1,134 posts
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Bill Won’t Close Tax Loopholes But Will Erode Quality of PA Schools and Services
• By ITEP Staff
“The debate over House Bill 2150 made clear that this bill was never about closing corporate tax loopholes. Instead, it will put in place a billion dollars in corporate tax cuts that will cripple the commonwealth’s ability to provide education, health care and human services for Pennsylvania families. The tax cut plan in HB 2150 […]
California Budget Project: What Makes a Tax System Fair
• By ITEP Staff
While everyone believes a tax system ought to be fair, there is disagreement as to what constitutes a fair or equitable tax system. This Budget Backgrounder describes what economists generally believe makes a tax system fair, examines how fair California’s tax system is, and discusses why fairness matters. Read the Full Report (PDF)
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Kentucky’s Income Tax: Protecting and Strengthening a Key to Growth
• By ITEP Staff
“The state individual income tax is essential to economic growth and quality of life in Kentucky and should be protected – even strengthened – as part of any tax reform package. It is the largest and most effective tool the state has to generate resources for crucial investments in schools, health care and other key […]
National Conference of State Legislatures: Paving the Way
• By ITEP Staff
“Activity in Congress earlier this year raised hopes that a federal transportation authorization spanning more than one calendar year would finally be passed. This would have allowed state transportation officials to plan with more certainty. Although both the Senate and House have now passed bills, the possibility of reconciling their differences in conference—and thus of […]
Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute: Analysis of 2012 Federal Tax Reform, Part One
• By ITEP Staff
“Tax rates, spending cuts and the federal deficit are again the center of debate on Capitol Hill. With the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of 2012, budget discussions will be the major focus over the next couple of months as the American economy continues its fragile course to recovery. Diverse perspectives […]
Open Sky Policy Institute: Looking for Clarity
• By ITEP Staff
“To promote a vibrant debate on these vital issues, it is important to begin with a clear, precise explanation of how Nebraska generates income and how it is spent. Any Nebraskan who wants to understand more clearly how the process works should find this primer a good starting point. It is intended as an overview […]
National Conference of State Legislatures: On the Move- State Strategies for 21st Century Transportation Solutions
• By ITEP Staff
“This report explores a wide array of innovative surface transportation reform laws, policies and programs that policymakers are considering or pursuing to take the nation’s transportation system well into the 21st century. Particular focus is placed on policies that promote fiscal and environmental sustainability; facilitate affordable, safe and accessible transportation choices; and achieve shared benefits […]
California Budget Project: What Would Proposition 38 Mean for California
• By ITEP Staff
Proposition 38, which will appear on the November 6, 2012 statewide ballot, would temporarily increase personal income tax rates for nearly all California taxpayers and allocate the new revenues to K-12 education, early childhood education, and repayment of state general obligation (GO) bond debt. Proposition 38 would raise an estimated $10 billion in 2013-14 – […]
California Budget Project: What Would Proposition 30 Mean for California
• By ITEP Staff
“Proposition 30, which will appear on the November 6, 2012 statewide ballot, would increase personal income tax rates on very-high-income Californians for seven years and raise the state’s sales tax rate by one-quarter cent for four years. The Legislative Analyst’s Offi ce (LAO) estimates that the measure would raise an average of approximately $6 billion […]
Michigan League for Human Services: Got Skin in the Game?
• By ITEP Staff
It is often said that families who receive government assistance do not have any “skin in the game,” meaning that they use government-funded programs but do not contribute to the revenue that funds these programs. But, as Benjamin Franklin said, the only things that are certain are death and taxes and everybody pays taxes. Wealth […]
North Carolina Justice Center: Improving the Sales Tax – A Critical Step to a Modern Revenue System
• By ITEP Staff
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The state sales tax in North Carolina represents nearly 30 percent of the state’s total revenue each year. In 2011, the states sales tax generated $5.9 billion in state revenue. The sales tax is regressive, which means that it asks more from those with the least ability to pay. Lower-income families spend a […]
Kansas Action for Children: Kansas Tax Reform in 2012: What does it mean for children and families?
• By ITEP Staff
“One of the defining issues of the 2012 Kansas legislative session was tax policy. Ultimately, the package of tax changes enacted by lawmakers will negatively impact Kansas children and families in a number of ways. • State revenues will be dramatically reduced – affecting available funding for necessary services such as education, the social safety […]
North Carolina Justice Center: WHO PAYS TAXES?- The Poor, the Rich, and Everyone In Between
• By ITEP Staff
“KEY FINDINGS Every household pays taxes. Even the poorest fifth of American households paid an average of one-sixth (16 percent) of their total income in federal, state, and local taxes in 2009. The wealthiest 1 percent of households in the country, with annual incomes averaging more than $1.3 million, paid less than one-third (30.7 percent) […]
Louisiana Budget Project: Louisiana’s Earned Income Tax Credit: A Smart Investment in Working Families and Children
• By ITEP Staff
“With poverty on the rise in Louisiana, especially among children, policymakers should expand the state’s version of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—a tried-and-true tax benefit for families that work, but earn low wages. Louisiana’s credit is the smallest in the nation, which keeps it from helping as much as it could. Its size should […]
Previewing Tax Reform in the States: National Trends and State-specific Prospects for 2013
• By Meg Wiehe
Following an election that left half the states with veto-proof legislative majorities, 39 states with one-party rule and more than a dozen with governors who put tax reform high on their agendas, 2013 promises to be a big year for changes to state tax laws.
Tax Principles: Building Blocks of A Sound Tax System
• By Meg Wiehe
The fundamental purpose of taxation is to raise the revenue necessary to fund public services. While there are many ways to achieve this goal, a widely agreed-upon set of principles should be used to evaluate tax systems. This policy brief provides a basic overview of five commonly cited principles of sound tax policy: equity, adequacy, simplicity, exportability, and neutrality.
Five Steps Toward a Better Tax Expenditure Debate
• By Carl Davis
Almost without exception, state lawmakers do not closely scrutinize special tax credits, exemptions, and other "tax expenditures" on a regular basis. A recent report by the Pew Center on the States found, for example, that half the states have done nothing even remotely rigorous in the last five years to determine if even a single one of their economic development tax incentives is working.
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
• By Meg Wiehe
The tax systems of virtually every state are pushing poor families deeper into poverty. But state tax systems also have the potential to play a role in fighting poverty. The four low-income tax credits discussed in this report are among the most cost-effective anti-poverty strategies available to lawmakers: the Earned Income Tax Credit, property tax circuit breakers, targeted low-income tax credits, and child-related tax credits. This report identifies the states in which each of these…
Most of Indiana Tax Rate Cut Would Flow to Upper-Income Taxpayers
• By Carl Davis
Alternative Could Provide Larger Tax Cuts for Most Hoosiers Indiana gubernatorial candidate, and current U.S. Representative, Mike Pence recently unveiled his plan to cut the state’s flat personal income tax rate from 3.4 percent to 3.06 percent, should he be elected governor. Pence described the plan as an “across the board” tax cut for “every […]
Corporate Income Tax Apportionment and the “Single Sales Factor”
• By Meg Wiehe
One of the thorniest problems in administering state corporate income taxes is how to distribute the profits of multi-state corporations among the states in which they operate. Ultimately, each corporation's profits should be taxed in their entirety, but some corporations pay no tax at all on a portion of their profits. This problem has emerged, in part, due to recent state efforts to manipulate the "apportionment rules" that distribute such profits. This policy brief explains…
State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
• By Meg Wiehe
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in helping states to adequately fund public services in a way that exempts middle- and low income taxpayers.
Four Tax Ideas for Jobs-Focused Governors
• By ITEP Staff
As the nation's governors gather in Williamsburg, Virginia this week, their focus is on their Chairman's initiative, Growing State Economies. Too often, however, a governor's knee-jerk response to a lagging economy is to start cutting taxes, even though state tax cuts offer a demonstrably low economic bang-for-the-buck, for a number of reasons.
The Progressive Income Tax: An Essential Element of Fair and Sustainable State Tax Systems
• By Meg Wiehe
A few vocal critics have pointed to state personal income taxes as the source of a variety of fiscal and economic problems- arguing that it has enabled wasteful spending, fueled the volatility of revenue collections, or even stifled job-creation. Accordingly, some of these critics have called for the outright repeal of the income tax, while others have suggested making it significantly less progressive. Such proposals, if acted upon, would make it all but impossible for…
Sales Tax Holidays: A Boondoggle
• By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are among the most important--and most unfair--taxes levied by state governments. Sales taxes accounted for a third of state taxes in 2011, but sales taxes are regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle- income taxpayers than on the wealthy. In recent years, lawmakers thinking they might lessen the impact of these taxes have enacted "sales tax holidays" that provide temporary sales tax breaks for purchases of clothing, computers, and other items.…
Tax Bill Signed by Governor Brownback Makes Kansas an Outlier
• By Meg Wiehe
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback recently signed into law Senate Substitute for HB 2117, a tax bill that dramatically changes the Kansas income tax structure. The legislation will cut taxes by over $760 million a year but will actually increase taxes on some lowand middle-income families. This report describes the legislation and its impact on working […]
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