Scott Drenkard
Tax Foundation
Washington, DC, United States
Contact Scott
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Scott:
South Dakota Voters Will Decide Initiated Measure 25 on November 6th
Initiated Measure 25 would increase the cigarette tax to $2.53 per pack while increasing the wholesale tax on other tobacco products from 35 to 55 percent. → Read More
Montana Initiative 185 Mixes Medicaid Funding with Unstable Tax Revenue
Montana Initiative 185 would extend the expansion of Medicaid eligibility and would pay for this expansion in part by increasing cigarette taxes. → Read More
Is Every Tax Cut Kansas?
Despite the rhetoric you might hear, many states have successfully reformed their tax code without running into the same budget problems as Kansas. → Read More
Should Bottled Spring Water Be Subject to Severance, Extraction, or Excise Taxes?
A proposed bottled water excise tax in Michigan opens a new frontier in state tax policy, but are extraction taxes on renewable resources good or necessary? → Read More
How High Are Vapor Taxes in Your State? (2018)
A variety of taxing methods and a wide range of rates indicates that there is little consensus on the best way to levy vapor taxes in the U.S. → Read More
Explaining the Pass-Through Income Anti-Abuse Rules in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Though admittedly complex, the pass-through anti-abuse rules in the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act represent a well-thought-out approach to dealing with this issue. → Read More
These Are All the 2017 Tax Proposals in Seattle
The state of Washington has a tax system with many admirable features, but this deluge of Seattle proposals is likely to make prospective businesses wary. → Read More
Louisiana Scraps Gross Receipts Tax Proposal
The gross receipts tax proposed in Lousiana was pulled the after two days of overwhelmingly negative testimony before the Ways and Means Committee. → Read More
Louisiana’s Proposed Tax Plan is a Bad Deal
Governor Edwards' tax plan consists of almost a dozen moving parts. Here's an overview of what's included in the plan and analysis of each provision. → Read More
Three Big Problems with Sales Taxes Today — and How to Fix Them
Sales tax rates are talked about frequently, but policymakers often overlook these three major issues with sales tax bases. → Read More
State Gasoline Tax Rates in 2017
This week’s map shows the gas tax rate in each state as of January 1, 2017, using data from the American Petroleum Institute. These taxes can vary widely. The highest state gas tax is assessed in Pennsylvania, at 58.2 cents per gallon, with Washington State (49.4 cpg) and Hawaii (44.39 cpg) following closely behind. Alaska … → Read More
Testimony: Reexamining Kansas’ Pass-through Carve-out
Presentation to the Kansas House Committee on Taxation January 19, 2017 Chairman Johnson, Vice Chairman Phillips, Ranking Member Sawyer, Members of the Committee, → Read More
Cigarette Taxes and Cigarette Smuggling by State, 2014
Key Findings: Excessive tax rates on cigarettes approach de facto prohibition in some states, inducing black and gray market movement of tobacco products into high tax states from low tax states or foreign sources. New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 55.4 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in 2014. New York is followed by… → Read More
Sports Drinks Are Now More Expensive than Beer Thanks to the Philadelphia Soda Tax
On January 1st, the controversial Philadelphia soda tax took effect. It is levied at a rate of 1.5 cents per ounce, which is 24 times the tax levied on beer in the state of Pennsylvania. This stark new tax has prompted a few interesting reactions on Twitter as customers are starting to see just how large the effects on prices of sweetened beverages in the city are. → Read More
Several States Will Start 2017 with Corporate Tax Reductions
The new year is just a matter of hours away, and once we ring it in, several states will be implementing changes to their tax codes. One of the places we will be seeing a lot of action is in corporate income taxes, where many states are continuing to phase in multi-year reductions and reforms. Five states will reduce their corporate income tax rates in 2017: → Read More
Six Thoughts About the Carrier Deal
The news of the day is that President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President-Elect and Indiana Governor Mike Pence have together secured a deal to keep a Carrier furnace plant in Indiana. The plant will retain 1,000 jobs that the company was planning to move to Mexico. Some thoughts that are important for media and taxpayers to consider: → Read More
Arkansas: The Road Map to Tax Reform
Click here to download the full report. → Read More
State Tax Successes in 2016 Thanks to You, Our Readers and Supporters!
2016 has been a busy year for state tax issues at the Tax Foundation. If you’ve been following our blog, you know that Joe, Nicole, Jared, Morgan, and I have been covering all the major state tax proposals considered this year, and that whenever possible, we get in planes, trains, and automobiles to bring our expertise directly to the states we are working in. → Read More
New Op-Ed in U.S. News & World Report on Soda Taxes
This November, three California cities and Boulder, Colorado are set to vote on ballot initiatives that would impose hefty local excise taxes on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. My colleague Morgan Scarboro and I have an op-ed in U.S. News & World Report today about how these proposals are unlikely to deliver on the promises proponents of these taxes make. From the op-ed: → Read More
Top State Tax Ballot Initiatives to Watch in 2016
Ballot initiatives and referenda are often an afterthought on Election Day, but in many states, voters going to the polls on November 8th, 2016 will have the opportunity to weigh in on significant—in some cases, momentous—policy questions. → Read More