Taxes Archives - Public Seminar

Colonization

How Israel Freezes Palestinian Salaries

Clearance revenues have got to go

May 14, 2025 • by Lamees Farraj

Israeli occupation of Palestine oppresses the Palestinian people using every possible tool and method—including control over people’s livelihoods. Some of this economic warfare is highly visible: the destruction of economic infrastructure in Gaza, the prevention of Palestinian laborers from accessing the Israeli job market, and the restriction or denial of ...

Education

Biden Must Not Bail on Four Million Older Americans

The President is quietly betraying a generation of indebted students

November 15, 2022 • by Chivas Sandage

The fact that representatives referred only to “students” and “young people” suggests that they didn’t yet know it is older Americans who are being abruptly left behind. We were never warned that we could soon be treated as “a separate and unequal class.”...

Biden Must Not Bail on Four Million Older Americans

Corporations

The “Transferable” Subsidy Scam

Meet a big, under-the-radar problem

October 31, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

It’s a mess, is what I’m saying. But making a corporate subsidy transferable is an easy thing to do under the radar, without folks knowing what it means or realizing what their state is in for when such a policy is actually implemented. ...

Politics

What You Don’t Know Can’t TIF You

Pretend something isn’t a problem and it goes away, right?

September 29, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

TIFs date back to the 1950s, and every state except Arizona has them in one form or another. There are thousands upon thousands of TIF districts all across the country. Chances are decent you’ve heard about one in your local area....

Corporations

3 Ways Congress Could End the State Subsidy Wars

Don’t hold your breath, though

August 29, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Though most of the time I write about how state and city leaders and community members can combat the scourge of corporate subsidies themselves, in theory, Congress could swoop in and knock the whole thing off, stopping states from engaging in this race to the bottom. Here are three ways ...

3 Ways Congress Could End the State Subsidy Wars

Politics

The Big Box Sales Tax Scam

Slapping a cap on Missouri’s handout is a very simple fix

July 18, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Auditor is an office I imagine most folks don’t think about very much—even though auditors are elected in 24 states—but having a good one in Missouri has made a tangible difference in at least getting good information out that folks can act upon....

Politics

Maine Took on Big Box Stores, and Won

A blow to the “dark store theory” scam is a win for taxpayers

May 9, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Big retailers have launched an effort to promulgate dark store theory because they have the time and resources for a long fight that pays off in the long term, unlike the communities that are seeing property tax revenues plummet in the here and now....

Corporations

The Film Tax Credit Sequel Stinks

Two thumbs down to subsidies for film and TV production

April 15, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

There’s a new sequel coming out, and let me tell you, it is terrible. No, I’m not talking about whatever film is actually up on the silver screen at the moment, but a push in statehouses across the country to revive or create film and TV tax credit programs, one of ...

Corporations

Why Taking on Turbotax Matters

Intuit is a scourge

April 8, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Tax Day 2022 is almost here, so it seems like a good time to talk about one of my least favorite corporations: Intuit, the makers of Turbotax, the now ubiquitous electronic tax payment software. A couple of weeks ago, the Federal Trade Commission — which enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection ...

Economy

Lowe’s Loses, Taxpayers Win

It’s good that the judges told Lowe’s to take a hike, but these cases are just going to keep coming

July 19, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

_____ A Wisconsin appeals court recently rejected big-box retailer Lowe’s attempt to lower its property tax rate in the town of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Lowe’s tried to employ what’s known as “dark store theory” to cut its property valuation nearly in half, from $13.6 million to $7.1 million. As I’ve explained previously, dark ...

Columnists

Does Being a Billionaire Mean Being a Liar?

ProPublica has tax returns suggesting an answer

June 30, 2021 • by John Stoehr

_____ ProPublica is doing the Lord’s work. Specifically, investigative reporters Jesse Eisinger, Jeff Ernsthausen, and Paul Kiel are doing it. Two weeks ago, the nonprofit news group published the first in a planned series of pieces revealing, in exquisite detail, the moral character of the very obscenely rich. The series will ...

Does Being a Billionaire Mean Being a Liar?

Economy

Infrastructure Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving

But the GOP will oppose this important jobs bill and the taxes one billionaires that could redistribute wealth to millions of Americans

April 1, 2021 • by Heather Cox Richardson

_____ This week, President Joe Biden unveiled a new $2 trillion infrastructure proposal titled The American Jobs Plan. The statement introducing the plan notes that the United States currently ranks 13th in the world for the quality of our infrastructure, and that our public domestic investment as a share of the ...