Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

ITEP Work in Action  

Louisiana Budget Project: Most would get tax cut under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ tax plan

April 19, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Louisiana is $440 million short of the revenue needed to fund state government at current levels in next year’s budget. The problem gets much worse in the 2018-19 fiscal year, when more than $1.3 billion in temporary taxes are due to expire – creating a “fiscal cliff” that would require drastic cuts to state services […]

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On the Economy Podcast: Inclusive immigration policies

April 18, 2017 • By Meg Wiehe

Episode #7 of the On the Economy podcast, on the fiscal and economic impacts of immigration, is yours for the clicking. Our guests–Erica Williams and Meg Wiehe, take us through their timely, important research about the benefits of inclusive immigration policies for unauthorized immigrants. And violinist virtuoso Hilary Hahn “joins” us (I can dream, can’t […]

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California Budget & Policy Center: California Should Do More to Raise Awareness of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC)

April 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), established in 2015, is a refundable state tax credit that helps low-earning workers and their families make ends meet and build toward economic security.[1] Yet, fewer than 1 in 5 visitors to county human services offices who were likely eligible for this new tax credit had heard of […]

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North Carolina Justice Center: Prosperity Watch (Issue 72, No 3): Tax cuts since 2013 reinforce racial and ethnic exclusion

April 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Changes to North Carolina’s tax system in recent years have had an impact on the level of available revenue for public investments and shifted tax responsibility among taxpayers. BTC analysis has already noted how the tax chances since 2013 have delivered a significant share of the net tax cut to the state’s highest income earners […]

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California Budget & Policy Center: This Tax Day, Celebrating a Tax Credit That Broadens Prosperity

April 14, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

With Tax Day — the deadline for filing personal income taxes — coming up next Tuesday, it’s a good time to reflect on the purpose of our tax system. As we pointed out in Who Pays Taxes in California?, tax policy is not only a means to an end, allowing us to collectively generate the […]

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State Rundown 4/12: Season in Transition as Some States Close, Others Open Tax Debates

April 12, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week in state tax news we see Louisiana‘s session getting started, budgets passed in New York and West Virginia, Kansas lawmakers taking a rest after defeating a harmful flat tax proposal, and Nebraska legislators preparing for full debate on major tax cuts. Nevada lawmakers may make tax decisions related to tampons, diapers, marijuana, and […]

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Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Taxing Groceries in Kentucky Would Hurt Low-Income Families, Weaken Revenue Growth

April 12, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Lower-income families therefore receive the most benefit from the exemption for groceries. Repealing it would disproportionately increase the share of income they pay in taxes, making Kentucky’s tax system more regressive than it already is.

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The Progressive Pulse: Undocumented immigrants pay their fair share of taxes, too

April 12, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Tax Day is just around the corner, and this year is no different than any other for countless undocumented immigrants filling tax forms in North Carolina. Current rhetoric on immigration often overlooks the important contributions undocumented immigrants make to our communities as neighbors, workers, and taxpayers. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently released […]

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Connecticut Voices for Children: Testimony Supporting H.B. No. 7316 – An Act Concerning Evaluation of Business Assistance and Incentive Programs H.B. No. 7313 – An Act Imposing a Surcharge on Income Derived From Investment Management

April 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

At Connecticut Voices for Children, we view the state budget as the clearest statement of Connecticut’s policy priorities. We believe that these priorities should advance long-term inclusive economic prosperity, equity of opportunity, and support for our most vulnerable residents. We believe that an effective revenue system can advance these core priorities by adhering to five […]

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State Rundown 4/5: Focus on Major Tax Bills Intensifies

April 5, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week in state tax news we saw a destructive tax cut effort defeated in Georgia, a state shutdown avoided in New York, and lawmakers hone in on major tax debates in Massachusetts, Nebraska, South Carolina, and WestVirginia. State efforts to collect taxes owed on online purchases continue to heat up as well. — Meg […]

ITEP Work in Action  

NC Policy Watch: What you need to know as the state Senate moves to cut taxes yet again

April 3, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The North Carolina Senate is moving ahead yet again – perhaps as early as this afternoon – with a new proposal to further reduce state taxes and the revenues they generate to fund essential public structures and services. While the plan is billed as “a billion dollar middle class tax cut,” a closer look at […]

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Evidence Counts: Senate Tax Plan Creates Big Budget Hole, Shifts Tax Load Onto Working Families (Updated)

March 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Last Wednesday, the Senate passed Senate Bill 409 that makes sweeping changes to the state’s tax system that decrease personal income and severance taxes while increasing sales taxes.  Similar to previous Senate tax proposals,  SB 409 shifts the tax load onto working families to pay for tax cuts for wealthier West Virginians. On top of […]

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The Progressive Pulse: Why cutting taxes for business again makes no sense

March 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

When businesses pay their share of taxes, North Carolina is able to invest in the things that build thriving communities and a prosperous economy – things like good schools, roads, public health and a clean environment. The Senate’s tax plan, Senate Bill 325, includes a tax cut for businesses that goes against this proven principle.  […]

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Evidence Counts: Tax Reform Might Improve WV’s Business Tax Climate, Sound Familiar?

March 29, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Today, the House will vote on HB 2933, the latest version of “tax reform” in the state. HB 2933 would broaden the sales tax base, lower the sales tax rate to 5%, and create a flat 5.1% income tax rate. The bill would drastically increase West Virginia’s already regressive tax system. The vast majority of […]

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State Rundown 3/29: More States Looking to Raise or Protect Revenues Amid Fiscal and Federal Uncertainty

March 29, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week we see West Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota, and Nebraska continue to deliberate regressive tax cut proposals, as the District of Columbia considers cancelling tax cut triggers it put in place in prior years, and lawmakers in Hawaii, Washington, Kansas, and Delaware ponder raising revenues to shore up their budgets. Meanwhile, gas tax debates continue […]

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Evidence Counts: House and Senate Tax Proposals Shift Tax Load Onto Working Families (Updated)

March 26, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The House and the Senate have advanced two similar tax bills that make substantial changes to the state’s personal income and sales tax, which account for over 75 percent of state general revenue fund collections. Both of these bills will shift the tax load from the wealthy onto working families. It is unclear how either […]

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What to Watch in the States: State Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) on the Move

March 24, 2017 • By Misha Hill

While every state’s tax system is regressive, meaning lower income people pay a higher tax rate than the rich, some states aim to improve tax fairness through a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Federal lawmakers established the in 1975 to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers, especially workers with children and offset some of […]

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Policy Matters Ohio: Testimony to the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Senate Bill 35

March 22, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The federal earned income tax credit (EITC) was designed to keep people working, lift families out of poverty, boost their income to help weather financial emergencies, and help offset payroll taxes, which hit low-income families the hardest. The EITC was founded in 1975 under President Gerald Ford and is considered the most powerful anti-poverty program […]

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State Rundown 3/22: Springtime Tax Debates Blossom Nationwide

March 22, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week in state tax news saw major changes debated in Hawaii and West Virginia and proposed in North Carolina, a harmful flat tax proposal in Georgia, new ideas for ignoring revenue shortfalls in Mississippi and Nebraska, an unexpected corporate tax proposal from the governor of Louisiana, gas tax bills advance in South Carolina and […]

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Policy Matters Ohio: Testimony to the House Ways & Means Committee on House Bill 49

March 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Governor Kasich’s tax proposal would further reinforce the shift in Ohio’s state and local tax system in favor of affluent residents and against those with lower or middle incomes. Under the plan, Ohioans who made under $56,000 last year – those in the bottom three-fifths of the income spectrum – on average would pay more tax than they do now.

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Hope Policy Institute: Everyone Pays Taxes, Including Undocumented Immigrants

March 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

According to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), it is estimated that undocumented immigrants in Mississippi pay almost $22,684,000 in state and local taxes. Nationally, undocumented immigrants pay over $11.74 billion in state and local taxes. The report, entitled “Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions,” highlights the contributions of undocumented immigrants as taxpayers to state and local governments.

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Maine Center for Economic Policy: MECEP Testifies Against Bills to Cut Taxes for the Wealthy at Expense of Maine’s Schools

March 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Augusta, Maine (Monday, March 20, 2017) State legislators on the taxation committee will hold a public hearing today on several bills that would roll back the tax to pay for education enacted under Question 2, the ballot initiative passed by Maine voters in November 2016. As a result of Question 2, the state will have the capacity to provide 55% of school funding mandated by voters previously in 2004.

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Evidence Counts: Wealthiest 1% of West Virginians Gain from Tax Cuts in Health Care Repeal

March 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The House proposal to repeal the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with the American Health Care Act (AHCA), provides only a tiny fraction of very wealthy West Virginians tax cuts while reducing the number of Americans with health coverage by an estimated 24 million. The two big tax cuts included in the […]

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The Economic Progress Institute: Understanding Rhode Island’s Motor Vehicle Tax

March 19, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

The Motor Vehicle Tax (commonly known as the “Car Tax”) is a property tax collected by each Rhode Island municipality based on the value of each motor vehicle owned. There are three components that determine how much each individual car is taxed: valuation, tax rate and exemption. Read more here

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North Carolina Justice Center: BTC POLICY BASIC: Marginal versus Effective Personal Income Tax Rates

March 19, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

A great deal of confusion abounds in discussions about state personal income tax rates and how they apply to income. This policy basic clarifies the difference between marginal and effective tax rates, and gives a North Carolina-specific example of how these rates work in action. Read more here