Many states have announced higher-than-expected tax revenue — the first upbeat news to come out of beleaguered state budget offices since 2007. But the windfall is largely the result of smoke and mirrors. Revenue estimates for this year were set at ultra-low levels, leaving plenty of room for good news. The reality is that state budget problems are the worst they’ve been since the start of the recession. State tax revenue is more than 10 percent below their 2008 levels, and 44 states and the District of Columbia have scrambled to close a collective $112 billion budget shortfall for fiscal 2012, which for most states begins July 1. Read full article > >

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Instead of signs of recovery, a sucker punch for state budgets

Here’s one booming part of the new economy: prison labor. Officials have been expanding the practice of prison labor to balance cuts in federal financing and shrinking tax revenue, using prisoners to perform services that private contractors or…

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Prisoners Help Relieve State Deficits

Google may not exactly be the good corporate citizen it says it is: The company hides as much as $60 billion in tax revenue from the U.S. government by moving its foreign profits through subsidiaries in Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. As a…

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Google’s $60 Billion Tax Dodge

The EU urges China to curb smuggling to Europe, saying counterfeit cigarettes alone deprive the EU of 10bn euros (£8bn) in tax revenue annually.

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EU presses China over fake goods