Month: January 2020

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Trump Makes the States a Medicaid Offer They Must Refuse

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Yesterday the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would encourage states to apply for waivers that would replace the current system of financing Medicaid with a block grant program that would cap federal Medicaid funding. States like Pennsylvania must say no to this offer, which threatens a federal / state Medicaid program that works well, especially in our state. Under the current system, states must implement the Medicaid program in a way that guarantees that individuals who meet certain income requirements get coverage for a set of medical problems. Some states cover a more limited number of medical problems. Others, like our state, cover more. But all must meet certain minimum federal requirements. And, together, the federal and state governments pay for the health care of everyone who meets the requirements set by the state. The Trump plan is problematic in… Continue reading

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Trump Makes the States a Medicaid Offer They Must Refuse

  By PA Budget and Policy Center

Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. Yesterday the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would encourage states to apply for waivers that would replace the current system of financing Medicaid with a block grant program that would cap federal Medicaid funding. States like Pennsylvania must say no to this offer, which threatens a federal / state Medicaid program that works well, especially in our state. Under the current system, states must implement the Medicaid program in a way that guarantees that individuals who meet certain income requirements get coverage for a set of medical problems. Some states cover a more limited number of medical problems. Others, like our state, cover more. But all must meet certain minimum federal requirements. And, together, the federal and state governments pay for the health care of everyone who meets the requirements set by the state. The Trump plan is problematic in… Continue reading

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Corporate Tax Cuts Since 2002 Now Cost PA $4.2 Billion Yearly: Pennsylvania Should Pass Worldwide Combined Reporting

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Policy reports, Taxation

Originally published at KRC-PBPC here. By Stephen Herzenberg, Diana Polson, and Marc Stier This paper focuses on the details of one part of this story: the cuts in corporate taxes in Pennsylvania since 2002 that have reduced revenues by what is now $4.2 billion per year and have created a tax system that is among the most unfair in the country.   Pennsylvania’s tax-cutting, shaped by the corporate-sponsored narrative, has taken a variety of forms. Under both Republican and Democratic governors, we have entirely eliminated one of our two major taxes on corporations, the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax (CSFT). We have also allowed businesses to lower their reported profits subject to the largest remaining corporate tax—the Corporate Net Income (CNI) tax. And we have continued to give multi-state corporations free rein to cook their books and exploit corporate tax loopholes to their reported income subject to the CNI. The result is that 73% of corporations that do business in Pennsylvania pay no corporate income tax at all.1  This policy brief updates estimates of the cost each year to the Pennsylvania budget from corporate… Continue reading

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Corporate Tax Cuts Since 2002 Cost PA $4.2B Annually

  By Corporate Taxes, Diana Polson, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Stephen Herzenberg, Taxation

By Stephen Herzenberg, Diana Polson, and Marc Stier Closing Delaware loophole, instituting worldwide combined reporting would level the playing field for small businesses and generate over $700 million a year to invest in PA communities This paper focuses on the details of one part of this story: the cuts in corporate taxes in Pennsylvania since 2002 that have reduced revenues by what is now $4.2 billion per year and have created a tax system that is among the most unfair in the country.   Pennsylvania’s tax–cutting, shaped by the corporate-sponsored narrative, has taken a variety of forms. Under both Republican and Democratic governors, we have entirely eliminated one of our two major taxes on corporations, the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax (CSFT). We have also allowed businesses to lower their reported profits subject to the largest remaining corporate tax—the Corporate Net Income (CNI) tax. And we have continued to give multi-state corporations free rein to cook their books and exploit corporate tax loopholes to their reported income subject to the CNI. The result is that 73% of corporations that do business in Pennsylvania… Continue reading