In the early 1980s, high unemployment and the rapid exodus of capital from Quebec led the province to offer seed capital and tax incentives for a new kind of venture capital fund that provided equity to small and medium-sized businesses. The Solidarity Fund was created in 1983 and controlled by the Quebec Federation of Labor. In … Read More
Sponsored by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, AB 680 would establish a system for sharing sales tax revenue among the 18 municipalities in the Sacramento metropolitan region. Because of limitations on how much revenue cities can raise through property taxes, California cities are especially dependent on sales taxes.… Read More
Regional tax-base sharing was implemented in the seven-county Twin Cities metro in 1971. Each community contributes 40 percent of the growth of its commercial and industrial property tax base after 1971 to a regional pool.… Read More
Unlike the United States, the European Union never considered making the internet a tax-free zone. To exempt internet sales from taxation, in the European view, would be to violate the principle of neutrality, as described in an OECD report on the "framework conditions" for electronic commerce.… Read More
The drive for increased property tax revenue, and in some cases sales tax revenue, can lead local governments to make land use decisions that conflict with other planning and economic development goals. A community might reject much needed affordable housing in favor of expensive homes, for example, or forego office buildings with high-paying jobs in favor of big box retail stores with low-wage jobs, in anticipation of generating more tax revenue with a comparatively smaller burden on public services.… Read More
Divorcement laws are designed to prevent oil companies from using their power within the supply chain to manipulate prices and force independent and franchise gas station owners out of business.… Read More
In October 1999 Congress passed price reporting legislation as part of its 1999 Agricultural Appropriations bill. The provision follows the lead of several states in requiring meatpackers to report the prices they pay to producers. … Read More