Ocean State Action celebrates
2nd Annual Health Care Policy Heroes!
Please Join Us to Honor
State Representative Ray Sullivan,
SEIU 1199,
and Nancy St. Germain
Guest Speakers to include:
Margarida Jorge, National Field Director for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), formerly of SEIU, AFSCME,
and Missouri ProVote
Jeff Blum, Executive Director of USAction
Monday, June 21st, 2010, 6PM - 8PM
Local 121, Providence
Get your tickets here.
Tell Congress: Protect Consumers and Hold the Big Wall Street Banks Accountable!
Call Senator Jack Reed Toll Free TODAY at 1-866-544-7573.
Tell Senator Reed to support financial reform that holds big Wall Street Banks accountable.
Historic health reform has passed! The bill is a victory for the American people:
- Insurance companies can no longer deny care for pre-existing conditions, charge you more if you’re sick, cap your benefits, sell you junk insurance, or raise rates with impunity.
- For the first time, Members of Congress will get their health insurance from the same system regular Americans do.
- Small business and working families will security and stability knowing they can afford good health insurance that meets their needs.
- 32 million uninsured Americans will get affordable coverage, saving over 30,000 lives per year.
Read an op-ed from a Rhode Island emergency physician explaining why we need reform.
Now write your own!
- Health Care Policy Heroes
- Flat Tax Repeal
- Finance Reform
- Health Care Reform
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Proposals to Restore Balance to Rhode Island’s Tax System
Rhode Island must be sure that every dollar the state uses, whether it be in
spending or in tax breaks and tax expenditures, is wise, effective, and
will help boost the local economy and create jobs.
Repeal the “alternative flat tax”:
The flat tax is a massive tax break for a tiny number of Rhode Island’s richest taxpayers.
• This year, it will cost the state $56.2 million, and $80 million each year when fully phased in.
• There is no certainty that the flat tax creates any jobs. In fact, many economists agree that tax breaks for the
rich are ineffective at creating jobs, and actually hurt local economies (see opposite side, bottom).
• 63% of flat tax beneficiaries in 2007 did not even live in Rhode Island.
• Repealing the flat tax would significantly help restore balance to our tax system by reducing our dependence
on property taxes.
Broaden the sales tax base, and lower the rate:
Even though Rhode Island has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country, the amount of revenue
generated ranks 37th in the nation because there are so many exemptions, particularly of services.
• Rhode Island can lower its sales tax rate, expand its sales tax base (especially to services), and generate more
revenue than it currently does.
• Rhode Island should tax internet downloads, and the full rental value of hotel reservations booked online.
• Rhode Island currently exempts 20 items from sales tax that no other New England state exempts.
• Connecticut taxes 79 services, whereas Rhode Island taxes only 29.
• These changes would create both more horizontal and vertical equity in our tax structure.
Review and reform our tax expenditures:
Tax expenditures are a form of hidden spending. Rhode Island foregoes over $1.3 billion in revenues
each year in the form of tax expenditures (tax credits, exemptions, and deductions). Because they are
written into our tax code, they are not subject to the careful analysis and evaluation of their effectiveness
given to each item in the state budget.
• Rhode Island has 211 tax expenditures (though most of these are effective and achieve their intended
purpose, such as groceries being exempt from the sales tax).
• 88 of these exemptions (42%) are not found in any other New England state.
• The cost of 118 of these expenditures (56%) could not be reliably estimated by the RI Division of Taxation,
including 24 of the 25 preference items written into the Business Corporation Tax.
Enact combined corporate reporting:
This would close a tax loophole that large multi-state and international corporations use to avoid
paying taxes in Rhode Island when they shift their Rhode Island income out of state.
• Enacting combined reporting would generate at least $9 million a year, but probably much more.
• 23 states have already closed this loophole, including every New England state except RI and CT.
• This would help level the playing field for small locally-owned and –operated businesses in the state.
Opt out of the “Domestic Production Deduction” corporate tax break:
The “Domestic Production Deduction” is a corporate tax break enacted by the federal government in
2004 that Rhode Island has not decoupled from, and because of the way it is designed, RI is likely
subsidizing production activities not occurring in the state.
• Opting out of this would save the state about $5 million per year
• 21 states, including every state in New England except RI and VT, already disallow this deduction
• According to the Center for Budget Policies and Priorities, this deduction is “unlikely to protect or create
jobs within the state. . . provides little or no help to businesses that are struggling in the current downturn,”
and is “heavily slanted towards large corporations.”
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Visit the Rhode Island Policy Reporter at What Cheer! for up-to-date policy analysis and reports.
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