Simmering just beneath the headline federal tax reform plan, state governments are busy at work hatching their own tax reform measures that will soon make the tax landscape even more complex to navigate for big business. The federal tax reforms have put pressure on many states – particularly, high-tax states like New York, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey – to implement major tax reforms of their own. It is an effort to diminish the negative tax hit many New Yorkers are expected to face from the Federal tax plan’s lower caps on mortgage interest and property tax deductions. Missouri Governor Eric Greitens just promised to introduce “the boldest state tax reform in America,” in response to forecasts that the federal tax reform will cost the state upwards of $58 million in lost revenue. Kevin B. Sullivan, the state tax commissioner, explained that legislators are currently looking at replacing at least part of the state income tax with an employer tax or a scheme to turn the income tax into “voluntary contributions” from residents to the state.

Source: Forbes January 12, 2018 20:48 UTC