Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

NPR: A Tech Billionaire Is Quietly Buying Up Land in Hawaii. No One Knows Why

February 28, 2024

Over the last couple of years, a mystery has been brewing in this small mountain town. Someone has been quietly buying hundreds of acres of land — stirring worries about rising housing prices and speculation among locals about what exactly is going on.

Movement for Black Lives (M4BL): Economic Justice

February 27, 2024

We demand economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure Black communities have collective ownership, not merely access.

Mother Jones: It’s No Secret Our Tax System Punishes Low-Income People. It Doesn’t Have To

February 26, 2024

Oregon taxpayers will become some of the first in the nation to have the option to self-identify their race and ethnicity when they file their tax returns this year. The reason is both simple and complex: Especially at the state level, taxes worsen America’s yawning wealth gaps rather than easing them. A growing number of advocates and policymakers are trying to do something about that. 

The Hill: Trump Tax Cuts on the Line in 2024 Election

February 21, 2024

The 2017 Trump tax cuts are on the line in the election this year, with Republicans hoping a sweep of Congress and the White House will allow them to extend the former president’s signature law. Democrats opposed the law when Trump was in power but have supported extending certain cuts, such as the decreased tax rates for people making less than $400,000 a year. Democrats do not want a blanket extension, which would cost nearly $4 trillion over the next decade.

Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Talks to Ohio Newsroom About That State’s Upside-Down Tax Code

February 20, 2024

Ohio’s poorest residents pay a greater percentage of their income to state and local taxes than the richest Ohioans, according to a recent report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It found that Ohio has the 15th most unequal tax system in the country.

Roll Call: Rule for ‘SALT’ Bill Goes Down, Likely Sealing Its Fate

February 20, 2024

The House rejected a rule that would provide for floor consideration of a bill to double the cap on state and local tax deductions for married couples earning up to $500,000, striking a blow to legislation championed by blue-state Republicans. The House voted 195-225 Wednesday on the rule, falling well short of the majority needed to proceed to a floor vote on the bill and an unrelated resolution criticizing President Joe Biden’s energy policies.

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The ‘Low-Tax’ Lie: States Hyped for Low Taxes Usually Only Low-Tax for the Rich

February 20, 2024 • By Jon Whiten

It’s hard to go a week without seeing a politician or a news article hype up a state as the place that everyone is moving to – or should move to – because of low taxes. However, there’s a big problem with these proclamations: they aren’t true.  

Better Wyoming: Somehow, Some Way, Wyoming Property Tax Relief is Coming

February 14, 2024

Buying a home is a goal for most hard-working Wyoming families, and achieving it is a cause to celebrate. But many homeowners in recent years have opened their annual property tax bills and been jolted by huge increases. In fact, residential property tax bills in Wyoming have gone up by an average of more than 80 percent over the past six years.

LA Times: Taxpayer ‘Protection’ or Taxpayer ‘Deception’? A New Ballot Measure Aims to Destroy State and Local Budgets

February 14, 2024

It’s indisputable that the decline of state fiscal management in California began with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. The tax-cutting initiative upended the tax structure that provided most of the revenues needed by localities and school districts, undermining the locals’ control of their own spending.

Common Good Iowa: Both Governor’s, Senate Plans Worsen Tax Inequalities

February 12, 2024

Iowans have traditionally valued expanding opportunity, caring for neighbors and a strong sense of fair play. Tax-cut proposals at the Iowa Statehouse from Governor Kim Reynolds and legislative leaders turn these Iowa values upside down. They would drastically restrict revenue needed to fund critical services such as education, health care, public safety and environmental quality. The Senate bill, SSB 3141, would set out to fully eliminate the income tax, which until recently has funded roughly half of the state budget. By targeting benefits to the wealthiest Iowans, the plans would throw an already inequitable tax system further out of balance.

Oklahoma Policy Institute: Economic Projections for Asylum Seekers and New Immigrants in Oklahoma

February 12, 2024

Immigration is hardly a new social trend in the state of Oklahoma. Of the four million people living in the state, 243,000 are immigrants, or six percent of the total population, according to the 2022 American Community Survey.

Stateline: If You Can Buy a ‘Mansion,’ You Can Pay a Tax for Affordable Housing, These States Say

February 12, 2024

To create a long-term revenue stream, Berg has proposed raising taxes on the most expensive real estate transactions, an increasing nationwide trend sometimes dubbed a “mansion tax.” Her legislation would increase the state’s tax on property sales above $3 million while decreasing the tax rate for less expensive sales. The change is estimated to create an additional $300 million in revenue each biennium, said Berg, chair of the House Finance Committee.

Center for Public Integrity: More Tax Cuts Put States’ Revenue At Risk

February 12, 2024

At least a dozen proposals for income tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy residents and big companies are already on the table for state legislatures to consider in 2024 — and more are likely to come. Read more. 

Semafor: Immigration ‘Will Boost US Economy by $7 Trillion’ Over Next Decade

February 12, 2024

The ongoing surge of immigration to the United States will boost its economy by $7 trillion over the next decade by expanding the labor force and increasing consumer demand, a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found.

Audio: ITEP’s Miles Trinidad Talks About Oregon’s Upside-Down Tax Code

February 12, 2024

We’re talking taxes today on Policy for the People, specifically from the vantage point of the Oregonians with the fewest resources, those who are struggling the most to make ends meet. In our first segment, we hear about a brand new tax credit in Oregon designed to shore up the lowest-income families with young children in our state. Tyler Mac Innis of the Oregon Center for Public Policy explains who qualifies for the Oregon Kids’ Credit and why the creation of this new tax credit is a very good thing. But despite the positive development that the Oregon Kids’ Credit…

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: High-Income People Who Received Large Net Tax Cuts in 2017 Law Don’t Need a New SALT Tax Cut

February 7, 2024

The House is poised to consider a new tax bill that would raise the cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), giving another large tax cut to the same group of rich people who benefitted the most as a share of their incomes from the 2017 tax law. Over half of the benefits would go to those in the 95th to 99th percentiles for income — the biggest winners of the 2017 tax law — according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). This group doesn’t need another tax cut, and policymakers should reject the bill.

New Mexico Voices for Children: New Mexico has the Most-Improved Tax Fairness of Any State

February 7, 2024

New Mexico now has the ninth most progressive tax system in the nation as ranked by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s recently updated Who Pays? report on tax incidence. That same report showed New Mexico as making the most progress toward tax fairness in the nation!

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Vermont Can Invest in Brighter Future With Targeted Income Tax Measure

February 6, 2024

According to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the proposal would fall almost exclusively on the state’s richest 1 percent of households, or those with average incomes of about $1.8 million a year.[2] The remainder of the state’s residents — who to be clear, already themselves contribute significant shares of revenue through existing taxes on income, sales, and property[3] — would see no change.

Yahoo Finance: Low-Earners in These 3 Low-Income Tax States Are Paying 5x More than the Rich in Taxes

February 6, 2024

The disparity between the rich and poor keeps growing with the disproportionate burden carried by low- and middle-income families. A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to tax policy, sheds light on the regressive nature of state and local tax systems in the United States.

Video: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses ‘Who Pays?’ at Rhode Island Revenue Roundtable

February 5, 2024

ITEP researcher Carl Davis joins the Economic Progress Institute (EPI) for Rhode Island's Revenue Roundtable.

MinnPost: Minnesota’s ‘Most Progressive’ Tax State Designation Explained

February 5, 2024

Minnesota is now the state with the nation’s most-progressive tax system in the U.S., as calculated by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its data-driven assessment looks at the share of state taxes that are borne by various income groups. Progressive is defined not in partisan terms but to describe tax systems that have higher income taxpayers devoting a larger percentage of their incomes to taxes than lower-income taxpayers.

The Hill: Tax Deal Likely Much More Expensive than Official Estimate, Experts Warn

January 31, 2024

“The $600B figure … is consistent with earlier estimates of the 10-year costs of these provisions if made permanent,” Joe Hughes, a policy analyst with Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told The Hill.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro: Fact Sheets on Tax Deal

January 30, 2024

“The tax deal fails on equity,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “It delivers huge tax cuts for giant corporations while denying middle class families the economic security they had under the expanded, monthly Child Tax Credit.  It also leaves the poorest families behind because of a policy choice. At a time when a majority of American voters believe tax on big corporations should be increased, there is no reason we should be providing corporations a tax cut while only giving families pennies.”

Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses Idaho’s Regressive Tax System

January 30, 2024

Idaho has the 36th most regressive tax system in the nation, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Who Pays report says that low- and middle-income families in Idaho pay more in taxes than the wealthy, and the institute also says that disparity has only gotten worse over the last five years. May Roberts, Policy Analyst at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, and Carl Davis, Research Director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, joined Idaho Matters to break down the study.

Policy Matters Ohio: New Data Show Just How Upside-Down Ohio’s Tax Code Is

January 29, 2024

In 2023, the lowest-paid Ohioans spent more than twice as much of their income on state and local taxes than the highest-paid, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).