• blog   May 16, 2025

    The House Tax Plan, By the Numbers

    The House of Representatives unveiled a sprawling piece of tax legislation earlier this week that would extend temporary tax changes enacted in 2017 and layer various kinds of tax cuts and increases on top. The JCT analysis makes clear that the House tax plan would be regressive, meaning it would offer larger tax cuts as a share of income to high-income taxpayers than to either middle-class or working-class families. It also makes clear that most of the tax cuts would go to families with above-average incomes.

  • brief   May 15, 2025

    House Tax Bill Enlists the Wealthy to Spread Private School Vouchers

    The House tax plan cuts charitable giving tax incentives for donors to most nonprofit groups while roughly tripling the incentive available to donors to groups that fund private K-12 school vouchers. The bill would also allow private school voucher donors to avoid capital gains tax on their gifts of corporate stock, creating a profitable tax shelter for wealthy people who agree to help funnel public funds into private schools. The bill would reduce federal tax revenue by $23.2 billion over the next 10 years as currently drafted, or by $67 billion over the next 10 years if it is extended beyond its four-year expiration date.

  • blog   May 7, 2025

    State Rundown 5/7: As Budget Season Heats Up, Tax Proposals Are Getting Serious

    With spring in full bloom ,many state lawmakers are reaching tax policy agreements. Out west, lawmakers in North Dakota and Texas have moved major property tax cuts. Meanwhile, in the east and south, Vermont appears likely to pass an expansion to its Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and South Carolina lawmakers are aiming to make deep, drastic cuts to the state’s income tax.

  • brief   May 6, 2025

    Maryland’s New Budget Boosts Tax Revenue and Equity

    The final budget adopted by the Maryland General Assembly shows progress in advancing tax equity in the state while boosting state revenues to address the state’s budget deficit. To help…
  • blog   April 24, 2025

    Equitable (and Less Equitable) Washington State Revenue Raisers

    Washington state came into the year with strong tax justice momentum. Lawmakers’ innovative Capital Gains Excise Tax on the state’s highest-income households was upheld by the state and federal Supreme…
  • blog   April 24, 2025

    State Rundown 4/24: States Push Tax Cuts Despite Fiscal Uncertainty

    While some states are preparing for uncertainty – slowing revenue growth, chaos from unpredictable tariffs, cuts to federal programs, etc. – others continue to move forward with plans for deep…
  • blog   April 24, 2025

    Millions of Citizen Children Would be Harmed by Proposal Billed as Targeting Immigrant Tax Filers

    Congressional Republicans have floated a proposal to strip the Child Tax Credit from millions of children who are U.S. citizens and legal residents in situations where their parents do not have Social Security numbers. Approximately 4.5 million citizen children with Social Security numbers would lose access to the credit under this proposal.

  • blog   April 23, 2025

    The Impact of Trump’s Tariffs

    The tariffs proposed by Donald Trump, which are far larger than any on the books today, would significantly raise the prices faced by American consumers across the income scale.

  • map   April 17, 2025

    Taxes on Adult-Use Cannabis in Each State

    Twenty-three states have legalized the sale of cannabis for general adult use, and sales are already underway in 21 of those states. Every state allowing legal sales applies an excise…
  • blog   April 17, 2025

    Ending Direct File Program is a Gift to the Tax-Prep Industry That Will Cost Taxpayers Time and Money

    The Trump administration reportedly plans to shutter the IRS Direct File program before it has a chance to get fully off the ground, taking away a free option for people to file their tax returns directly to the agency. Ending Direct File is another gift from this administration to large corporations, this time to the multibillion-dollar tax prep industry that profits from you filing your taxes.

  • news release   April 16, 2025

    Trump Administration’s Decision to End Direct File is Another Gift to Big Corporations

    Contact: Jon Whiten ([email protected]) According to multiple reports, the Trump administration plans to eliminate the IRS Direct File program, a free electronic system for filing tax returns directly to the…
  • brief   April 9, 2025

    Sharp Turn in Federal Policy Brings Significant Risks for State Tax Revenues

    Summary The new presidential administration and Congress have indicated that they intend to bring about a dramatic federal retreat in funding for health care, food assistance, education, and other services…
  • brief   April 8, 2025

    A Windfall for the Wealthy: A Distributional Analysis of Mississippi HB 1

    Mississippi lawmakers have approved the most radical and costly change to the state’s personal income tax system to date. House Bill 1 ultimately eliminates the state’s personal income tax and cuts state revenues by nearly $2.7 billion a year when fully implemented. This deeply regressive legislation will create a windfall for the wealthiest residents of the poorest state in the nation while simultaneously jeopardizing the state’s ability to fund public services that support Mississippians and the state’s economy.

  • map   April 2, 2025

    When Did Your State Enact an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)?

    The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) supports millions of workers and families and continues to grow in states and localities across the country. Today, 31 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico offer EITCs. Local EITCs can also now be found in Montgomery County, Maryland, New York City, and San Francisco, where they benefited 700,000 households in 2023.

  • blog   March 28, 2025

    Celebrating 50 Years of the Earned Income Tax Credit

    This week, we celebrate 50 years of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the impact it’s had on millions of workers and families. In 2023 alone, the latest year of available data, the federal EITC alongside the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit lifted 6.4 million people and 3.4 million children out of poverty.

  • brief   March 28, 2025

    Advantaging Affluence: A Distributional Analysis of Missouri HB 798’s Uneven Tax Cuts for Wealth and Work

    Missouri House Bill 798 would reduce personal and corporate income tax rates, fully eliminate taxes on capital gains income from sale of assets, and eliminates the state’s modest Earned Income Tax Credit that assists many working people in lower-paid jobs. HB 798 would radically transform Missouri’s income tax code into a system that privileges income from wealth over income from work, leaving many middle-income families to pay a higher income tax rate than wealthy people living off their investments.

  •   March 28, 2025

    Ben Coll

    Ben joined ITEP as a developer in 2025 and builds internal and external tools to advance ITEP’s mission. Prior to joining ITEP, Ben spent over 10 years working as the…
  • report   March 26, 2025

    Federal Tax Policy: What Should It Accomplish?

    The U.S. needs a tax code that is more adequate, meaning any major tax legislation should increase revenue, not reduce it. The U.S. also needs a tax code that is more progressive, meaning any significant tax legislation should require more, not less, from those most able to pay.

  •   March 24, 2025

    Jessica Vela

    Jessica is a Federal Policy Analyst who supports ITEP with research and analysis of progressive tax priorities. Prior to joining ITEP in 2025, Jessica worked for the Center for American…
  • report   March 18, 2025

    Shelter Skelter: How the Educational Choice for Children Act Would Use Tax Avoidance to Fuel School Privatization

    The Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 would ostensibly provide a tax break on charitable donations to organizations that give out private K-12 school vouchers. Most of the so-called “contributions,” however, would be made by wealthy people solely for the tax savings, as those savings would typically be larger than their contributions.

  • report   March 18, 2025

    A Revenue Impact Analysis of the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025

    The Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 would provide donors to nonprofit groups that distribute private K-12 school vouchers with a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit in exchange for their contributions. In total, the ECCA would reduce federal and state tax revenues by $10.6 billion in 2026 and by $136.3 billion over the next 10 years. Federal tax revenues would decline by $134 billion over 10 years while state revenues would decline by $2.3 billion.

  • map   March 11, 2025

    State Approaches to Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI)

    Many states with corporate income taxes include some amount of federally defined Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) in their tax bases. Twenty-one states plus D.C. include some amount of GILTI in their tax calculations in 2025.

  • brief   March 6, 2025

    Proposed Missouri Tax Shelter Would Aid the Wealthy, Anti-Abortion Centers Alike

    In Missouri, donations to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers come with state tax credits valued at 70 cents on the dollar. One bill currently being debated in the state would increase that matching rate to 100 percent—that is a full, state-funded reimbursement of gifts to anti-abortion groups.

  • blog   March 5, 2025

    Trump’s Address to Congress Obscures His Actual Tax Agenda

    In last night’s address to Congress, President Trump spent more time insulting Americans, lying, and bragging than he did talking about taxes. But regardless of what President Trump and Elon…
  • blog   February 26, 2025

    House Budget Resolution Tees Up Damaging Trump Tax Agenda

    The budget resolution passed by House Republicans will enrich the richest, blow up the deficit, and decimate vital public services. The budget resolution allows Congress to pass reconciliation legislation with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that would mostly flow to the wealthiest families in the country. Congressional Republicans have no way to pay for the massive tax cuts promised by President Trump during his campaign other than to dismantle fundamental parts of the government and increase the federal budget deficit.