Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)
1,134 posts

Oregon Center for Public Policy: Immigration Reform Would Boost Oregon State and Local Budgets

• By ITEP Staff

How much do undocumented Oregonians contribute in state and local taxes? A recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimated that 124,000 undocumented Oregonians paid more than $83 million in state and local taxes in 2012. Read the full report here.

Fiscal Policy Institute: Property Tax Relief for Low- and Middle-Income Property New Yorkers Must Remain a Priority

• By ITEP Staff

Those making the least income relative to other New Yorkers would benefit more from the proposed circuit breaker than from a STAR rebate. Some 40 percent of taxpayers with incomes below $19,000 (the poorest fifth of New Yorkers) would receive a circuit breaker refund, according to an analysis of the governor’s proposal by the Institute […]

West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: Gutting the Personal Income is a Poor Strategy

• By ITEP Staff

As this post shows, the personal income tax is not only the largest source of revenue from state residents but it is also a progressive tax that helps reduce income inequality and pay for important budget priorities like education, higher education and health and human services. In the next post, we will explore whether the […]

Missouri Budget Project: State Earned Income Tax Credit Would Benefit Missouri

• By ITEP Staff

Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) encourage work, enhance take-home pay, improve health & economic outcomes, and have lasting benefits. Proposals to create a state-level EITC would build on these benefits of the federal EITC for more than 500,000 Missouri families. Click here to read the full report. 

Georgia Budget and Policy Institute: Income Tax Cuts Won’t Boost Georgia Economy

• By ITEP Staff

Big income tax cuts did not improve the economies of states that enacted them, and states without income taxes do not consistently grow more jobs or have stronger economies. Six states cut income taxes sharply from 2002 to 2007, before the most recent recession. Three of them – Arizona, Ohio and Rhode Island – grew […]

Voices for Illinois Children: Avoid Cuts, Choose Revenue

• By ITEP Staff

Governor Rauner has proposed to close this massive gap through damaging cuts to essential programs and services that strengthen Illinois families, children, communities, and our economy — including child care and early intervention services, K-12 education, afterschool, child protection and welfare, public health, higher education, health care, public transportation, and revenue-sharing with local governments. Cuts […]

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Issues with Taxing Marijuana at the State Level

• 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

• By ITEP Staff

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?

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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)

• 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?

• By ITEP Staff

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

• By ITEP Staff

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?

• By ITEP Staff

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), […]