reached record highs last fiscal year.

States’ Free Online Tax Filing Services Often Overlooked

Some 20 states allow taxpayers to file income tax online for free. Is your state one of them?

Obama Budget Calls for More Competitive Grants

The White House budget, released Wednesday, envisions making states compete with one another for a host of federal grant programs, similar to the Race to the Top education program.

States Rack Up Victories in Bids to Collect Online Sales Taxes

After more than a decade of trying, state officials think they may get to collect billions of dollars of taxes on online sales soon. Find out why.

Sequester's Impact on Unemployment Insurance

This Pew Charitable Trusts report looks at the sequester's impact on unemployment insurance in the states.

Should States Get Out of the Booze Business?

Pennsylvania is as close as it has ever come to privatizing liquor sales following a House vote in March. Tricky questions await the Senate as it considers whether to modernize or dismantle the state’s multifarious system.

Infographic: Payday Loans and Tax Time

How do payday loan borrowers use their tax refund? Pew has shown that payday loans are used for long term expenses instead of emergencies, and that many payday borrowers end up paying off their balances with a cash windfall.

Infographic: Risky Refunds

What are the risks when consumers receive their tax refund on a prepaid card? The use of general purpose reloadable prepaid cards has grown 600 percent since 2010, and Americans are expected to load over $200 billion on them this year, according to the Mercator Advisory Group.

Sequester Will Force Universities to Scale Back Scientific Research

The sequester is already limiting the amount of money universities can offer to graduate students.

Sequester Cuts at Justice Department Threaten Local Drug Investigations

The partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C. threatens to curb drug investigations in rural communities.

Florida Governor Knocks Obama for Unpaid Port Bill

Florida Gov. Rick Scott wants more than just a presidential visit to Miami’s port; he wants the federal government to pay its share of the bill for big improvements under way at Florida’s biggest ports.

Which States Tax Your Travel the Most?

Your vacation dollar won’t go as far in some destinations because of state and local travel taxes.

U.S. Senate Passes Test Vote on Online Sales Tax

A symbolic, nonbinding vote was taken Friday on a proposal that would allow states to collect sales tax for purchases made online.

Congress May Reverse Some of Sequester’s Cuts to WIC

An effort to keep the federal government open could also deliver relief to pregnant women, mothers and young children in need of food.

Higher Ed Cuts Mean Major Tuition Hikes

Tuition at public colleges in Arizona and California has spiked more than 70 percent over the past five years, the result of massive cuts to state higher education funding in those states and most others.

The End of ‘No New Taxes’ in Minnesota

After more than decade of budget deficits balanced without tax increases, Democrats have taken power in Minnesota promising a different path.

Congress Debates Highway Safety Funding Cuts

Budget battles on Capitol Hill could cost states federal money to fight distracted driving and to roll out graduated licenses for teen drivers.

The 5 States Most Vulnerable to Sequestration’s Education Cuts

Automatic federal budget cuts will slash more than $1 billion in K-12 education dollars this year, paring everything from Title I money for low-income students to school improvement initiatives.

The Sequester and the Department of Defense

Of all the states, Virginia stands among the most vulnerable to the $43 billion in defense cutbacks that will make up a significant portion of the anticipated cuts known as sequestration, according to a Stateline analysis.

Automatic Defense Cuts Will Deal Blow to States

A Stateline analysis shows automatic defense spending reductions will hit defense contractors hard. This sector comprises as much as 8 percent of some state economies.

States in Recovery: Revenues

For nearly half the states, recovery is tenuous, with revenues still below peak levels before the recession.

Governors Fear Loss of Bond Tax Exemption

A panel of top tax policy analysts has warned the nation’s governors they face an ongoing risk of increased borrowing costs if President Obama and Congress curb or eliminate the tax exemption on municipal bonds to bring down the federal budget deficit.

Backlash for Red-Light Cameras Hasn’t Slowed Spread

Throughout the country, state legislatures are considering how broadly to use traffic cameras, but the number of communities using them keeps growing.

States with Heavy Military Presence Hurt Hardest

The White House published a 50-state list of potential impacts from the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration. States that rely heavily on military spending would be hurt worst.

Why Tax Revision Is an Inexact Science

Several governors are talking about major change in their state tax structures this year. How do they know how much money a revised tax system will bring in? Often, they don’t.

Can Texas Beat Its Fund-Balance Addiction?

To balance the budget, lawmakers rely on money they can’t spend. Will that change this year?

Where Is Manufacturing Making a Comeback?

After years of losing jobs to lower-cost, overseas operations, several Rust Belt states are seeing a resurgence of manufacturing, led surprisingly by Michigan. In the last three years, Michigan gained nearly 70,000 manufacturing jobs, the most of any other state, according to the latest government figures. Indiana

Will Moderation Win in Texas?

The budget has improved dramatically in Texas, but spending more isn’t necessarily an easy sell.

Debt Ceilings Without Drama

Most states have rules that limit how much they can borrow. Unlike Congress, however, state lawmakers have almost never used the limits to engage in high-stakes political confrontations – at least not yet.

Diving Deeper: Nebraska Governor’s Thinking on Tax Cuts, Medicaid

Few governors are in as enviable a position as Nebraska’s Dave Heineman. The Republican has one of the highest approval rates of any governor in the country, and his state has one of the lowest unemployment rates.

Gas Tax Loses Favor as Governors Look for New Transportation Money

In the search for more transportation money, governors and state lawmakers are largely avoiding one of the most obvious and straightforward funding sources: state gasoline taxes.

Fracking for State Dollars

The boom in oil and gas production has some states taking another look at the kinds of taxes they levy.

As Legislatures Become More Partisan, Nebraska Holds Out

LINCOLN, Nebraska — Both in law and in practice, Nebraska has the least partisan legislature in the country. To supporters, that makes it a national model. To the state’s dominant Republican Party, however, that sometimes makes it a political obstacle.

How Federal Funding to States Has Changed

Federal money on average accounts for about a third of state budgets, but the amount varies widely among the states.

States’ Fragile Recovery at Risk

State budgets are finally climbing out of the fiscal hole they’ve been in for the last four years. But Washington isn’t making it any easier for them.

Old Money, New Decisions in Oregon

Almost a decade after balancing its budget with millions of dollars earned off the massive nationwide tobacco settlement reached in 1998, Oregon lawmakers have a second chance this year to put the settlement money to different use.

GOP Lawmakers Look to Abolish Income Taxes

Republican lawmakers in several states are taking aim at something no state has done in more than three decades: eliminate income taxes.