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States and localities should carefully evaluate the effectiveness of the incentives they offer to attract or retain businesses.

When considering bond financing, state and local policymakers should:

Due to their regressive nature, raising state and local sales taxes should not be the first choice for increasing tax revenues.

States and localities should include services in the taxable base to reduce regressivity and improve neutrality.

Exemptions from state retail sales taxes should be narrowly designed to reduce their regressive nature and avoid

To ensure equity in property taxation, assessors should use fair-market value as the starting point for determining property values.

Property tax relief should be equitable, cost-effective, and targeted to homeowners with low and moderate incomes burdened by their property tax bill.

Prior to finalizing annual budget decisions, localities should inform taxpayers of the property tax rate required to maintain revenues at the same level as the

Raise adequate revenue—the tax system must produce enough revenue to pay for important national, state, and local priorities.