Blog
44 posts
Testimony: ITEP’s Nick Johnson weighs in on revenue options for the District of Columbia
• By Nick Johnson
A D.C. Business Activity Tax, or BAT, meets commonly held standards for sound tax policy.
Tallying Up the Impact of Florida’s Property Tax Ballot Measure on Local Communities
• By Neva Butkus
Florida voters will soon vote on Amendment 3, which would create a pathway for non-school property tax elimination in the state. If passed, the measure would cost local governments $13.7 billion in the first two years alone.
New Yorkers, Please Pay Your City Income Taxes: Why the Pied-à-Terre Tax Rollout Is Not Worth a Meltdown
• By Rita Jefferson
The news coverage of the second home tax has been disconnected from the real living conditions for the millions of New Yorkers who don’t own a second (or third, or fourth) home.
Localities Try Vacant Land Taxes, Mansion Taxes and Second Home Taxes
• By Rita Jefferson
In 2026, cities, counties, and school districts must manage tax cuts coming from federal and state governments, the end of federal pandemic aid, rising costs, and a stagnant economy. This challenging environment is forcing municipalities of all types to ask how they can best fund core priorities and invest in communities in the long term.
How To Build A Better City Budget
• By Rita Jefferson
As rising costs strain our community and household budgets, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s proposed taxes attempted to patch gaping holes with meager solutions.
NYC and Montana Lead the Way on Second-Home Taxes
• By Rita Jefferson
Second home taxes make a lot of sense for communities struggling with housing costs for full-time residents. They can raise real revenues too, which can be used to support further affordable housing development.
The Bears Bill Is Bad by Design. Here’s How.
• By Rita Jefferson, Amanda Kass, Kristan Wong Karinen
State lawmakers are debating whether to subsidize a new Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights, but this bill creates a new statewide property tax cut program for large development projects.
Property Tax Reforms Can Bring Racial Justice
• By Brakeyshia Samms
Homes in Black neighborhoods are more likely to be over-assessed for tax purposes while being undervalued by private appraisers.
D.C.’s Fiscal Autonomy is at Stake, District’s Conformity Decisions Should Stand
• By Kamolika Das
Federal lawmakers passed a bill along party lines that would force the District of Columbia to override the decision of local elected officials and implement all of the costly and inequitable federal tax cuts passed under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA).
Local Governments Are Increasingly Strapped: 2026 Will Bring New Challenges and New Opportunities
• By Kamolika Das
2025 saw an intensification of state and local tax fights across the country, as well as growing experimentation with local-option taxes, levies, fees, and tourism taxes aimed at keeping budgets afloat while also navigating political constraints imposed by state legislatures.
Pennsylvania Just Gave Low-Income Workers a Tax Credit Boost. Now It’s Philadelphia’s Turn.
• By Kamolika Das
In the same way states are building upon federal tax credits, localities should consider building on state tax credits.
2025: The Year in Tax Policy
• By ITEP Staff
From Congressional discussions over the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to debates on property taxes, ITEP kept busy this year analyzing tax proposals and showing Americans across the country how tax decisions affect them.
Texas Property Tax Plan Mimics California’s Damaging Prop 13
• By Neva Butkus, Rita Jefferson
This proposal would disrupt the state’s housing market and jeopardize local revenues while doing very little to help workers and families struggling to pay their property tax bills – just as Prop 13 did in California.
Not-So-Free Kick: How the 2026 FIFA World Cup Will Cost Cities Millions
• By Page Gray
FIFA demanded sales tax breaks on World Cup Tickets. That means millions in lost revenue for host cities already shouldering the costs on providing infrastructure, security and logistics.
In 2025, Voters Said Yes to Public Resources and Community Investments
• By Rita Jefferson
Important tax measures were on the ballot this week, and the outcomes are clear: many voters support new state and local spending to support critical services in their communities.
Making the Wealthy Pay their Fair Share is the Way to Preserve Vacation Towns
• By Rita Jefferson
Rhode Island lawmakers created a new surcharge on second homes worth more than $1 million as part of the budget enacted this spring.
Local Tax Trends in 2025
• By Rita Jefferson
As federal aid ends and economic uncertainty grows, local governments face tough budget choices. Now is the time for localities to protect vulnerable residents and build stronger, more equitable fiscal foundations.
D.C.’s Budget Crisis Demands Fairer Business Tax System
• By Nick Johnson
As the Washington, D.C. region heads toward a likely recession, local policymakers will need to look to new revenue sources to help lessen the pain. In D.C., lawmakers ought to adopt a simple reform that would raise substantial revenue and make the District’s business tax system fairer.
Sweeping Federal Tax and Spending Changes Threaten Local Governments
• By Kamolika Das
Given this environment, local leaders must do what they can to preserve and strengthen progressive revenue tools, advocate for expanded local taxing authorities and flexibility, and push their state leaders to decouple from harmful federal tax changes.
Philadelphia Mayor’s Proposal to Cut Business Taxes is Illogical and Imprudent
• By Kamolika Das
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s proposal to cut the city’s business income and receipts tax (BIRT), based off the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission’s recommendation, is illogical and imprudent. This is more than the city spends each year on homelessness services, public health, the streets department, and countless other programs that directly benefit residents.
Learn from Prop 13 History to Avoid Repeating Past Mistakes
• By Rita Jefferson
Worries about housing costs and property tax bills are leading people to check the history books for solutions, but there’s a danger that they’ll repeat past mistakes. If anti-tax lawmakers carelessly weaken property taxes as they did in the 1970s, as they did with California’s Proposition 13, they will undercut public finances, making municipalities, school districts, and other special districts worse off.
Policymakers Unwisely Propose Cutting Property Taxes in Favor of Sales Taxes
• By Rita Jefferson
Lawmakers across the country are taking aim at property taxes with a new strategy: raising sales taxes instead. Doing so would create a regressive tax shift that puts unfair burdens on renters and reduces the strength of local government revenues.
On Election Day, Voters Across the Country Chose to Invest in Their States & Communities
• By Kamolika Das
On election day, voters across the country — in states red and blue and communities rural and urban — approved a wide range of state and local ballot measures on taxation and public investment. The success of these measures clearly shows that voters are willing to invest in public priorities that feel tangible and close to home.
2024 Local Tax Ballot Measures: Voters in Dozens of Communities Will Shape Local Policy
• By Rita Jefferson
Next month, voters across the country will weigh in on many local ballot measures that will have a profound effect on the adequacy of our local tax systems and whether cities and communities can fund public needs. These are in addition to statewide ballot questions, many of which have local implications this year.
Local Tax Trends in 2024
• By Kamolika Das
Many cities, counties, and townships across the country are in a difficult, or at least unstable, budgetary position. Localities are responding to these financial pressures in a variety of ways with some charging ahead with enacting innovative reforms like short-term rental and vacancy taxes, and others setting up local tax commissions to study the problem.
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