Taxes

Small business owners may get more help from Washington in 2015.

Keeping schools and social services funded.

A tax deal touted by New York to lure new business has netted at least one Connecticut company.

The Business Council of New York State is suggesting state leaders resolve in 2015 to keep limiting state budget growth to 2 percent annually and make permanent a property tax cap.

New York officials say 13 more businesses have agreed to expand or locate to tax-free zones sponsored by colleges and universities while committing to bring new jobs.

The IRS says taxpayers can start filing their 2014 tax returns on Jan. 20.

Illinois taxpayers will have a little more spending money next year.

Happy to be back in New Hampshire, the state's new head of travel and tourism also wants to return to school, in a sense, by working with colleges and universities to attract more students.

Few people are more eager to see the clock strike midnight on Dec. 31 than Atlantic City casino executives and the thousands of workers who still have jobs there.

Four of Atlantic City's 12 casinos shut down in 2014 (and a fifth nearly joined them before being rescued under a last-minute financing arrangement).

New Jersey officials are campaigning publicly and privately to keep German luxury automobile maker Mercedes-Benz from moving its U.S. headquarters out of the state even though it hasn't said it's considering a move.

One group of potential candidates for president probably won't be shuffling off to Iowa, New Hampshire or other early campaign spots in the new year.

Connecticut's highest court on Friday sided with the town of Rocky Hill in a long-running legal dispute, ruling a privately operated nursing facility for state prisoners, parolees and mental health clients should not be considered an arm of the state and therefore should be subject to local zoning restrictions and paying local property taxes.

A Maricopa County sales tax increase adopted a decade ago has raised more than $3.1 billion for dozens of freeway, street and transit projects, but that's still $1 billion less than initially projected.

Colorado lawmakers may have to refund money to taxpayers sooner than they initially expected.

Michigan lawmakers were entitled to correct a mistake by retroactively clarifying that they never intended for out-of-state companies to lessen their tax liability under a 2007 business tax overhaul, a judge ruled.

When the Washington Supreme Court told the Legislature it needed to fix the way the state pays for public schools, it also ordered lawmakers to stop relying so much on local levy dollars to pay for basic education.

President Barack Obama says he will try to undertake an overhaul of the tax system with the new Republican majorities in Congress.

Colorado's economy has been on an upswing, and government officials are getting more comfortable asking the state for help with their funding needs after years of budget cuts.

Oklahoma taxpayers will see a slight reduction in their income tax rate in 2016 after a state panel certified state revenues were enough to trigger the cut.