One of the most important decisions that must be made when designing a state personal income tax is whether to charge taxpayers a single flat rate on all their taxable income, or whether to levy a series of graduated rates that ask more of high-income taxpayers
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map May 22, 2019 How Does Your State Tax Income?
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blog May 22, 2019 Proposals for Refundable Tax Credits Are Light Years from Tax Policies Enacted in Recent Years
A new ITEP report examines five big proposals that have been announced this year to create or expand tax credits to address inequality and help low- and middle-income households.
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report May 22, 2019 Understanding Five Major Federal Tax Credit Proposals
Federal lawmakers have recently announced at least five proposals to significantly expand existing tax credits or create new ones to benefit low- and moderate-income people. While these proposals vary a great deal and take different approaches, all would primarily benefit taxpayers who received only a small share of benefits from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
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report May 22, 2019 Cost-of-Living Refund Act
The Cost-of-Living Refund Act would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low- and moderate-income working people. The maximum EITC would nearly double for working families with children. Working people without children would receive an EITC that is nearly six times the size of the small EITC that they are allowed under current law.
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report May 22, 2019 American Family Act
The American Family Act would expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for low- and middle-income families. The CTC would increase from $2,000 under current law to $3,000 for each child age six and older and to $3,600 for each child younger than age six. The proposal removes limits on the refundable part of the credit so that low- and moderate-income families with children could receive the entire credit.
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report May 22, 2019 Working Families Tax Relief Act
The Working Families Tax Relief Act would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for low- and middle-income families.
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report May 22, 2019 LIFT the Middle Class Act
The LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) the Middle Class Act would create a new tax credit of up to $3,000 for single people and up to $6,000 for married couples, which would be an addition to existing tax credits. Eligible taxpayers would be allowed a credit equal to the maximum amount or their earnings, whichever is less. Income limits would prevent well-off households from receiving the credit.
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report May 22, 2019 Rise Credit
The Rise Credit would replace the existing EITC. In most cases, the Rise Credit would be $4,000 for single people and $8,000 for married couples. Eligible taxpayers would be allowed a credit equal to the maximum amount or their earnings, whichever is less.
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blog May 21, 2019 Gas Taxes Have Gone Up in Most States, but Decades-Long Procrastinators Remain
The upcoming Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the traditional summer driving season. In most states, summer road-trippers are paying more gas tax than they did a few years ago and are benefiting from smoother and safer roads as a result. In total, 30 states have raised or reformed their gas taxes in the last six years.
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map May 20, 2019 These States Abandoned Old Gas Tax Structures in Favor of More Sustainable Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
Because of these reforms, more than 193 million people (or 59 percent of the U.S. population) now live in places where the state gas tax rate automatically varies over time.
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map May 20, 2019 Gasoline vs. Diesel Taxes in Your State: Which is Taxed More?
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia tax these two fuel types at the same rate or very similar rates, as of April 2019, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.
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map May 18, 2019 How Heavily Does Your State Rely on Sales Taxes?
Consumption taxes (including general sales taxes, excise taxes on specific products, and gross receipts taxes) are an important revenue source for state and local governments. While five states lack state-level general sales taxes (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon), every state levies taxes on some types of consumption.
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map May 18, 2019 How Heavily Does Your State Rely on Property Taxes?
The property tax is the oldest major revenue source for state and local governments and remains an important mechanism for funding education and other local services. This map shows the share of state and local general revenue in each state that is raised through property taxes.
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map May 18, 2019 What is the Diesel Fuel Tax Rate in Your State?
The tax rates identified in this map include state and local excise and sales taxes on diesel fuel, as well as various fees, as calculated by the American Petroleum Institute (API). These taxes are levied in addition to the federal government’s 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel tax.
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map May 17, 2019 How Heavily Does Your State Rely on Individual Income Taxes?
Income taxes vary considerably in their structure across states, though the best taxes are fine-tuned to taxpayers’ ability-to-pay.
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blog May 17, 2019 Bootstraps Remain an Ineffective Tool for Combatting Poverty
Policymakers and the public widely agree that economic inequality is the social policy problem of our age. It threatens the livelihoods of millions of children and adults, and it even threatens our democracy. Although some say Americans could fix it themselves by simply rolling up their sleeves, as a sub-headline in a March U.S. News and World Report column implied, the reality is different.
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ITEP Work in Action May 15, 2019 Policy Matters Ohio: The Good and the Bad in the House Tax Plan
The tax plan approved by the Ohio House last week would sharply limit an income-tax break for business owners that costs more than $1 billion a year while providing few… -
map May 12, 2019 How Heavily Does Your State Rely on Corporate Income Taxes?
Corporate income taxes are an important source of revenue for state governments and ensure that profitable corporations benefiting from public services pay toward the maintenance of those services.
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ITEP Work in Action May 10, 2019 Connecticut Voices for Children: Voices from the Capitol: Countdown to the End of the Session
Staff experts from our national partners – Elizabeth McNichol of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Aidan Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy – joined… -
May 10, 2019 Presentation: NCSL Task Force on State and Local Taxation, Taxing Cannabis
ITEP Research Director Carl Davis presented to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Task Force on State and Local Taxation on approaches to cannabis taxation and the recent report Taxing Cannabis.
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ITEP Work in Action May 7, 2019 Maryland Center on Economic Policy: Improving the Child Tax Credit Would Benefit More than 700,000 Marylanders
Refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit make an important difference for working families, together bringing more than 100,000 Marylanders’ family incomes above the federal… -
blog May 6, 2019 Proponents of Trump Tax Law Cite ITEP with Obvious Lack of Context
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, today has an op-ed defending Trump-GOP tax law. “One of the most-covered falsehoods being spread about tax reform,” as he calls the law, “is that it’s a middle-class tax hike.” He cites ITEP’s estimates to back up his point that most people in every income group have lower taxes because of the law. As Sen. Grassley and his staff know full well, this leaves out the important point of our findings.
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media mention May 1, 2019 Vox: Apple Is Spending Even More of Its Huge Tax Cut on Wall Street Stock Buybacks
Apple, like a lot of corporations, wasn’t paying the full 35 percent corporate tax rate even before the tax cut bill was passed, but the new legislation has been very… -
blog May 1, 2019 State Rundown 5/1: Teacher Uprisings Continue on May Day
Teachers in North Carolina and South Carolina are walking out and rallying this week for increased education funding, teacher and staff pay, and other improvements to benefit students—if you’re unsure why be sure to check out research on the teacher shortage and pay gap under “What We’re Reading” below. Meanwhile, budget debates have recently wrapped up in Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Washington. And major tax debates are kicking into high gear in both Louisiana and Nebraska.
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media mention May 1, 2019 Houston Chronicle: Under New Tax Code, Oil Companies Get Rebates, Not Bills
Despite earning billions of dollars in profits, companies such as the California oil major Chevron, the Houston independent oil companies Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources, and the Houston oil field services company Halliburton were able to claim tens of millions in tax rebates, according to a study earlier this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.