Taxes

The federal government says it made about $100 billion in payments last year to people who may not have been entitled to receive them.

A company that makes components for power plants is seeking a $260 million, 10-year New Jersey tax incentive to do business in Camden in a deal that would be the third-most lucrative business incentive package ever from New Jersey's state government.

As Washington state readied to become only the second state to allow people to buy marijuana legally without a doctor's note, lines were already forming in front of the lucky few stores that got last-minute approval to sell.

Washington state's first recreational marijuana stores open for business this week, more than a year and a half after voters decided to legalize, tax and regulate pot.

A Wisconsin company will open a $48 million plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to make paper towels, tissue and other projects, hiring 300 people over five years.

New Jersey's poorest city is still getting extra attention from the state a dozen years after it partially took over Camden's city government in hopes of helping it become self-sufficient.

Representatives for the film and television industry told state officials on Tuesday that they regularly struggle to find crew members in Georgia and have to hire staff from other states, a threat to the tax incentives that have caused a boom in filming in the state during the last few years.

Ohio ended its budget year with an as-expected surplus of nearly $800 million, money set aside to fund tax breaks and any unexpected Medicaid expenses resulting from the federal health care overhaul, the state budget director said Wednesday.

The Obama administration is warning states to expect a large pothole in their construction budgets if Congress doesn't reach an agreement quickly on how to pay for federal highway and transit programs.

Mississippi tax collections continued growing strongly in the just-concluded budget year, posting another year of 5 percent growth and ensuring that money will be available to help improve local roads and bridges.

A marijuana business in Colorado has filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for assessing a penalty for paying taxes in cash.

Arkansas' finance office says the state ended the fiscal year with a nearly $79 million budget surplus.

Gridlock in Washington will lead to gridlock across the country if lawmakers can't quickly agree on how to pay for highway and transit programs, the Obama administration warned Tuesday.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday finished signing a $53.2 billion state budget that commits to spending 6 percent more than this year, largely because of Michigan's new expansion of Medicaid eligibility to more low-income adults and anticipated higher tax collections in an improved economy.

Two solar companies are asking an Arizona court to overturn state tax officials' decision that property taxes must be paid on leased rooftop panels that produce electricity.

Kansas' June tax revenues fell $28 million short of projections, pushing the shortfall for the fiscal year that ended Monday to nearly $338 million, a state official said.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan has signed into a law an agreement over a tax on hospital revenues that two judges had deemed unconstitutional.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday largely approved a 2015 budget he has criticized as "incomplete" for not extending a temporary income tax increase, setting off another back-and-forth with his Republican rival over how best to fix the state's huge financial problems.

Sponsors of an initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana traveled to Salem on Thursday to turn in boxes stuffed with enough signed petitions to bring their total signatures to 145,000 — far more than are needed for the measure to qualify for the November ballot.

A bill approved by the Legislature to adjust Oklahoma's tax on oil and gas production is unconstitutional because it passed in the final days of the session and didn't receive a three-fourths vote in the House and Senate, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday with the state Supreme Court.