logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Nonprofit Newswire | Raising State Revenue—The Year of the Punt

Rick Cohen
June 18, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

June 16, 2010; Source: stateline.org | The state budget crisis for nonprofits is generally mischaracterized as a problem of which cuts states ought to make—and consequently, which public services and nonprofit providers get their axes gored. More fundamental to the budget crisis is the antiquated and inadequate mechanisms that states use to raise revenues.

As Stateline.org of the Pew Trusts notes, the states are slow—almost immobilized—about coming to grips with the revenue side of their budget crises. Stateline says that the states have punted on the revenue raising side of the solution. Only Kansas and Arizona decided to raise their sales tax rates, though several have removed some exemptions on various items (for example, candy and soda in Colorado are now subject to a sales tax).

Colorado has followed Oklahoma in taxing Internet purchases—the so-called “Amazon” tax—though Amazon and other Internet retailers have fought against those bills in other states. Amazon specifically punished Colorado by shutting down its affiliate program in the state, apparently taking a toll on in-state retailers that were cross-marketing Amazon products.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Some states have—finally—begun to reconsider the variety of tax credits they hand out sometimes willy-nilly to businesses (and others) that don’t do much other than forgoing needed revenues. Iowa eliminated $115 million in job creation tax credits having determined that the credits weren’t creating jobs. Oklahoma suspended for the moment tax credits for historic building renovations and for wind energy, while Wyoming actually initiated a tax on wind power generation.

The politically easiest tax to raise seems to be the tax on cigarettes and tobacco, more than a dozen states hiking tobacco taxes in the past year or so. But the total revenue generation from tobacco taxes in all 50 states only comes to $3 billion. Add in those states going after alleged tax cheats (like New York chasing Dionne Warwick), and you have a mix of states “nibbling around the edges” to achieve short-term fixes.

Which states are looking at long term solutions to the “broken systems that produce ongoing structural deficits?” They’re few and far between. Nonprofits ought to be leading the public discourse not just on which programs to save, but how to address states’ revenue-generating dysfunctions that annually lead to deeper and more intractable budget crises.—Rick Cohen

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Rick Cohen

Rick joined NPQ in 2006, after almost eight years as the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Before that he played various roles as a community worker and advisor to others doing community work. He also worked in government. Cohen pursued investigative and analytical articles, advocated for increased philanthropic giving and access for disenfranchised constituencies, and promoted increased philanthropic and nonprofit accountability.

More about: Nonprofit News

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
What Nigeria Can Teach the US About Food Insecurity
Chidinma Iwu
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
Forerunners of Food Justice: Black Farmer Movement Spans Generations
Demetrius Hunter
What Would a Social Justice Investment Ecosystem Look Like?
Steve Dubb
Measuring Healthcare Equity in North Carolina
Sonia Sarkar
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.