Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

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Issues with Taxing Marijuana at the State Level

May 6, 2015 • By Carl Davis, Richard Phillips

Read as a PDF. Table of Contents Introduction Why Tax Marijuana? Designing a State Tax on Marijuana How Much Revenue Would Marijuana Legalization Generate for States Factors that Could Negatively Impact Marijuana Revenue Factors that Could Positively Impact Marijuana Revenue Conclusion Endnotes Charts and Text Boxes Current Approaches to Taxing Retail Marijuana Sales How Should […]

Wisconsin Budget Project: A Flatter State Income Tax Would Take a Toll on Wisconsin

April 29, 2015

A proposal to change Wisconsin’s tax system could cut taxes for high earners, even though the well-off already pay a smaller share of their income in state taxes than lower-income taxpayers. Various lawmakers are proposing cutting or “reforming” the state’s income tax code, and a special committee staffed by the Legislative Council will be reviewing […]

Wisconsin Budget Project: Do All Taxpayers Get the Same Benefit from the Governor’s Income Tax Proposals?

April 29, 2015

In his State of the State address last week, Governor Walker talked about two tax cuts he plans to make using the state’s projected surplus: a $406 million cut in property taxes and an income tax cut. With respect to the smaller portion of that two-part plan the Governor said: “…we will reduce income taxes […]

Wisconsin Budget Project: Top 10 Reasons to Increase Tax Credits for Low-income Households

April 29, 2015

Top 10 Reasons to Increase Tax Credits for Low-income Households Read the full report  

Wisconsin Budget Project: Tax Shifts Would Cut Taxes for Richest, Raise Taxes on Others

April 29, 2015

Expanding the sales tax to pay for income and property tax cuts would harm taxpayers with low incomes – and give large tax cuts to the highest earners. A recent policy report that recommends such a “tax shift” overlooks those facts. Read the full report

Policy Matters Ohio: Problems with Ohio EITC: It’s not refundable, it has a cap, and it’s too low

April 29, 2015

Gov. Kasich’s Mid-Biennium Review proposal to expand the credit from 5 percent to 15 percent is a step in the right direction, but more must be done to ensure the credit benefits Ohio’s poorest working families. Read the full report

Policy Matter Ohio: Cutting taxes doesn’t help Ohio economy

April 29, 2015

After the General Assembly raised the top income-tax rate to 7.5 percent in 1992 the state generated more than 100,000 jobs in each of the following three years. Compare that with the 25,600 jobs Ohio gained during 2013, the 40,300 in 2012, and the 77,600 in 2011. Tax levels are not the main thing driving […]

New Jersey Policy Perspective: Failure to Address Gas Tax Costs New Jersey Over Half a Billion Dollars a Year

April 29, 2015

New Jersey is losing out on over $500 million each year by not tying increases in transportation construction costs to increases in gas tax rates, a new national report finds. This $504.7 million currently left on the table could nearly double the annual funding for vital transportation projects across the state. Read the full report

New Jersey Policy Perspective: Income Taxes Don’t Impede Economic Growth

April 29, 2015

As Gov. Chris Christie prepares to unveil the specifics of his proposed 10-percent income tax cut at next week’s budget address, he’s working under a key tenet of conservative economics: that high tax rates harm economic growth. There’s just one problem, according to a new national report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy […]

New Jersey Policy Perspective: State Treasurer Confesses: Our Job is To Protect Millionaires

April 29, 2015

In case it remained a mystery to anyone, the administration’s plan for economic growth was made clear by Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff at a New Jersey Business and Industry Association breakfast last Tuesday. To paraphrase the treasurer, the state’s job is to protect its approximately 15,000 millionaires by cutting their taxes. Read the full report

Economic Progress Institute: Few Winners and Many Losers in RI Tax Reform

April 29, 2015

The budget passed by the House Finance committee made three significant tax policy changes that will impact the income of tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders. The estate tax, earned income tax credit, and property tax relief program were all dramatically altered in the budget. Read the full report.

Hawaii Appleseed Center: Tax Cuts for the Wealthiest

April 23, 2015

When the top marginal tax rates and cap on itemized deductions expire in 2015, Hawaii’s wealthiest residents will see a windfall. Meanwhile, our working families are not scheduled to get any relief. Read the full report here.

Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office: ITEP and Pew Reports on Vermont’s Income Distribution and Tax System

April 21, 2015

This report is a slide deck that review’s ITEP’s Who Pays report and its findings on the Vermont state tax system.  Read the full report here. 

Integrity Florida: Subsidizing Corporate Tax Dodgers

April 21, 2015

Thanks to the data provided by CTJ/ITEP, Integrity Florida found that all of the profitable Fortune 500 corporations headquartered in Florida paid state governments in the U.S. on average a lower corporate profits tax rate than Florida’s 5.5 percent rate between 2011 and 2013. Most of these corporations have received taxpayer-funded subsidy deals and government […]

The Commonwealth Institute: Math that Works for All of Us

April 21, 2015

All told, undocumented Virginians currently pay $240.4 million a year in taxes to Virginia and its localities. That’s a 6.5 percent effective tax rate for the typical undocumented immigrant household. By comparison, the highest-income 1 percent of Virginia households pay an effective tax rate of just 5.1 percent. But the amount of taxes that could […]

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Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2015)

April 15, 2015 • By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe

This report was updated February 2016 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is often lacking. The reality is the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions […]

California Budget and Policy Center: How Would Current State EITC Proposals Benefit California’s Workers and Their Families?

April 14, 2015

Momentum for creating a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in California is building. As we discussed in a recent report, a state EITC would foster economic security among low- and moderate-income workers by building on the federal credit of the same name. Several EITC proposals are currently being discussed in the Capitol, and to […]

Budget and Tax Center: Tax Credits for Working Families Deliver Broad Benefits to the State

April 14, 2015

The North Carolina EITC was a vital facet of the state’s tax system, building off of the federal tax credit—one of the nation’s most powerful anti-poverty tools for children. The benefi ts of the state EITC extended to the broader economy by promoting work and helping families afford things that make it possible to work, […]

California Budget and Policy Center: Who Pays Taxes In California?

April 14, 2015

A fair tax system is one that asks individuals and families to contribute to public services based on their ability to pay. However, California’s system of state and local taxes asks disproportionately more from lower-earning families. After taking into account Californians’ ability to deduct state and local taxes for federal income tax purposes (discussed below), […]

Policy Matters Ohio: Making Ohio’s EITC work for workers

April 10, 2015

Ohio has the 18th most unfair tax system in the nation, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The federal EITC was, in part, designed to eliminate some of the disproportionate impact of payroll taxes on low- and middle-income working families. Likewise, the state credit should address the disproportionate impact of sales and […]

Open Sky Policy Institute: Gas tax and transportation in Nebraska

April 6, 2015

In 2011, the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP) published “Building a Better Gas Tax” in which they recommended that states looking to modernize their gas tax increase gas tax rates, restructure state gas taxes so that their rates rise automatically with inflation and create or enhance targeted tax credits for low-income families to […]

Oklahoma Policy Institute: Halt the Tax Cut

March 31, 2015

The cut to the top income tax rate will provide minimal benefit to all but the wealthiest Oklahomans. The average middle-income household will see its taxes lowered $31 a year, or $2.60 per month. Forty percent of households will get no benefit at all. Yet the cut will add some $50 million to the budget […]

Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy: A Complex End-of Session Proposal: Notes on House Bill 311

March 27, 2015

A new proposal in the Idaho Legislature would dramatically shift the way taxes are collected and generate a new revenue source for roads and bridges. The proposal has several components which in combination mean that taxpayers across the bottom 80% of the income distribution will pay more, on average.

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Inaction on Gas Tax Will Drop Rate to Historically Low Levels

March 26, 2015

Good roads are critical to public safety and to Kentucky’s economy, especially in a state so dependent on manufacturing and distribution industries. Funding from the gas tax and other sources also supports over 40,000 jobs. It’s important that the General Assembly recognize the need for a sustainable revenue stream to keep Kentucky’s infrastructure safe and […]

Mississippi Economic Policy Center: All Roads Lead to Nowhere

March 25, 2015

Big tax cuts that largely benefit corporations and wealthy Mississippians are unaffordable and will erode our ability to support schools, universities, roads and bridges and public safety. Big tax cuts will undermine our future by making it harder for the state to invest in the things that make Mississippi’s working families more productive like a […]