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President Biden should elevate his tax and revenue proposals which remain essential if we are to pay for environmental restoration, health priorities and peacekeeping, the front-burner items that may dominate the speech.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Making New Jersey Affordable for Families – The Case for a State-Level Child Tax Credit
February 23, 2022
A state-level child tax credit would recognize the unique costs of raising children and the support that most families need to care for their kids and set them up for success. When families can pay for basic expenses and save for their children’s futures, it improves child well-being immediately by reducing key costs like food […]
Sen. Scott and others who favor shifting taxes away from the rich and down the income distribution often focus solely on the federal personal income tax and ignore all the other taxes that Americans pay.
The Federal Gas Tax Holiday is Not a New Idea, Just a Bad One
February 17, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff
The argument for suspending the gas tax, which would cost $20 billion, is weaker than ever.
It’s become popular to urge people to imagine a better world. But on tax policy, the last year gives us ample evidence that lets us move far beyond imagining.
West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: House Personal Income Tax Cut Plan Largely Benefits Wealthy, Not Fiscally Sustainable
February 15, 2022
The West Virginia Legislature has introduced a bill to cut and eventually eliminate the state’s personal income tax. The House Finance Committee voted to advance that bill to the House floor with no discussion or questions asked. Like previous attempts to eliminate the state’s income tax, HB 4007 would lead to major revenue losses for the […]
Oklahoma Policy Institute: Strengthening the Grocery Tax Credit Would Provide Fiscally Smart Tax Relief to Working Oklahomans
February 14, 2022
Oklahoma can effectively eliminate the state and local sales tax on groceries for most low-income families by strengthening the Sales Tax Relief Credit. At a time when many Oklahomans are struggling to put food on the table and are at risk of eviction, a more robust Sales Tax Relief Credit can help put money back into the pockets […]
Common Good Iowa: New Income Tax Cuts – a Recipe for Disaster and Inequity
February 10, 2022
Iowa lawmakers have repeatedly cut taxes over the last three decades in ways that provide the greatest benefits to the highest-income taxpayers while ratcheting down investments that historically made the state attractive to raise a family or do business — including public schools and public health. Now, within months of passing tax cuts that when […]
Federal EITC Enhancements Help More Than One in Three Young Workers
February 8, 2022 • By Aidan Davis
More than one in three young adults would benefit from workers without children being eligible to receive the federal EITC. This policy change would bolster young adults’ economic security.
Amazon Avoids More Than $5 Billion in Corporate Income Taxes, Reports 6 Percent Tax Rate on $35 Billion of US Income
February 7, 2022 • By Matthew Gardner
Amazon avoided about $5.2 billion of federal income tax on its record $36 billion in U.S. pretax income for fiscal year 2021.
Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy: HB 436 Tax Cuts Benefit Wealthy Idahoans
February 7, 2022
The tax cuts proposed in HB 436 would benefit wealthy Idahoans the most. The bill would also collapse the state’s five tax brackets to four, and would lower the income tax rate on the wealthiest tax bracket from 6.5% to 6%. Read more
Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy: Idaho Families Would Benefit From Move to Include More Children in State’s Child Tax Credit
February 7, 2022
From housing to child care, hard-working Idaho families face high costs in our growing state. Since 2018, Idaho’s tax code has supported families through the state Child Tax Credit (CTC). In the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Congress approved a temporary change to expand the definition of “child” to include 17-year-olds in tax year 2021. […]
Hawai’i Budget & Policy Center: Expanding Economic Opportunity with the Hawai’i EITC
February 7, 2022
Hawai’i’s working families continue to struggle with the nation’s highest gap between median earnings and the cost of living, and this difficult reality has only been made harsher by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, more than a third of Hawai’i households had at least some difficulty paying for their monthly expenses in December of 2021. […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Tax Cut Plan Even More Expensive, Skewed Toward The Wealthy
February 7, 2022
The likely proposal for the long-discussed special session seems to have settled, and its main feature would be to cut the top personal and corporate income tax rates. This disproportionately benefits the wealthy, and the corporate income tax cut will largely be captured by out-of-state shareholders, meaning the revenue will leave the state economy entirely. […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: Tax Shift Would Hike Taxes for People with Low Incomes and Give a Big Tax Cut to the Top 1%
February 7, 2022
Last month, an influential group of lobbyists released a proposal to raise Wisconsin’s sales tax to 8%, making it the highest state sales tax in the country, and eliminate the state individual income tax, Wisconsin’s biggest source of revenue. The plan would result in the largest tax cuts going to white households, with households of color […]
The Commonwealth Institute: Youngkin Administration’s Proposals Would Sharply Reduce State Resources, Largely Exclude Working Families with the Lowest Incomes
February 7, 2022
The Youngkin administration’s tax plan would leave out nearly 80 percent of the over 800,000 taxpayers in Virginia who have incomes below $24,000. Gov. Youngkin’s proposed changes would also sharply reduce state General Fund revenues — the portion of the state budget over which lawmakers have the most discretion and which primarily goes toward funding […]
One Voice: Eliminating Individual Income Tax is Bad for Mississippi
February 7, 2022
House Bill 531 would eliminate the state individual income tax. Eliminating the income tax is bad for Mississippi, especially the state’s working families, communities of color, and retirees. While some lawmakers are suggesting that Mississippi’s revenue system is sound enough to support this tax cut, due to the current surplus, this couldn’t be further from […]
Alabama Arise: Eliminating State Grocery Tax Would Make Life Better for Alabama Families
February 7, 2022
Two bills in the 2022 regular session would end the state grocery tax while protecting school funding. The graph below shows how millions of Alabamians would benefit. Untaxing groceries quickly and responsibly would boost economic and food security for all Alabamians. That means replacing revenue for public schools in a way that doesn’t harm struggling […]
Open Sky Policy Institute: Most Nebraskans Left Behind by Income Tax Cut Bills
February 4, 2022
Non-Nebraskans, corporations and wealthy residents would be big winners under the latest income tax cuts proposed in in LB 938 and LB 939. Meanwhile, the bills – which would ratchet the state’s top corporate and personal income tax rates to 5.84% over four and three years respectively – offer most Nebraskans little tax savings while depleting revenue needed […]
Netflix Posts a Record $5.3 Billion in Profits and a Federal Tax Rate of Just 1.1 Percent
February 1, 2022 • By Matthew Gardner
Netflix's 2021 financial report shows it doubled its profits to $5.3 billion from the previous year and reported an effective federal corporate income tax rate of 1.1 percent.
Connecticut Voices for Children: Steps to a Fairer Tax System
February 1, 2022
Although Connecticut has the second highest level of per capita personal income in the US, making it exceptionally wealthy overall, many families consistently struggle because Connecticut also has the second highest level of income inequality and a substantial racial income gap, meaning a small, disproportionately white portion of the population primarily benefits from the state’s […]
Build Back Better’s Tax Provisions Would Help Advance Racial Equity
January 31, 2022 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Build Back Better can help ensure that all people are provided with the chance to lead healthy lives, have access to quality education, are treated fairly and justly, and thrive in today’s economy.
Mississippi Is the Latest in a String of States Pursuing Short-Sighted, Top-Heavy Tax Cuts
January 19, 2022 • By Kamolika Das
Not only is Mississippi's latest tax proposal deeply inequitable, the state simply cannot afford it.
The Compelling Data and Moral Case for Continuing the Child Tax Credit Expansion
January 14, 2022 • By Alex Welch, ITEP Staff, Jenice Robinson
In just six short months, the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), decreased the number of children living in poverty by 40 percent. ITEP estimated that the lowest-income 20 percent of households with children would receive a 35 percent income boost from this policy alone in 2021. This is a meaningful, life-changing sum.
The Problem with Returning to a $2,000 Non-Refundable Child Tax Credit
January 13, 2022 • By Joe Hughes
Prior to last year, more than one in three children lived in households with incomes too low to receive the full $2,000 credit because it is not fully refundable. This means earnings requirements and other limits reduce the amount tax filers can receive as a refund. In fact, the maximum refundable portion is reduced to $1,400 (less than half of the maximum refundable credit available in 2021).
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