ITEP's Research Priorities
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute: Fix Education, Other Vital Services With Viable State Revenue Options
June 27, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Georgia continues to wrestle with the fallout of relying on a revenue system that can’t raise enough money to meet the needs of a modern, growing state. Hospitals are closing, traffic is gridlocked and local school districts are cutting calendar days and increasing class sizes. Public investments in education, transportation and other vital services are […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Highest-Income New Jerseyans Would Still Pay Lowest Share of Income to Taxes After Proposed Changes
June 27, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Read the Full Report
Remapping the Debate: Congress Fiddles While the Treasury Burns
June 26, 2014
The Levin bill is effective precisely because it is multi-layered, said Steve Wamhoff, legislative director for Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and a policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Marketplace: D.C. Makes the Case for Taxing More Services
June 24, 2014
"If you don't tax services in the long run, you don't have a sales tax. End of story," says Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. He says states should tax more services, ideally at a lower rate. But broadening the tax base isn't easy, he says.
Los Angeles Times: Hypocrite Watch: Texas Gov. Rick Perry Says He May Move to Calif.
June 19, 2014
But Texas has sales and property taxes that make its overall burden of taxation on low-wage families much heavier than the national average, while the state also taxes the middle class at rates as high or higher than in California. For instance, non-elderly Californians with family income in the middle 20 percent of the income distribution pay combined state and local taxes amounting to 8.2 percent of their income, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy; by contrast, their counterparts in Texas pay 8.6 percent.
The Times Daily: The Solution to Prison Woes Lies in the Tax Code
June 19, 2014
A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy of state taxes found that the share of state and local taxes paid by Alabamians based on income is considerably higher for those earning in the lowest 20 percent (10.2 percent) and the second lowest 20 percent (10.4 percent). By comparison, the top 1 percent of income earners paid only 3.8 percent of their income in state and local taxes.
St. Paul Pioneer Press: Medtronic’s Covidien Deal Spurs Debate about Corporate Taxes
June 17, 2014
By Christopher Snowbeck, June 17, 2014 Is Medtronic’s massive international corporate merger a billion-dollar tax dodge, an indictment of the U.S. tax code or a business-savvy work-around that could spur investment and growth in the Twin Cities? The answer depends on whom you ask. … As of last year, Medtronic had about $20.5 billion in […]
Politico: Tar Heel State Tackles Teacher Pay
June 17, 2014
In North Carolina, teacher pay is so low that educators are turning out for job fairs hosted by other states with the promise of higher salaries [http://bit.ly/1lJQ1e2] elsewhere. And the Tar Heel State ranks near the bottom -- at 46th in the country -- when it comes to teachers' salaries. Meg Wiehe, director of state tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told Morning Education those issues are at the heart of two proposals coming out of the state legislature. To pay for teacher pay increases, the state senate proposed asking teachers to give up their tenure…
Politico: North Carolina’s Two Odd Tax Proposals
June 17, 2014
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's Jenice Robinson previews what's happening in the state on the tax front. "The North Carolina Legislature is back in session this week, and two odd proposals are on the table," Robinson writes in an email. "North Carolina teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation, and they haven't had a salary increase since 2008. The state legislature, after enacting major tax cuts that lose hundreds of millions in revenue, is trying to figure out how to fund teacher pay increases. The Senate has proposed asking state residents to voluntarily return their state…
Times Daily: The root of the problem is in code
June 13, 2014
Posted: Thursday, June 12, 2014 10:00 pm Additional money will be needed to solve the prison problems. Other state services have suffered budget cuts, as well, because not enough tax dollars are available under Alabama’s antiquated and inequitable tax code. That can be changed. Officials are fond of touting the state’s low taxes as an […]
Puget Sound Business Journal: Replace sales tax hike with business tax to pay for transit
June 13, 2014
Seattle Councilmembers Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant Jun 12, 2014, 10:59am PDT Washington state has the nation’s most regressive tax structure, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s (a progressive D.C.-based think tank) latest edition of “ Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States.” Washington state’s sales […]
The Progressive Pulse: House leadership takes a different path than Senate and Governor when it comes to paying for its budget
June 13, 2014
Posted by : Tazra Mitchell Wednesday, June 11, 2014 It is worth lifting up the question that few people are asking: what if the tax plan ends up costing more than originally estimated? As we reported last month, estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) suggest that the revenue projections for next […]
Maine Policy Review: The Distributional Effects of Recent Changes to Maine’s Tax System
June 11, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Both classical economic theory and recent empirical research support the notion that taxes should be progressive: that the wealthiest citizens should pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the middle class, and the middle class should pay a larger share of their income in taxes than the poor. Like every other state […]
Arise Citizens’ Policy Project: Out of Step – Alabama’s Unusual State Tax System
June 11, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Taxes are the tools that Americans use to pay for education, public health, transportation and other elements of the common good. Just as states differ in the scale of services offered, they also differ on the ways to pay for those services. Some states lean on property taxes to fund public services, while others rely […]
Washington Budget & Policy Center: Flawed Economic Model Hurts Washington State
June 11, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
An economic model frequently cited by some Washington state lawmakers to justify their opposition to tax increases distorts the impact of tax proposals on state economies, according to a new study from the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The report makes it clear the Beacon Hill Institute’s State Tax Analysis Modeling Program […]
Heartlander: As States Mull Sales Tax Holidays, Analysts Bemoan the Policy
June 10, 2014
Heather Kays from River Edge, New Jersey. Meg Wiehe, policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said 16 to 20 states hold similar tax holidays as a way to increase sales, and none of the anticipated economic goals are achieved. “The policy intent was that there’s a time of year that families […]
Michigan League for Public Policy: Road fix must protect low-income families
June 9, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
“It’s clear that Michigan must come up with a solution to repair its broken roads. A funding solution that requires a higher sales tax, however, will be especially difficult for lower-income working families who already pay a greater share of their income in state and local taxes. Read the Full Report
Moyers & Company: Taxes – Who Pays How Much in Eight Charts
June 9, 2014
June 6, 2014 by Joshua Holland Many states’ income taxes are less progressive than the federal system, property taxes tend to be somewhat regressive and sales and “sin” taxes are very regressive. A 2013 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that those kinds of consumption taxes averaged a “7 percent rate […]
Reason Blog: Hurricane Season Sales Tax Holidays – Save Now, Pay Later
June 9, 2014
Gov. Scott and other politicians enjoy touting the benefits of these sales tax vacations because they are popular with voters. They say it helps the poor, and the retail rush boosts the economy. But are those claims true? The short answer from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy is “no.” Read the entire article
South Florida Times: State Policies Affect the Middle Class
June 5, 2014
By David Madland and Keith Miller, June 5, 2014 The past 30 years has not been kind to Florida’s middle class which now ranks among the weakest in the nation. While the state enjoyed significant economic growth over this period, few of the benefits ever trickled down to the families who were not among the […]
AP: State Governments May Be Expanding the Wealth Gap
June 5, 2014
"What's happening at the state level is increasingly important, and, to many eyes, it appears to be moving things in one direction -- towards greater inequality," said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based tax research group.
Huffington Post: Koch Brothers Group Holds Complete Opposite of Moral Mondays Protest
June 3, 2014
North Carolina families with annual incomes below $84,000 will on average see higher taxes when the bill's impact is combined with the legislature's elimination of the state's Earned Income Tax Credit and increased sales taxes, according to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the North Carolina Justice Center.
St. Cloud Times: State Finally Rescinds Tax Regressivity
June 3, 2014
However, from 2000 to 2010, tax regressivity in Minnesota nearly doubled based on data from The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Toledo Blade: Bad budget business
June 3, 2014
The progressive advocacy group Policy Matters Ohio worked with the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan organization in Washington, to analyze the Senate bill. They conclude that most of the tax relief in the measure would go to the top 5 percent of Ohioans — those who earned at least $151,000 last year. […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Recent Tax Cuts Deliver Little to People Who Earn the Least
June 3, 2014 • By ITEP Staff
Three major tax cut packages passed by the Wisconsin legislature in the last year have delivered relatively little benefit to the lowest earners, who are struggling to make ends meet. In dollar amounts, the largest tax cuts went to the Wisconsin taxpayers who earned the most. If state lawmakers want to cut taxes for Wisconsin […]
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