By The Huffington Post News Editors
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal‘s health secretary, Bruce Greenstein, is resigning amid ongoing state and federal probes into the awarding of a Medicaid contract to a company where Greenstein once worked.
The Jindal administration canceled the nearly $200 million state contract with Maryland-based CNSI last week after details leaked of a federal grand jury subpoena involving the contract award.
A large rental truck sideswiped a sport utility vehicle carrying Gov. Bobby Jindal home from his son’s soccer game in Baton Rouge, but the governor was not hurt, officials said Sunday.
By The Huffington Post News Editors
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Debates over gun control and government spending cuts are simply a distraction from more important issues, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“Look at the debates that have dominated Washington in just the last few weeks,” he said. “We have the fiscal cliff, we have debt ceiling, we have Joe Biden‘s gun control task force and, more recently, the sequester. In reality, these are government sideshows in Washington that we have allowed to take center stage.”
Jindal’s speech, largely recycled from earlier remarks, argued that Republicans are taking the wrong tack by focusing on government budgets and spending.
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Filed under: Taxes, Tax Changes, Tax Cuts, State Income Tax, Tax Laws
As you prepare your tax returns for 2012, be warned: A number of states have made or are considering big changes to their state income taxes. With some of those changes already having taken effect, you need to know whether you’re in the line of fire — or in line for a tax break.
1. California
Last November, California voters approved Proposition 30, a measure that imposes two separate tax increases. A quarter-percentage-point increase in the sales tax will affect everyone who shops within the state, but the measure also included an income-tax increase for single filers earning more than $250,000 and joint filers with $500,000 or more in income. Proposition 30 will add 1 to 3 percentage points to the existing top tax bracket through 2018, sending the maximum tax rate up to 12.3 percent. And the tax hike was retroactive, so filers will have to pay higher income taxes on the returns they’re filing now.
2. Kansas
Gov. Sam Brownback hasn’t made a secret of the fact that he doesn’t like the state’s income tax. Last year, Kansas passed a law that took effect this year, reducing the top tax bracket from 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent. It also eliminated income taxes on small business income for hundreds of thousands of businesses. Now, Gov. Brownback is looking to send rates down even further, with the eventual goal of getting rid of income taxes entirely.
3. Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal recently proposed a tax swap, offering to get rid of the state’s income and corporate taxes in exchange for raising sales taxes. Critics argue that the shift could put too much burden on lower-income residents who can least afford it, but some policymakers argue that sales taxes promote savings and investment over consumption. One benefit from a higher sales tax: Louisiana’s tourism industry would have visitors to the state paying a higher share of the overall burden.
4. Maryland
Last year, the state legislature passed a law raising tax rates on high-income residents. Effective for the 2012 tax year, the new rates apply to single filers making more than $100,000 and joint filers above $150,000 in income. Rates in various brackets rose between one-quarter and three-quarters of a percentage point, with a new top rate of 5.75 percent.
5. Massachusetts
Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a plan that’s the reverse of the Louisiana plan, offering to swap a one-percentage-point increase in the income tax rate to 6.25 percent, but lower sales taxes from their current 6.25-percent level to 4.5 percent. The move would bring Massachusetts more in line with other states within the region, with the governor saying that the net increase in tax revenue would help boost spending on education.
6. Minnesota
Along the same lines as Massachusetts, Minnesota Gov. Mark …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
In the keynote address at the Republican National Committee‘s winter meeting, Jindal said the GOP doesn’t need to change its values but “might need to change just about everything else we are doing.”
