ITEP's Research Priorities
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Back to School Goods are Tax-Free This Weekend in Georgia
July 31, 2015
Another critic of sales tax holidays is Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization with offices in Washington D.C., North Carolina and Wisconsin. “These holidays aren’t all they’re cracked up to be,” said Gardner. Sales taxes make up about half of all states’ income, […]
The Herald News: Sen. Michael Rodrigues: Why I Oppose the Massachusetts Sales Tax Holiday
July 29, 2015
It is that time of year again on Beacon Hill, when the Legislature debates and ultimately passes a sales tax holiday for a weekend in August. Let’s be clear, the tax holiday enables elected officials to break for summer recess on a high note, with something to tout to their constituents. The Institute on Taxation […]
Hawaii News Now: Film Tax Credits Attract Productions to Hawaii
July 28, 2015
The filming is almost finished for a new movie being shot entirely Hawaii. The state’s film tax credits are bringing in big productions like “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” but not everyone is a fan of the incentives. The tax credits are a waste of money, according to critics. “The closest thing to a […]
NBC: Sales Tax Holidays Complex, Controversial, But Popular With Shoppers
July 28, 2015
Research by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy contends that increased sales during the tax holidays “have been shown to be primarily the result of consumers’ shifting the timing of their planned purchases.” That organization estimates sales tax holidays will cost states $300 million in 2015. “A two- to three-day sales tax holiday […]
Sun Herald: Sales Tax Holiday Weekend Arrives July 31
July 27, 2015
“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., believes sales tax holidays are poorly targeted, providing tax breaks to the wealthiest taxpayers and offering less assistance to the elderly or families without children who don’t have back-to-school needs. The Institute also said many low-income taxpayers spend most or all of their money on […]
CNBC: Tax-Free Shopping Ahead for These States
July 24, 2015
Research by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, however, contends that increased sales during the tax holidays “have been shown to be primarily the result of consumers’ shifting the timing of their planned purchases.” That organization estimates sales tax holidays will cost states $300 million in 2015. “A two- to three-day sales tax […]
CNN Money: States Raise Sales, Cigarette Taxes
July 24, 2015
Faced with a $1 billion budget gap, Connecticut this year adopted an array of tax changes, including increasing the top income tax rate to 6.9% and adding a 6.99% rate for couples earning more than $1 million. But it also eliminated the sales tax exemption on clothing purchases of up to $50. That move, coupled […]
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
July 22, 2015 • By Lisa Christensen Gee
Lawmakers in many states have enacted "sales tax holidays" (at least 17 states will hold them in 2015), to provide a temporary break on paying the tax on purchases of clothing, computers and other items. While these holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, their benefits are minimal. This policy brief examines the many problems associated with sales tax holidays and concludes that they have more political than policy benefits.
CNBC: Is Your State a Gas Tax Winner–Or Loser?
July 22, 2015
As states from Connecticut to California scramble to find money to fix crumbling highways, Congress once again is expected this week to put a short-term patch on the nearly insolvent federal highway trust fund. To make up the shortfall, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from other tax revenue over the past five years, […]
The Beacon Journal: Anxieties of the middle class
July 20, 2015
“The Kasich tax cuts produce the opposite effects. An analysis of the recently passed two-year state budget by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, of Washington, D.C., for Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland think tank, showed tax changes benefitting the rich. Ohio residents in the top 1 percent of the income scale would see […]
Herald Sun: Letter to the Editor
July 20, 2015
Let’s step aside from heated immigration debate for a moment and pragmatically deconstruct the merits of House Bill 328. The “Highway Safety/Citizens Protection Act” provides an avenue for undocumented immigrants with non-criminal backgrounds to obtain state-issued driver’s licenses. Opponents argue this legislation incentivizes illegal immigration, which could further deplete already sparse state resources. The Institute […]
The Times-Picayune: Why Aren’t the Governor’s Candidates Discussing Poverty?: Robert Mann
July 20, 2015
Speaking of inequality, it’s not bad enough just to be poor in Louisiana. You can also count on state and local governments taxing you twice as much as the wealthy. A 2013 study of states by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Louisiana families earning less than $16,000 a year paid an […]
Daily Leader: Sales Tax Holiday Presents Dilemma
July 20, 2015
“Sales tax holidays are advertised as a way to give people a break from paying the sales tax, typically during the “back to school” shopping season. Superficially this sounds good, however, many tax and economic experts and officials believe the benefits are minimal. They say public officials cash in more on the good publicity than […]
Sun Sentinel: Businesses Getting Bigger Breaks to Move or Expand
July 20, 2015
Broward and Palm Beach counties have awarded millions of taxpayer dollars for company relocations or expansions in recent months, including two major deals completed in just the past two weeks. Critics contend that the amount of money spent to lure employers is out of line. A 2013 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic […]
Watchdog: No More Free Rides? Oregon Pay-As-You-Go Plan Could One Day Fund Highways
July 20, 2015
“If infrastructure costs rise by a modest 2 percent a year, the tax will lose 18 percent of its value within a decade, leaving the state facing the same long-run imbalance it does today,” said Carl Davis, research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank. read more
Huffington Post: Did A Giant Pothole Swallow Your Car? Blame Congress.
July 20, 2015
The issue, said Carl Davis, research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, is growing in importance every year that state and federal governments fail to update gas tax rates. “We are reaching a breaking point right now as evidenced by all the gas tax increases we’ve seen enacted in just a little […]
Columbus Dispatch: Budget Doesn’t Do Right by Poor Ohioans
July 15, 2015
One immoral aspect of Ohio’s budget is the ongoing tax shift that blesses the rich and slaps the poor. According to a recent Dispatch article, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, said that the new budget gives the richest 1 percent of Ohioans an average tax cut of $10,236 per […]
State Tax Notes: States Increase Gas Tax in Push for Transportation Funds
July 13, 2015
In the absence of a national gasoline tax increase, states have been raising their gas taxes to fund long-deferred road maintenance and transportation projects. “I think what’s happening now is a lot of states are having to play catch-up. They let their infrastructure deteriorate to a point where it’s an issue that can’t be ignored […]
Decatur Daily: BP Settlement Doesn’t Change Need for Tax Reform
July 13, 2015
The fiscal 2016 budget shortfall has been inevitable since at least fiscal 2010. Rational tax reform would not increase taxes for most Alabamians. Low- and middle-income Alabamians pay more than twice as much of their income in overall state and local taxes as do those with the highest incomes, according to a study by the […]
Michigan Live: Road Repair Needs Trump ‘No Tax’ Mantra in Several GOP States
July 13, 2015
Eight states, all but one of them headed by Republican governors, have either hiked gas taxes or scaled back planned cuts in order to fund road repairs this year, according to a new Stateline report from The Pew Charitable Trusts. “A lot of states realized they couldn’t put off this issue any longer,” Carl Davis, […]
Cheat Sheet: 10 Worst States in America for Fair Tax Systems
July 13, 2015
Americans generally believe that higher income households should pay a greater percentage of their incomes in taxes than lower income households. Yet the exact opposite occurs. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds the nationwide average effective state and local tax rates by income group are 10.9% for the poorest 20% of individuals […]
New York Mag: Rick Perry, Republicans, and the African-American Vote
July 9, 2015
Empowering state and local governments would make African-Americans more vulnerable to the whims of the very governments that have served them poorly. The state and local tax base is highly regressive, with Perry’s Texas being among the worst offenders. (The poorest 20 percent of Texans pay 12.5 percent of their income in state and local […]
TI News Daily: Some States Prefer Transportation Over Tax relief
July 8, 2015
To meet infrastructure needs, several states have had to increase other taxes, such as gasoline taxes. These states include Idaho, Iowa, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, Kentucky, Utah and South Dakota. Four of these states are currently finalizing infrastructure funding increases or are still discussing infrastructure funding raises. “A lot of states realized they couldn’t put […]
Cincinnati Inquirer: Wealthiest Gain Most from New Tax Cut
July 7, 2015
An analysis of these tax changes by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a national group with a sophisticated model of the tax system, shows the top 1 percent on average will see an annual tax cut of $10,236. The middle fifth of taxpayers, who made between $37,000 and $58,000, will see an average […]
The Journal News: Raising the Sales Tax, for Better or Worse
July 7, 2015
The downside, not expressed by City Hall, is that sales taxes are regressive — meaning they hurt the poorest citizens the most. That’s because the tax, obviously, only applies to money spent and not money saved. Since the poor tend to save little or not all, they take a greater financial hit. According to a […]
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