Thanks to Steve, a reader from Connecticut who wrote to let us know that state will not tax the federal rebate.
But wait, there’s more from the Nutmeg State. Connecticut also is considering its own state-level rebate program to boost its local economy.
According to the Associated Press (via MSNBC), lawmakers in Connecticut, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin are floating ideas on ways they, like the feds, could jump-start their slowing economies.
The proposals are from both Democrats and Republicans and range from state tax rebates (Connecticut, Pennsylvania) to extended and expanded sales-tax-free holidays (Iowa) to alternative-energy initiatives (Pennsylvania) to job-creation programs (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee).
Details on each state’s economic ideas can be found in a boxed feature adjacent to the main story.
Balanced budget concerns: A big hurdle to state-level stimulus packages and rebates is that, unlike the federal government, most states must balance their budgets.
So any give-back to taxpayers would likely mean less money for education, health care, transportation and public safety.
Still, you can’t blame politicians from dreaming about ways to make voters citizens happier, especially in an election year.
And some folks think such efforts are at least worthy of discussion.
"I would never say that states shouldn’t think about this," Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, told the AP. "Some states have surplus dollars, and it’s a good time to invest them. Think of it as, it is raining and if you have an umbrella, you should use it."
