Arizona
Newly Unveiled Ballot Initiative Aims to Tax Arizona’s Top 1 Percent to Fund Education
May 1, 2018 • By Aidan Davis
Today marks Day 4 of the Arizona teachers’ walkout. After decades of tax cuts and underfunding of public education, education advocates are now driving the debate and urging lawmakers to act. Their newest proposal would raise taxes on incomes above half a million dollars for married couples, or above $250,000 for single taxpayers—that is, the same wealthy taxpayers that just received a generous tax cuts under last year’s federal tax overhaul.
How the Final GOP-Trump Tax Bill Would Affect Arizona Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 16, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The final tax bill that Republicans in Congress are poised to approve would provide most of its benefits to high-income households and foreign investors while raising taxes on many low- and middle-income Americans. The bill would go into effect in 2018 but the provisions directly affecting families and individuals would all expire after 2025, with […]
Private Schools Donors Likely to Win Big from Expanded Loophole in Tax Bill
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
For years, private schools around the country have been making an unusual pitch to prospective donors: give us your money, and you’ll get so many state and federal tax breaks in return that you may end up turning a profit. Under tax legislation being considered in Congress right now, that pitch is about to become even more persuasive.
Tax Bill Would Increase Abuse of Charitable Giving Deduction, with Private K-12 Schools as the Biggest Winners
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
In its rush to pass a major rewrite of the tax code before year’s end, Congress appears likely to enact a “tax reform” that creates, or expands, a significant number of tax loopholes.[1] One such loophole would reward some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals with a strategy for padding their own bank accounts by “donating” to support private K-12 schools. While a similar loophole exists under current law, its size and scope would be dramatically expanded by the legislation working its way through Congress.[2]
How the House and Senate Tax Bills Would Affect Arizona Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The House passed its “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” November 16th and the Senate passed its version December 2nd. Both bills would raise taxes on many low- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The graph below shows that both bills are skewed to the richest 1 percent of Arizona residents.
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Just Like the House GOP Plan, the Senate GOP Tax Plan Is Another Handout to the Wealthiest Households and Large Corporations
November 14, 2017
Newly published data shows that the new Senate GOP tax plan isn’t much better than the House GOP tax plan for the middle-class, small businesses, and lower-income Americans. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis (https://itep.org/senatetaxplan/) shows that on average, the top 5% of Americans will receive around 50% of the tax cuts. Read […]
How the Revised Senate Tax Bill Would Affect Arizona Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Senate tax bill released last week would raise taxes on some families while bestowing immense benefits on wealthy Americans and foreign investors. In Arizona, 48 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents, and 12 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: With Further Analysis Completed, It’s Time to Call the GOP Tax Plan What it Is: Welfare for the Wealthy
November 6, 2017
A 50-state analysis of the House tax plan released last week reveals that in Arizona the wealthiest 1% of Arizonans will receive the greatest share of the total tax cut in year one and their share would grow through 2027. And during that 10-year window, the value of the tax cut gets smaller and smaller for every […]
How the House Tax Proposal Would Affect Arizona Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on November 2 in the House of Representatives, includes some provisions that raise taxes and some that cut taxes, so the net effect for any particular family’s federal tax bill depends on their situation. Some of the provisions that benefit the middle class — like lower tax rates, an increased standard deduction, and a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household — are designed to expire or become less generous over time. Some of the provisions that benefit the wealthy, such as the reduction and eventual repeal of the estate…
GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Arizona with 60.1 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
October 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Arizona equally. The richest one percent of Arizona residents would receive 60.1 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $470,200 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $59,210 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 4.4 percent.
In Arizona 38.6 Percent of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million
August 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the Arizona population (0.4 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 38.6 percent of the tax cuts that go to Arizona residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 47.8 percent of the state, earns less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.0 percent of the tax cuts.
Trump Tax Proposals Would Provide Richest One Percent in Arizona with 51 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
July 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in Arizona would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $1,355,400 in 2018. They would receive 51 percent of the tax cuts that go to Arizona’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $99,090 in 2018 alone.
Investors and Corporations Would Profit from a Federal Private School Voucher Tax Credit
May 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being used as profitable tax shelters by high-income taxpayers. By exploiting interactions between federal and state tax law, high-income taxpayers in nine states are currently able […]
Public Loss Private Gain: How School Voucher Tax Shelters Undermine Public Education
May 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis, Sasha Pudelski
One of the most important functions of government is to maintain a high-quality public education system. In many states, however, this objective is being undermined by tax policies that redirect public dollars for K-12 education toward private schools.
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Questions and Answers About Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes 2017
January 24, 2017
State budgets and taxes are the foundation for achieving our common priorities that will lead to more quality jobs, a strong economy, and thriving communities. This publication provides information and analysis to help policymakers, community leaders, and community-based organizations make good decisions about Arizona’s state budget and taxes to reach those goals. These questions and […]
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes: What Every Arizonan Needs to Know About Growing Our Economy
January 10, 2017
When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales and property—families with incomes in the bottom fifth pay nearly three times what families in the top 1 percent do—$12.50 for every $100 of income compared to $4.58 for the highest income families and $8.20 for middle income families. Sales taxes make up the […]
Tucson Weekly: What is ‘The Tax Foundation,’ and Why Does It Rank Arizona 21st in Tax Policies?
October 5, 2016
“A more liberal-leaning group, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, has a different take on Arizona’s tax structure. It comes close to agreeing with the Tax Foundation on the ranking of Arizona’s combined state and local taxes. ITEP has us the 35th highest, the same as being the 15th lowest—which is in the same […]
Phoenix Business Journal: Why pay-by-the-mile fees are on the horizon across the country
July 28, 2016
“The shortfall is dramatic. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that in 2013, the purchasing power of gas tax dollars had declined 22 percent since 1997, plus alternative fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles drained the purchasing power another 6 percent.” Read more
Tucson Weekly: Raising Taxes Is Front Page News (and It’s About Damn Time)
June 7, 2016
“Anyone making $80,000 or less a year is paying two to three times the tax rate of Arizona’s one percenters. Wealthier people may pay a higher percentage in state income taxes, but they pay a far lower rate when it comes to other taxes, especially sales tax. According to the ITEP figures, people who make […]
The Arizona Republic: Valdez: US can get some easy money from migrants
February 26, 2016
Want some easy money, America? Give undocumented immigrants a break.That’s right. Drop the nasty rhetoric, and embrace some of the nation’s most maligned residents. It’ll pay off in big bucks. A new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says undocumented immigrants pay about $11.64 billion a year in state and local […]
Children’s Action Alliance: Arizona’s Individual Income Tax
October 21, 2015
The balance and fairness of any tax system depends on the impact of all the taxes an individual or family pays. State and local sales taxes always take a bigger bite out of the income of taxpayers at the lowest income levels. Arizona’s graduated income tax partially offsets the impact of the sales tax on […]
Children’s Action Alliance: Questions and Answers About Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes
October 21, 2015
State budgets and taxes are tools to reach our common goals for health, education, security and a vibrant, prosperous future. This publication provides information and analysis to help policymakers, community leaders, and community-based organizations make good decisions about Arizona’s state budget and taxes to reach those goals. These questions and answers highlight key facts […]
Low Tax for Whom?: Arizona is a “Low Tax State” Overall, But Not for Families Living in Poverty
September 17, 2015 • By Meg Wiehe
Annual data from the U.S. Census Bureau appears to lend support to Arizona's reputation as a "low tax state," ranking it 37th nationally in taxes collected as a share of personal income.1 But focusing on the state's overall tax revenues has led many observers to overlook the fact that different taxpayers experience Arizona's tax system very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of Arizona residents pay significantly more of their income (12.5 percent) in state and local taxes than any other group in the state.2 For low-income families, Arizona is far from being a low tax state. In fact,…
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 […]
Children’s Action Alliance: HB 2069 – S/E Online TPT/Income Tax Reduction Fact Sheet
March 6, 2015
HB 2069 shifts taxes from the wealthiest Arizonans to low and middle income taxpayers, attempts to limit options available to future legislatures, and depends on a “best guess” to make sure that state revenues aren’t cut back too far with no chance of correction….This ill-advised legislation has many problems: At a time when Arizona is […]
