Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

ITEP's Research Priorities

Washington State Budget & Policy Center: Closing the Tax Break on Capital Gains

January 20, 2017

A capital gain is the profit an individual receives from the sale of a financial asset. Currently, Washingtonians receive a tax break on the profits they make from the sale of high-end capital assets. This tax break contributes to our state having the most upside-down tax code in the nation, in which people with low […]

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Kansas State of the State: Worlds Apart

January 18, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee

Back in December, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback gave an interview with the Wall Street Journal and suggested President-elect Trump should follow his state’s example and cut taxes as well as spending. The sheer gall of the suggestion belies the fact that Kansas’s tax cuts have resulted in credit downgrades, lack of adequate funding for essential […]

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State Rundown 1/18: Revenue Woes Piling Up Faster Than Solutions

January 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week we continue to track revenue shortfalls, governors’ budget proposals, and other tax news around the country, finding most proposals to be focused on slashing taxes and reducing public investments despite public opinion and economic research showing the benefits of well-funded state services and progressive tax policies. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, […]

Connecticut Voices for Children: Revenue Options are Key to Addressing Budget Shortfalls and Supporting Thriving Communities

January 18, 2017

Long-term investments in children and families have been the cornerstone of the state’s prosperity. To preserve these investments and support long term economic health, a balanced approach to the upcoming biennial budget must include new resources. Read more here

Hawaii Tax Fairness Coalition: Tax Fairness Flyer

January 18, 2017

Hawaiʻi has the lowest wages in the nation after adjusting for our cost of living, which is the highest in the nation. We also place the 2nd highest tax burden in the country on our low-income households. Faced with this one-two-three punch, almost half of our state’s residents are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Read more here

Hawaii Tax Fairness Coalition:

January 18, 2017

Hawaiʻi ranks second nationally in how heavily we tax our low-income households. In fact, we are in the minority of states that actually pushes low-income people deeper into poverty with taxes. As a result, nearly half of our state’s residents live paycheck-to-paycheck. Read more here

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State Rundown 1/11: State Legislative Sessions Kick Off Amid Uncertainty

January 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week brings still more states looking for solutions to revenue shortfalls, multiple governors’ State of The State addresses, important reading on counter-transparency and local-preemption efforts, and more.  — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe A Nebraska legislator this week diagnosed the state’s $900 million revenue shortfall in plain terms, describing it as “self-inflicted […]

Akransas Advocates for Children & Families: 6 ways to make 2017 more prosperous for all Arkansans

January 11, 2017

Legislators have just kicked off the 2017 legislative session, and ideas for big changes are buzzing around the Capitol. AACF will be on the ground advocating for bills that are best for kids and families in our state. In order to make Arkansas a better place for all of us, AACF hopes that this year: […]

The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes: What Every Arizonan Needs to Know About Growing Our Economy

January 10, 2017

When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales and property—families with incomes in the bottom fifth pay nearly three times what families in the top 1 percent do—$12.50 for every $100 of income compared to $4.58 for the highest income families and $8.20 for middle income families. Sales taxes make up the […]

Kansas Center for Economic Growth: KCEG Testimony to the House Taxation Committee as Neutral on HB 2023.

January 9, 2017

The LLC Loophole is unfair, expensive, and failed to create jobs. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the LLC loophole costs Kansas nearly $290 million per year. It was originally touted as the plan’s signature feature, but now legislators and business leaders of all political stripes publicly acknowledge that it failed to […]

Policy Matters Ohio: Flat Tax Would Make Most Ohioans Pay More

January 5, 2017

Using a sophisticated model of Ohio’s tax system, the national research group, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), found that with a 3.5 percent flat tax, 72 percent of Ohioans would pay more state income tax, while just 4 percent would pay less. The remaining 24 percent would pay the same amount as they […]

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State Rundown 1/4: Revenue Shortfalls, Gas Tax Changes Dominate Early Debates

January 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

This week we bring you updates on major revenue shortfalls looming in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, as well as gas tax changes taking effect in some states and being debated in others. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe Oklahoma lawmakers are weighing options to close the state’s $870 million shortfall. Up for discussion are […]

Montana Budget & Policy Center: Montana Corporate Income Taxes

December 31, 2016

For generations, our tax dollars have served as shared investments in the programs and services that make our state a great place to live, work, and play. Tax dollars enable Montanans to work together to achieve things which we could not do alone - educate our children, build and maintain infrastructure, provide public safety through police and fire protection, keep our air and water clean, and pave the way to a stronger and more inclusive economy.

Rising Up with Sonali: How Corporations Have Benefitted From Trump’s Tax Law

December 20, 2016

A new report by the Institute on Taxation Economic Policy examined corporate tax avoidance in the first year that the tax law took effect. The results are the opposite of what Republicans promised and in line with what critics of the law feared: that wealthy corporations, many of which already receive massive public subsidies and […]

The Governor’s Task Force on Infrastructure Investment: Sustainable Solutions for Multimodal Transportaion Infrastructure in Louisiana

December 19, 2016

Pursuant to the charges of JBE 2016-23, the Governor’s Task Force on Transportation Infrastructure Investment (Task Force) worked diligently over a six-month period to determine what must be done to address Louisiana’s vast multimodal transportation issues. Through the course of six formal meetings at the capitol and by attending eight regional meetings across the State […]

Report to the Louisiana Governor: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN LOUISIANA

December 18, 2016

Pursuant to the charges of JBE 2016-23, the Governor’s Task Force on Transportation Infrastructure Investment (Task Force) worked diligently over a six-month period to determine what must be done to address Louisiana’s vast multimodal transportation issues. Through the course of six formal meetings at the capitol and by attending eight regional meetings across the State […]

Kansas Center for Economic Growth: A Guide to Comprehensive Tax Reform in Kansas

December 18, 2016

The morning after the election was tough. Half the country woke up feeling devastated, the other half awoke feeling excited. Regardless of who you voted for, it’s hard to come back together when we feel so deeply divided. In Kansas, however, we have a special opportunity to rise to the occasion. Read more here

Georgia Budget & Policy Institute: A Bottom-Up Tax Cut to Build Georgia’s Middle Class Update

December 16, 2016

Building a better Georgia, with a strong economy and vibrant communities, requires a more resilient middle class and more opportunities for working families to climb the economic ladder. One of the best tools to help ensure that all Georgians share in that prosperity is a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), or Georgia Work Credit. […]

Montana Budget & Policy Center: Introduction to Who Pays Montana’s Taxes

November 30, 2016

Chart 1 outlines the three main state and local taxes – income, property, and sales/excise—and how the cost of these taxes is distributed among taxpayers. Both property and sales/excise taxes are regressive. Conversely, income taxes are progressive.

Montana Budget & Policy Center: Montana’s Individiual Income Tax

November 30, 2016

Prior to the tax cuts implemented in 2003, Montana had ten different income brackets, with each higher income bracket paying a slightly larger share of their income in taxes (Appendix A). In this old structure, the lowest income bracket paid 2% of their income in taxes, while the highest bracket (applying to incomes over $102,000, […]

Montana Budget & Policy Center: A Montana Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

September 30, 2016

Approximately 83,000 Montanans received the federal EITC in 2014. If Montana established a state EITC, these same working families would receive additional support through boosted wages and would be better able to meet their family’s needs. Additionally, low-income families receiving a state EITC would face a reduced tax burden.

Policy Matters Ohio: Testimony: Tax Cuts, Flat Tax Aren’t the Answer

September 26, 2016

Overall, the top 1 percent, who made more than $360,000 a year in 2014, received an average annual tax cut of $20,000 from the major tax changes between 2005 and 2014 (that doesn’t include last year’s cuts). On average, Ohioans in the bottom 60 percent of the income spectrum (making $54,000 or less) are paying slightly more.

Montana Budget & Policy Center: The Montana We Could Be

July 30, 2016

In Montana, the higher a household’s income, the lower share of that income it tends to pay in state and local taxes [see Chart 1]. One reason for this is that people who make less money end up paying a larger share of their income in local sales taxes and property taxes.

Massachusets Budget and Policy Center: Funding Improvements for Schools, Roads, and Public Transit with Tax Reforms that Improve Fairness

December 23, 2015

Our economic growth is not translating into significant economic progress for most of our people and this directly harms working families. The lack of more broadly shared economic progress also has harmed our state’s ability to make important investments that can make life better for working people.

News and Observer: An NC budget that chooses decline over investment

September 19, 2015

It is too generous to call the new state budget a spending plan. It is a spending reaction. Leaders should have a plan, a goal. This is a budget drawn by ideologues who blinked. Much of what is laid out in the $21.7 billion budget is determined by mandatory responses to growth in education and […]