• map   August 16, 2019

    Which States Allow Deductions for Federal Income Taxes Paid?

    Six states allow an unusual income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid. These deductions are detrimental to state income tax systems on many fronts, as they offer large benefits to high-income earners and undercut the adequacy and stability of state income tax systems.

  • blog   August 16, 2019

    One Tax System for Most Americans, and a Second System for the Wealthiest

    Last year, the Walton family’s fortune grew by $100 million a day. This level of wealth is particularly obscene in the context of the Walmart Corporation’s dark store strategy. The company works nationwide to reduce its property tax assessments, which, when successful, deprives local communities of revenue necessary to fund education, libraries, parks, public health and other services.

  • blog   August 13, 2019

    IRS’s SALT Workaround Regulations Should be Strengthened, Not Rejected

    Lawmakers are seeking to achieve a backdoor repeal of the $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes paid (SALT) by invalidating recent IRS regulations that cracked down on schemes that let taxpayers dodge the cap. If successful, their efforts would drain tens of billions of dollars from federal coffers each year, with the vast majority of the benefits going to the nation’s wealthiest families.

  • ITEP Work in Action   August 12, 2019

    Georgia Budget & Policy Institute: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in Georgia: High Income Households Receive Greatest Benefits

    This report offers the first comprehensive look at how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), in combination with Georgia’s enacted response, will impact the state budget and…
  • ITEP Work in Action   August 8, 2019

    Policy Matters Ohio: Ohio Tax Shift Away From the Wealthy: The Pattern Repeats

    The main tax measures in Ohio’s new budget bills will bring tax increases on average for lower- and middle-income taxpayers, while those at the top of the income scale on…
  • blog   August 7, 2019

    State and Local Cannabis Tax Revenue on Pace for $1.6 Billion in 2019

    Cannabis tax revenue is becoming more significant as legal sales grow. The tax is far from a budgetary panacea, but an ITEP analysis of revenue data reported by the seven states with legal cannabis sales underway suggests that excise and sales tax revenues from the sale of the drug could reach $1.6 billion this year.

  • news release   August 7, 2019

    Leadership Transition Announcement

    Notes from Alan Essig, Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax Justice, and Joan Entmacher, Board Chair of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and Ed Jayne, Board Chair of Citizens for Tax Justice, announcing leadership transition.

  • report   August 7, 2019

    Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: A Timeline

    In December 2017, federal lawmakers hastily enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. So rushed was its passage that provisions of the legislative text were scrawled in the margins. Scroll through this timeline for an in-depth look at the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the impact since its passage.

  • blog   August 2, 2019

    Opportunity Zones Have Nothing to Do with Reparations, Except …

    Among other things, this blog highlights how federal, state and local policies systematically work to reinforce the racial wealth gap by, for example, using the tax code to redistribute the nation’s wealth to billionaire developers and keeping low-income people of color in a perpetual cycle of debt through fines and fees to fund local governments. Opportunity zones and the top-heavy 2017 tax law are emblematic of a long history of policymaking that advantages wealthy white families.

  • map   August 1, 2019

    How Do Tax Rates on the Poor Compare to Taxes on the Rich in Your State?

    No two state tax systems are the same, but 45 states have one thing in common: Low-income residents are taxed at a higher rate than the top 1 percent.  Effective tax rates for the lowest 20 percent of families range from a high of 17.8 percent in Washington State to a low of 5.5 percent in Delaware.

  • blog   July 31, 2019

    A Wealth Tax Might Be Easier to Implement than You Think

    A direct federal tax on wealth, as described in a January report from ITEP and proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, could raise substantial revenue to make public investments, curb rising inequality, and is supported by a large majority of Americans. But would it work? Recent research highlighted in a new academic paper outlines approaches that would make it easier than you might think.

  • blog   July 26, 2019

    State Rundown 7/26: The Dog Days of Tax

    OHIO legislators passed a budget with unfortunate income tax cuts for high-income households. Other states turned their attention to unconventional ideas during their legislative off-seasons, for better and for worse. And there are many gems to be found in our “What We’re Reading” section below, including new research on the racial inequities that continue to pervade our communities and schools.

  •   July 26, 2019

    We shouldn’t wait for Washington to tax the rich. We can begin at the state level. Examining the federal policy landscape is a logical place to start, but state policymakers…
  • brief   July 26, 2019

    Election 2020: Tax Policy Essentials

    The nation’s tax policies and their role in economic inequality are front and center during this election cycle. For those interested in how the nation can move toward a fairer tax system and or more detailed information about progressive tax policy ideas, ITEP created this quick guide.

  • map   July 26, 2019

    Combined Reporting Lessens Corporate Tax Avoidance at State Level

    “Combined reporting” lessens the effectiveness of a tax avoidance scheme known as income shifting, in which large multi-state corporations dubiously claim that their income was earned in states with little or no corporate income tax.

  • blog   July 24, 2019

    Legislation to Block Corporate Inversions Is Still Needed

    If a future Congress and president enact a real tax reform, one that requires corporations to pay their fair share and ends TCJA’s various corporate breaks for offshore profits, then companies will use inversions and other tactics to dodge taxes once again—if lawmakers let them. That’s why any real tax reform will include something like the Stop Corporate Inversions Act, introduced last week by Sens. Dick Durbin and Jack Reed to block inversions.

  • blog   July 18, 2019

    Many States Move Toward Higher Taxes on the Rich; Lower Taxes on Poor People

    Several states this year proposed or enacted tax policies that would require high-income households and/or businesses to pay more in taxes. After years of policymaking that slashed taxes for wealthy households and deprived states of revenue to adequately fund public services, this is a necessary and welcome reversal.

  • map   July 17, 2019

    Is Your State Holding Sales Tax Holidays in 2019?

    Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (16 states will hold them in 2019), to provide a temporary break on paying the tax on purchases of clothing, school…
  • brief   July 17, 2019

    Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform

    Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (16 states will hold them in 2019), to provide a temporary break on paying the tax on purchases of clothing, school supplies, and other items. While these holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, their benefits are minimal. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.

  • news release   July 17, 2019

    Sales Tax Holidays Are Outdated Gimmicks That Have Run Their Course

    Just as the very first sales tax holiday for car sales did not fix the auto industry’s challenges, providing consumers a temporary reprieve on sales tax will not address families’ pocketbook concerns.

  • ITEP Work in Action   July 16, 2019

    CommonWealth: Before the T Derailed, its Funding Got on the Wrong Track

    Overall, funding for the Commonwealth during the last two decades has relied increasingly on sales taxes and regressive user fees, while cutting income tax rates. As a result, we have…
  • map   July 12, 2019

    Does Your State Levy Estate and Inheritance Taxes?

    States have been repealing estate taxes since the early 2000s. Now, just 17 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) levy estate and/or inheritance taxes. Twelve states and D.C. levy estate taxes while six states levy inheritance taxes (Maryland levies both). These taxes have long been used not just to raise revenue for vital public services, but to promote equality of opportunity and reduce the transfer of concentrated wealth from one generation to the next.

  • ITEP Work in Action   July 11, 2019

    Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Using Increased Revenues from Conformity on More Tax Cuts is Fiscally Irresponsible

    Arizona Should Use Increased Revenues to Prepare for Next Recession Instead of Giving Tax Cuts While a recession does not appear imminent, the current economic expansion began in June 2009…
  • media mention   July 11, 2019

    MarketWatch: Here’s What 2020 Democratic Candidates Have Said About Universal Basic Income

    Harris’s proposal would cost more than $270 billion in 2020, according to an estimate by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
  • blog   July 10, 2019

    Missouri’s Creative Approach to Ending the “Race to the Bottom” in State Business Taxes

    Each year, state and local governments spend billions of dollars on targeted tax incentives—special tax breaks ostensibly designed to encourage businesses to relocate, expand or simply stay where they are. A law enacted by the Missouri legislature creates a template for states to work bilaterally to put the brakes on the “race to the bottom” in state business taxes.