Mayors in blue states are lining up with Democrats in Congress to pressure the White House into restoring a tax break that was significantly reduced by former President Trump’s tax reform.

Telecommunications giants Comcast CMCSA +1% and Verizon VZ +0.7% are the latest to sue Maryland over its first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax as the state moved to delay implementation of the controversial legislation this week.

Cities and states have increasingly been offering moving incentives to entice new residents in recent years and the pandemic has prompted more governments to get into the game.

Hawaii and New York rank last in the nation on key economic growth measures, a sign that the pandemic continues to take a toll on major cities and tourism-reliant economies.

In 2017, the city of Louisville, Kentucky, analyzed the average life expectancy of its residents. Those in the more affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods in the eastern section of the city lived longest, the city found, with an average life expectancy of 79 to 83 years. In West Louisville—a historically disinvested area with a predominantly Black population—the average life expectancy was a full decade shorter. The stark difference, the city concluded, was “in part due to systemic oppression.” That systemic oppression includes a long history of discriminatory land use policies.

New Hampshire and Massachusetts are fighting over whether the Bay State still has the right to tax the incomes of 103,000 former commuters now working from home in New Hampshire. But this tax spat deals with issues that spread far beyond the Massachusetts border — it has national implications and could impact millions of Americans.

Tucked inside the American Rescue Act is a tax change that has big implications for tax revenue and the gig economy. Starting for tax year 2022, many contractors with gig economy companies like Uber UBER +1.3%, DoorDash and Lyft LYFT -2.1% will be getting 1099 forms when they previously wouldn't have.

While the coronavirus-driven economic downturn hasn’t been as disruptive to most state budgets as initially feared, for many local governments it’s dealt a brutal financial hit.

The pandemic and the social distancing required to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus has rapidly elevated the role of the gig economy in the United States’ larger socio-economic system. Over the past year, gig workers for companies such as Instacart and DoorDash have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering food and groceries to those sheltering at home.

The pandemic and subsequent downturn has left its mark on state and local budgets over the past year, but it could result in a permanent loss of income for New York.

As Congress gets closer to approving a new round of Covid relief, the proposed $1,400 stimulus checks are likely to make the biggest difference in the pocketbooks of taxpayers in Mississippi and West Virginia.

Google, Facebook and Microsoft could start paying hefty advertising fees in Maryland — and possibly elsewhere — if the state’s new digital ad tax holds up in court.

More governments are looking to a controversial borrowing practice to shore up their pensions even as a leading public finance organization is warning against it.

The pandemic-driven recession is hitting the budgets of non-income tax states like Texas and Florida more than than the rest of the country. Data from the Urban Institute shows that these two states have suffered some of the highest revenue losses since March 2020.

More Republican-led states are still dealing with big revenue losses thanks to the coronavirus-driven recession, even as the rest of the nation makes up ground.

State and local governments have been turning to a potentially dicey borrowing tactic to support their budgets as the coronavirus recession wears on without direct, flexible financial aid from Congress.

The coronavirus pandemic has created massive budget deficits for state and local governments who have already laid off more than 1.5 million workers — twice the layoff total of the Great Recession.

The number of gig workers in America has been growing in recent years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated that trend. Before the pandemic, around 41 million Americans were already classified as gig workers (defined as independent contractors or other non-traditional form of employment).

State legislative sessions are kicking off and lawmakers are grappling with pandemic-driven budget deficits — but that’s not stopping some Republican lawmakers from proposing income tax cuts.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced the city is severing ties with the Trump Organization by cancelling its remaining outstanding contracts. While the decision affects a relatively small amount of money, the announcement — which came on the same day Trump became the first U.S. president to be impeached twice — adds to a growing list of financial rebukes.