Low- and middle-income working parents spend a significant portion of their income on child care. As the number of parents working outside of the home continues to rise, child care expenses have become an unavoidable and increasingly unaffordable expense. This policy brief examines state tax policy tools that can be used to make child care more affordable: a dependent care tax credit modeled after the federal program and a deduction for child care expenses.
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brief September 14, 2016 Reducing the Cost of Child Care Through State Tax Codes
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brief September 14, 2016 Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for struggling families to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the EITC has been magnified as many states have enacted and later expanded their own credits.
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brief September 14, 2016 Options for a Less Regressive Sales Tax
Sales taxes are one of the most important revenue sources for state and local governments; however, they are also among the most unfair taxes, falling more heavily on low- and middle-income households. Therefore, it is important that policymakers nationwide find ways to make sales taxes more equitable while preserving this important source of funding for public services. This policy brief discusses two approaches to a less regressive sales tax: broad-based exemptions and targeted sales tax credits.
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news release August 30, 2016 News Release: U.S. Should Take a Page from European Commission’s Book And Crack Down on Corporate Tax Avoidance
Following is a statement by Matt Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy regarding the European Commission’s ruling today that the Apple Corporation must pay as much as… -
brief August 22, 2016 How State Tax Changes Affect Your Federal Taxes: A Primer on the “Federal Offset”
Read this brief in PDF here. State lawmakers frequently make claims about how proposed tax changes would affect taxpayers at different income levels. Yet too many lawmakers routinely ignore one… -
brief August 22, 2016 Indexing Income Taxes for Inflation: Why It Matters
Read brief in PDF here. All of us experience the effects of inflation as the price of the goods and services we buy gradually goes up over time. Fortunately, as… -
ITEP Work in Action August 18, 2016 West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: Modernizing West Virginia’s Marijuana Laws
“Over the last two decades, states across the country have modernized their marijuana laws to reflect the growing evidence that doing so will help reduce criminal justice costs, help treat… -
brief August 17, 2016 The Folly of State Capital Gains Tax Cuts
Read the brief in a PDF here. The federal tax system treats income from capital gains more favorably than income from work. A number of state tax systems do as… -
report August 8, 2016 Achieving Sustainable Infrastructure Revenue with Gas Tax Reform
This brief outlines the causes of Louisiana’s infrastructure revenue shortfall and offers recommendations for how the state can achieve “sufficient increased levels of recurring funding to address the transportation backlog in highway and bridge maintenance needs in Louisiana,” as per the Task Force’s mandate.
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brief July 27, 2016 Why Sales Taxes Should Apply to Services
Read this Policy Brief in PDF here. General sales taxes are an important revenue source for state governments, accounting for close to one-third of state tax collections nationwide. But most… -
report July 12, 2016 Income Tax Offers Alaska a Brighter Fiscal Future
Read this report in PDF. This month, Alaska legislators regroup in yet another special session where they will consider legislation to address a yawning budget gap created by declining oil… -
brief July 11, 2016 Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
This brief was updated July 2018 Read this Policy Brief in PDF here. Sales taxes are an important revenue source, composing close to half of all state tax revenues.[1] But… -
report June 29, 2016 Ryan Tax Plan Reserves Most Tax Cuts for Top 1 percent, Costs $4 Trillion Over 10 Years
A new distributional analysis of Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s “A Better Way” policies finds that the plan would: • Add $4 trillion to the national debt over a… -
brief June 29, 2016 State Corporate Tax Disclosure: Why It’s Needed
Few state tax trends are as striking as the rapid decline of state corporate income tax revenues. As recently as 1986, state corporate income taxes equaled 0.5 percent of nationwide Gross State Product (GSP) (a measure of statewide economic activity). But in fiscal year 2013 (the last year for which data are available), state and local corporate income taxes were just 0.33 percent of nationwide GSP–representing a decline of over 30 percent.
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report June 28, 2016 How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
An updated version of this report has been published with data through July 1, 2017. Read this Policy Brief in PDF form Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in… -
brief June 2, 2016 State Treatment of Itemized Deductions
Read this Policy Brief in PDF Form Map of State Treatment of Itemized Deductions Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia allow a group of income tax breaks known as… -
ITEP Work in Action May 18, 2016 Michigan League for Public Policy: Review tax expenditures to help fix Michigan’s broken revenue stream
“Michigan has a budget problem, and simply put, there just isn’t enough money to go around. Michigan has experienced crisis after crisis—the Great Recession, nearly record-high unemployment, municipal financial emergencies,… -
ITEP Work in Action May 17, 2016 West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: New Revenues to Balance the Budget Don’t Have to be Regressive
“Last week, Governor Tomblin finally issued the call for the legislature to come back into a special session to balance the FY 2017 budget. The special session will begin today,… -
ITEP Work in Action May 13, 2016 Oklahoma Policy Institute: New bill would devastate a key tax credit for Oklahoma working families
“Yesterday, a letter signed by more than 150 Oklahoma clergy was delivered to lawmakers and Governor Fallin, urging them not to slash key tax credits for working families to fix… -
ITEP Work in Action May 5, 2016 Hope Policy Institute: Who Really Benefits: Why Large Tax Cuts Don’t Benefit Working Families and Communities
“Large tax reductions proposed at a time when Mississippi already is cutting important public investments due to a lack of revenue would erode the state’s ability to create jobs and… -
ITEP Work in Action May 5, 2016 Louisiana Budget Project: The federal deduction needs reform
“There are two key questions confronting Louisiana officials as they grapple with the most serious budget crisis in a generation: How much new tax revenue does Louisiana need in order… -
news release May 4, 2016 ITEP Statement on Illinois Department of Revenue Analysis of House Bill 689
For Immediate Release: May 4, 2016 Contact: Jenice R. Robinson, 202.299.1066 X29, [email protected] Earlier today, the Illinois Department of Revenue (ILDOR) released an economic analysis of the tax changes… -
ITEP Work in Action May 2, 2016 Connecticut Voices for Children: Impact of the Governor’s, Republican, and Democrat Proposed FY 2017 Budget on Children and Families
“Following hundreds of millions in dollars of cuts to health, human services and education to close a billion dollar budget hole in Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 16), lawmakers are once… -
ITEP Work in Action April 16, 2016 Georgia Budget & Policy Institute: Georgia Work Credit Could Get Families a Better Deal at Tax Time
As Georgians put the finishing touches on their returns to meet today’s income tax filing deadline, one benefit many are missing out on is a tax credit that states can… -
ITEP Work in Action April 15, 2016 Oklahoma Policy Institute: High-income surcharge would help solve budget emergency
“The evidence is now undeniable that Oklahoma is facing a full-fledged emergency. With each passing day, the toll of budget cuts on Oklahoma families, schools, businesses, and communities becomes more…