If you would like to find out the tax aspects of Obama's stimulus package which seizes about 36% of the stimulus, as well as how the State of California mends its budget crisis through various tax increases, there was a recent discussion on federal and state tax issues given by professor Heather Field and professor Darien Shanske, two respected tax professors at UC Hastings. The discussion was recorded in mp3 format and is now posted here.[mp3]
Other than the applicable nature of the subject discussed, the discussion offered some insights of how CA tax increases will negate many parts of our federal tax credits and how our state’s constitutional setting makes it difficult to avoid similar budget crisis in the future.
In the first section, professor Field opened by explaining the need for a stimulus package and why the tax system plays an important role in stimulating economic activities. Professor Field then discussed the various implementations of the tax aspect which include non-repayment credit for first time homebuyers, educational tax credit for students, and sales tax reduction for new vehicle. The lecture ended with a thought provoking discussion as to weather the stimulus will work as well as the short term and long term nature of these tax provisions. It is appeared that President Obama is seeking to keep some of these tax provisions permanent despite growing concern over our budget deficit. Here, professor Field nicely instigated the debate over the role of our tax system as a tool for income redistribution.
I thoroughly enjoy the professor's subjective approach toward controversial issues such as the role of our tax system and whether Obama’s tax cuts will sufficiently motivate economic activities in the short run. Field posited the question as to why the tax credits only applies for a “limited window,” and what would be the consequence of extending these provisions permanently.
Other than issues related to fairness and wealth distribution, economists have been concerned over inflation and potential negative impact on monetary system through tax instrument. We are injecting a huge amount of capital inflow to the economy, in the long run, it will take some painful interest hike to restrain these capital surplus, tame down inflation and pay off the budget deficit. Furthermore, at some point, consumers may stop responding to tax cuts as an effort to stimulate economic activities. Behavioral economics tells us that consumer behaviors are often altered by short term and long term expectations of the consumer’s future income.
The discussion quickly moved on to Darien Shanke discussion on California budget crisis and how California state has used tax system to mitigate budget problem in the time of overall global crisis. If California were an independent state, it would have been the tenth largest economy in the world. Here, professor Shanske introduced the not-so-obvious paradox: if California hasn’t overspent, why does a State which arguably has the highest income and sale tax in the country constantly finds ways to bail itself out of budget crisis over the past couple decades?
The key problems rest in property tax and the fact that California doesn’t have a standard sale tax system. At ¼ of the country’s average property tax, the State imposes the lowest property tax rate in the nation. Because income tax is less sufficient and stable than property tax, our State budget has always been much more vulnerable in the time of crisis as it is now. For these reasons, our state is now seeing itself going through massive lay offs (10.5% unemployment rates in February), budget cuts on education, double fee on car registration and general income tax increases.
Professor Shanske then questioned how did end up here? Why can’t we simply increase property tax to balance the budget? California is the only State in the country that requires 2/3 majority to pass the budget. Shanske reasoned that having super majority requirement is not too "insane", but if the State were to make it very difficult to change the budget and tax structure, it should have had a good initial arrangement. Here, our State legislators happened to choose the worse possible arrangement by adopting a highly unstable tax system, and making it very strenuous to change it. Given the State's distressing institutional constrains, professor Shanske left his audience empty of any probable solution. He is not to blame.
The lectures are immensely informative and thought provoking. Nevertheless, they do not require any tax background from its listeners to appreciate the on going changes and debates in the federal and state tax system. "The Tax Aspect of the Stimulus Package"[mp3] is a highly recommended tune.
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