698 posts
State Rundown 1/28: State Tax Cutting Plans Face Scrutiny
• By ITEP Staff
As state legislative sessions ramp up across the country, property taxes are one of many issues dominating tax policy conversations in statehouses.
Intuit Helped Limit Americans’ Tax Filing Options While Raking in Millions in Tax Breaks
• By Joe Hughes
As tax filing season begins, families have fewer options than last year, thanks to the heavy lobbying efforts of big tax-preparation corporations like Intuit (the parent company of TurboTax).
Wall Street Journal: Companies Reveal Big Mystery: Where They Pay Taxes and How Much
January 28, 2026
Netflix and Intel are some of the first to comply with a new accounting rule that requires more details about corporate tax payments. Read more.
Washington Post: How to Claim Tax Breaks on Overtime, Tips, and More This Filing Season
January 27, 2026
Many taxpayers stand to collect larger refunds this year from the IRS, whether they itemize or not. Read more.
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Proposed Income Tax Cuts in Massachusetts Would Benefit Households with Highest Incomes and Force Deep Public Cuts
• By ITEP Staff
The proposed ballot question to cut the Massachusetts state income tax would not just force deep cuts to investment in public programs and infrastructure. Its benefits are also highly skewed towards households with the highest incomes. Read more.
CNBC: Social Security Benefits Are Still Taxed in Some States. Why There’s a Push to Change That.
January 27, 2026
There’s a push to end taxes on Social Security benefits to help retirees keep more money in their pockets. Read more.
How the Wealthy Exploit the Tax Code: Q&A with Professor Ray Madoff, Author of ‘The Second Estate’
• By Brakeyshia Samms
Her timely book, The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy, walks readers through federal tax policy history and the modern-day legal maneuvers the wealthy use to pay little to no taxes
State Rundown 1/22: Cautious Tone Noticeable in Most Statehouses
• By ITEP Staff
Most states are adopting a very cautious approach so far this year as legislators begin their sessions and governors make their annual addresses, thanks to ongoing economic uncertainty and federal retrenchment.
States Can Push Back Against Reckless Federal Tax Policy. Here’s How.
• By Aidan Davis, Wesley Tharpe
They should take steps to protect and boost their own revenues. And they should take a second look at their own tax cuts.
Local Governments Are Increasingly Strapped: 2026 Will Bring New Challenges and New Opportunities
• By Kamolika Das
2025 saw an intensification of state and local tax fights across the country, as well as growing experimentation with local-option taxes, levies, fees, and tourism taxes aimed at keeping budgets afloat while also navigating political constraints imposed by state legislatures.
North Carolina Department of Commerce: The Hidden Cost of Child Care Gaps in North Carolina’s Economy
• By ITEP Staff
Lack of access to affordable, high-quality child care is a barrier to labor force participation for working parents in North Carolina and affects our state’s economy. Read more.
Time: Americans Are Paying for Trump’s Tariffs, Study Finds
January 20, 2026
This corroborates findings from other think tanks and institutes that have tracked corporate activity since the tariffs dropped. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), in disclosures at the end of 2025, “industry executives have publicly told investors they are protecting profits by passing the costs of tariffs on to consumers.” Read more.
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies: State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession
• By ITEP Staff
State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession is the product of a collaborative effort drawing on the expertise of Joint Center staff, fellows, and trusted external partners. Contributors include colleagues from United for a Fair Economy, the Center for Economic Policy Research, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the Onyx […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Five Budget Time Bombs Facing the Next Governor
• By ITEP Staff
Without sustainable and equitable revenue sources, incoming governor Mikie Sherrill is inheriting a state budget full of fiscal threats. Read more.
State Rundown 1/14: New Year Brings New Resolutions for Funding Key Priorities
• By ITEP Staff
State governors are beginning to lay out their top priorities as legislatures reconvene in statehouses around the country.
Education Week: Schools Brace for Mid-Year Cuts as ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Changes Begin
January 14, 2026
The statewide specter of these unusual cuts marks one of the first tangible ripple effects for K-12 schools nationwide from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, approved by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last July. Read more.
MarketWatch: Tax the Rich in ’26? These 3 Crucial Questions about Wealth Taxes Could Be Answered This Year
January 12, 2026
A new year has unleashed a new round of debate on how much more money America’s super-rich should be paying in taxes. Read more.
Curbing Tax Deductions for Executive Pay is a Federal Tax Change States Should Get Behind
• By Matthew Gardner
This provision in last summer’s tax law could actually make budget-balancing a little bit easier for states if they follow suit.
Associated Press: Georgia Republicans Move to Scrap State Income Tax by 2032 Despite Concerns
January 8, 2026
Eliminating state income taxes sounds great to many voters, but Republicans backing the push in multiple states still face questions about whether such big tax cuts can be made without raising other taxes or sharply cutting state funding for education, health care and other services. Read more.
State Rundown 1/7: New Year, New Opportunities for Progressive Revenue
• By ITEP Staff
As we kick off a new year, several states are facing revenue shortfalls. Some lawmakers are approaching the challenge with sustainable and equitable solutions.
Washington Governor’s Office: Governor Ferguson Announces Support for Millionaires’ Tax
• By ITEP Staff
Washington ranks next to last for fairness and equality in our tax system — meaning those who make the least pay much larger shares of their income than those with the most resources. Washington families whose income is in the bottom 20% pay 13.8% of their total income in taxes, while those whose income is […]
Newsweek: US Property Tax Changes Coming in 2026
January 5, 2026
Property tax reform has been a hot topic across the country this year, especially in Republican-led states, as lawmakers and politicians try to offer relief to homeowners struggling with higher bills; and experts believe it will remain at the forefront in 2026—with many states continuing to push for the complete elimination of property taxes. Read […]
HeraldNet: Editorial: ‘Millionaires’ tax’ can deliver fairness, revenue
January 5, 2026
We should all hope we’d be in the financial position where we’d have to pay Gov. Bob Ferguson’s proposed “millionaires’ tax,” because — as the name implies — it would levy a tax on annual income above $1 million, meaning we’d be doing pretty well. Read more.
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: In New Poll, Kentuckians Say Income Tax Cuts Aren’t Helping
• By ITEP Staff
Kentucky’s legislative leaders have made reducing the state’s individual income tax rate their top priority in recent years. Lawmakers have repeatedly acted on that, reducing the rate several times and costing the state billions annually that could have been invested in kids and families. Read more.
Public Assets Institute: State of Working Vermont 2025
• By ITEP Staff
In many ways, 2025 has been a year like no other. Federal actions affecting the state have been fast and furious: freezing grants, eliminating housing supports, withholding or slashing food benefits and heating assistance, decimating healthcare access both by cutting Medicaid and ending enhanced insurance premium tax credits. All of this adds up to hundreds of […]
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