States across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems, while other states are receiving budget forecasts that could further shape upcoming policy debates.

Lawmakers can use this moment to advance a more progressive and racially-just tax system by evaluating tax proposals across five dimensions: equity, adequacy and stability, simplicity, neutrality, and accountability.

This November, North Carolinians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would limit the state income tax rate to 3.5 percent both for personal and corporate income taxes, a significant decrease from 7 percent, which was the maximum rate approved by voters in 2018.

Large cities have the technical capacity, the economic base, and often more political might than smaller localities and governments that local officials should utilize to design fairer tax systems.

The president's war has jacked up energy prices, including gas and the diesel used to transport goods, and his White House appears not to care. 

This fall, voters across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems. Here’s some of what we’re following.

The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is framed by its proponents as the largest middle-class tax cut in U.S. history and a catalyst for economic growth. Yet, beneath the marketing of ‘jobs, tax cuts, and American prosperity’, the legislation conceals sweeping rollbacks of Medicaid, food assistance, education, reproductive care, and expanded immigration enforcement, alongside tax windfalls for venture capital and immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration has been forced to pay out over $100 billion from illegal tariffs, and the biggest winners from these tariff refunds have been big corporations.

With many state legislatures already adjourned, developments in tax policy have slowed.

Consumers are increasingly bombarded with advertisements based on our personal data. This explosion in targeted advertising is leading state policymakers to revisit the tax treatment of advertising, which has long been exempt from sales tax.

Today's state income tax cutting is defined less by sweeping one-time reforms than by sustained campaigns to ratchet down income tax rates year after year. This approach enables lawmakers to enshrine significant long-term reductions into law, while obscuring the fiscal impact by spreading it across multiple state budgets and legislative cycles.

Tax-prep giant H&R Block paid no federal taxes on its U.S. income in 2025. It also made a public disclosure, required by the European Union, characterizing one-third of its global profits as earned in Ireland, a low-tax country where the company offers no tax services and has only 15 employees.

Today the Trump administration proposed new regulations seeking to drastically reduce the tax credits that certain immigrant tax filers can claim. The affected credits include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Additional Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Adoption Tax Credit. 

This report examines how recent policy changes in healthcare, food assistance, housing, and immigration are affecting families and communities, while also outlining what to expect in the coming year.