Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

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

March 22, 2017

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 […]

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

March 21, 2017

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.

Hope Policy Institute: Everyone Pays Taxes, Including Undocumented Immigrants

March 21, 2017

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.

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

March 20, 2017

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.

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

March 20, 2017

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 […]

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

March 19, 2017

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

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

March 19, 2017

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  

North Carolina Justice Center: Still walking the path to zero: The Senate tax plan will harm North Carolina’s goal of building a stronger, inclusive economy

March 19, 2017

Senate leaders continue to pursue reductions to the income tax rate for wealthy taxpayers and profitable corporations even as they claim to be focused on helping low- and moderate-income taxpayers. This year they will do so without proposing immediate replacement of the revenue with sales-tax base expansions. The result is a loss of nearly $1 […]

Montana Budget & Policy Center: Capital Gains Tax Credit Valuing Wealth Over Work in Montana

March 19, 2017

In 2003, the Montana Legislature passed a capital gains tax credit that benefits a very narrow portion of our population at the great expense of our collective ability to adequately invest in public programs, from education to health care. Currently, Montana is one of just nine states offering a significant tax break for capital gains […]

Kansas Center for Economic Growth: A Flat Tax Would Only Worsen Kansas’ Budget Crisis

March 18, 2017

Governor Sam Brownback’s 2012 plan to phase out the state income tax created an unprecedented fiscal crisis for Kansas. Some options presented for addressing this crisis would “flatten” Kansas’ income tax and require all Kansans to pay the same income tax rate, regardless of how much they earn. Read more here

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State Rundown 3/15: Responses to Revenue Shortfalls Vary Widely

March 15, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

State tax debates have been very active this week. Efforts to eliminate the income tax continue in West Virginia. Policymakers in many states are responding to revenue shortfalls in very different ways: some in Iowa, Mississippi, and Nebraska seek to dig the hole even deeper with tax cuts, while the Missouri House’s response has been […]

Connecticut Voices for Children: Testimony Regarding S.B. No. 787 – AAC Revenue Items To Implement the Governor’s Budget

March 9, 2017

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 […]

Minnesota Budget Project: Undocumented Immigrants Pay $83 Million in State Taxes, Would Pay More with Immigration Reform

March 9, 2017

Undocumented immigrants play a vital role in Minnesota’s economy and currently pay an estimated $83 million in state and local taxes, according to a new report from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Under immigration reform that provides a path to legal status, ITEP estimates these contributions would substantially increase.

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State Rundown 3/8: Much Ado About Consumption Taxes

March 8, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week brings more news of states considering reforms to their consumption taxes, on everything from gasoline in South Carolina and Tennessee, to marijuana in Pennsylvania, to groceries in Idaho and Utah, and to practically everything in West Virginia. Meanwhile, the fiscal fallout of Kansas’s failed ‘tax experiment’ has new consequences as the state’s Supreme […]

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A Tax Perspective on International Women’s Day

March 8, 2017 • By Misha Hill

Thursday, March 8 is International Women’s Day. The day draws attention to the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done in advancing gender equality. Many campaigns on issues like equal pay or paid family leave acknowledge that economic policies impact women and men differently. But we often overlook […]

Connecticut Voices for Children: Testimony Regarding Estate and Gift Taxes and Exempting Retirement Income: SB 5, SB 58, HB 6358, SB 6, SB 272, HB 6558, and HB 5587

March 3, 2017

Exemptions to Pensions and Social Security – Exempting retirement income would not only cause immediate revenue deterioration, but given the state’s aging population, could threaten long-term adequacy of the income tax. According to the University of Virginia’s Demographics’ Research Group, Connecticut’s share of individuals age 65 and older is expected to increase rapidly from 14 […]

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State Rundown 3/1: Will Tax Cut Proposals Be “In Like a Lion, Out Like A Lamb”?

March 1, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Tax cuts have been proposed in many states already this year, but amid so much uncertainty, it remains to be seen how successful those efforts will be. This week saw one dangerous, largely regressive tax cut proposal move in Georgia, new budget proposals in Louisiana and New Jersey, a new plan to close West Virginia‘s […]

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Return of the Moderate: A Kansas Force Awakens

February 28, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee

Before the tea party wave of 2010 that brought Gov. Sam Brownback to power and inspired the disappointing “real life experiment” in tax policy, Kansas was primarily governed by a moderate bipartisan coalition. One thing the last few weeks in the Kansas capital has clearly demonstrated is that this coalition is back and they mean […]

Evidence Counts: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven: A State EITC Without an Income Tax

February 28, 2017

Last Friday, the Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform explored the idea of amending SB 335 to include a version of a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit. As noted previously, SB 335 would replace the personal and corporate income tax, along with the sales and use tax, with a general consumption tax of 8 […]

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State Rundown 2/23: Regressive Tax Proposals Multiplying

February 23, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week saw a nearly successful attempt to right the fiscal ship in Kansas; regressive tax proposals introduced in WestVirginia, Georgia, and Missouri; ongoing gas tax fights in Indiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee; and further tax and budget wrangling in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and beyond. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe Both […]

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: The Math Behind Ed Choice Tax Credit Fails Many Tests

February 21, 2017

Today in the House Education Committee legislators are hearing discussion of House Bill 162, a proposal to create a so-called Education Choice tax credit in Kentucky. This proposal does not target low- and moderate-income students as suggested; is expensive, taking resources away from public schools and other investments; and provides an excessively large credit under […]

Evidence Count: Governor Justice’s Tax Plan: Who Pays?

February 21, 2017

Governor Jim Justice has not introduced any tax measures yet, but in his State of the State Address and his executive budget  there are plans to enact several tax increases to close the Fiscal Year 2018 budget gap of $500 million and address the state’s declining road fund that pays for highway construction, maintenance, and road […]

Evidence Counts: Replacing Income Taxes with a General Consumption Tax is Radical and Regressive (SB 335)

February 20, 2017

Senate leadership introduced SB 335 which would abolish the personal income tax and sales and use tax, phase out the corporate income tax, lower the severance tax, and replace these taxes with an 8 percent broad-based general consumption or sales tax. While it is unclear whether this tax shift would be revenue neutral, it would dramatically […]

West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: What Would Eliminating the Income Tax Mean for West Virginia?

February 17, 2017

Eliminating the income tax is a strategy that has been tried over and over in other states with little or nothing to show, other than revenue erosion that brings cuts in support for schools, transportation and other true building blocks of broad prosperity. A better course for West Virginia would be to reform the tax […]