Blog
28 posts
2026 State Tax Ballot Measures to Watch
• By Aidan Davis
This fall, voters across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems. Here’s some of what we’re following.
Maryland Digital Advertising Ruling Shouldn’t Stop Other States from Considering Ad Taxes
• By Nick Johnson
Consumers are increasingly bombarded with advertisements based on our personal data. This explosion in targeted advertising is leading state policymakers to revisit the tax treatment of advertising, which has long been exempt from sales tax.
Relentless State Income Tax Cuts Add Up to Massive Giveaways for the Wealthy
• By Sarah Austin
Today's state income tax cutting is defined less by sweeping one-time reforms than by sustained campaigns to ratchet down income tax rates year after year. This approach enables lawmakers to enshrine significant long-term reductions into law, while obscuring the fiscal impact by spreading it across multiple state budgets and legislative cycles.
2026 Sessions in Review: States Move to Tax the Rich and Corporations
• By Aidan Davis
This year several states raised income tax rates on high-income people to fund crucial services and make progress toward remedying the regressive tilt of their tax codes.
A Growing Number of States Are Taxing the Sale of Advertising
• By Nick Johnson
ITEP’s report on taxing advertising identifies some reasons why states are curtailing longstanding sales tax exemptions for the ad sector.
States Are Standing Up to the Monster Known as QSBS
• By Nick Johnson
We estimate that by 2032, QSBS will be costing states $1.1 billion a year, and since states must balance their budgets, that’s money they can’t use for public services.
States Can Raise Billions by Ending a Tax Giveaway to Big Tech
• By Nick Johnson
An advertising tax offers a way to raise significant money from a sector of the economy that has been getting a free ride for decades.
Repealing North Carolina’s Corporate Tax is an Even Worse Idea Than You Think
• By Carl Davis
North Carolina’s corporate tax cuts aren’t an incentive for economic growth. They’re a windfall for multinational companies that happen to sell into our state, regardless of whether they’ve made any meaningful investments here or not.
An Anti-Affordability Agenda: Trump’s Advisors Call on States to Raise Taxes on the Working Class and Drastically Cut Taxes for the Rich
• By Carl Davis
The Trump administration’s Council of Economic Advisors suggests that states consider drastically raising sales taxes and using those new revenues to pay for repealing taxes on corporate and personal income. Working-class families would face dramatic tax increases while the nation’s wealthiest families would see their state tax bills plummet.
Show Me Where We’re Going: Missouri’s Fiscally Irresponsible Path Will Be Paid for by Everyday People
• By Logan Liguore
Missouri lawmakers have been pushing regressive and shortsighted tax policies that undermine everyday workers and sabotage the Show-Me State’s ability to raise revenue.
Louisiana Lawmakers Pass Deeply Regressive Tax Plan
• By Neva Butkus
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called the legislature back to the capitol the day after the national election to take up his plan to overhaul the state’s tax system during a 20-day special session. Our analysis shows the tax overhaul would worsen the inequity already rampant in Louisiana’s tax system while potentially shortchanging essential services for families across the state.
2024 State Tax Ballot Questions: Voters to Weigh in on Tax Changes Big and Small
• By Jon Whiten
As we approach November’s election, voters in several states will be weighing in on tax policy changes. The outcomes will impact the equity of state and local tax systems and the adequacy of the revenue those systems are able to raise to fund public services.
Five Tax Takeaways from 2024 State Legislative Sessions
• By Aidan Davis
Major tax cuts were largely rejected this year, but states continue to chip away at income taxes. And while property tax cuts were a hot topic across the country, many states failed to deliver effective solutions to affordability issues.
Five Things to Know About Tax Foundation’s Critique of Maryland’s Worldwide Combined Reporting Proposal
• By Carl Davis, Matthew Gardner
Maryland lawmakers are considering enacting worldwide combined reporting (WWCR), also known as complete reporting. This policy offers a more accurate, and less gameable, way to calculate the amount of profit subject to state corporate tax. Enacting WWCR in Maryland would represent a huge step toward eliminating state corporate tax avoidance as it neutralizes a wide […]
States Move to Tax the Top in 2024
• By Marco Guzman, Miles Trinidad
These forward-thinking states are demonstrating the wide variety of options for policymakers who want to raise more from the wealthiest people, rein in corporate tax avoidance, create fair tax codes and build strong communities.
The Highs and Lows of 2023 State Legislative Sessions
• By Aidan Davis
Nearly one-third of states took steps to improve their tax systems this year by investing in people through refundable tax credits, and in a few notable cases by raising revenue from those most able to pay. But another third of states lost ground, continuing a trend of permanent tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit high-income households and make tax codes less adequate and equitable.
Minnesota’s Tax Battle of 2023 Signals a Turning of the Tide Against Corporate Tax Avoidance
• By Matthew Gardner
The qualified success of Minnesota’s GILTI conformity—to say nothing of the state’s serious dalliance with the game-changing worldwide combined reporting--sends a clear signal that the days may be coming to an end when big multinationals can scare state lawmakers into allowing them to game the tax system.
Minnesota Poised to Enact Landmark Loophole-Closing Corporate Tax Reforms
• By Matthew Gardner
With Minnesota poised to enact worldwide combined reporting of corporate income taxes, business lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to make state lawmakers believe the apocalypse is upon them.
Minnesota Lawmakers Re-Envision State Tax System to Center Equity
• By Neva Butkus
Minnesota’s House, Senate and Governor’s office have each proposed their own vision as to how the state should maximize its $17.5 billion surplus and raise new revenue, and these tax plans make one thing clear: Minnesota lawmakers are serious about using tax policy to advance tax equity and improve the lives of Minnesotans.
New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut Should Keep Corporate Taxes Strong, Extend Surcharges
• By Marco Guzman
At a time when corporations are seeing record profits while not paying their fair share of federal taxes, state corporate income taxes can and should play a role in raising sustainable revenue and adding progressivity to state tax codes. Right now, lawmakers in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut have a unique opportunity to extend targeted tax changes that have raised billions of dollars from profitable corporations for meaningful public investments.
The Five Best Tax Ideas Coming from Governors This Year
• By Carl Davis
The word “tax” appears 97 times and counting in one recent summary of governors’ addresses to state legislators so far this year. The policy visions that governors are bringing, however, vary enormously. While there's good reason to worry about tax cuts for wealthy families and the flattening or elimination of income taxes, there are at least five great tax ideas coming directly out of governors’ offices this year.
Tax Foundation’s ‘State Business Tax Climate Index’ Bears Little Connection to Business Reality
• By Carl Davis, Matthew Gardner
The big problem with the Index is that it peddles a solution that not only falls short of the goal of generating business investment, but one that actively harms state lawmakers’ ability to provide the kinds of public goods – like good schools and modern, efficient transportation networks – that businesses need and want.
How States Can Help Shut Down Tax Havens by Cracking Down on Profit Shifting
• By Richard Phillips
A core problem with our corporate income tax laws at the federal and state levels is that they allow companies to use accounting gimmicks to shift significant amounts of their profits into low or zero-tax jurisdictions. Federal lawmakers had an opportunity to address this with the 2017 tax law, but they failed to do so, and, in fact, the law may incentivize more offshore tax avoidance. State lawmakers, however, can buck the federal trend and…
Three Tax Takeaways on Amazon’s Expansion Announcement
• By Carl Davis
Today Amazon announced major expansions in New York and Virginia, where it intends to hire up to 50,000 full-time employees. The announcement marks the culmination of a highly publicized search that lasted more than a year and involved aggressive courting of the company by cities across the nation. The following are three tax-related observations on the announcement.
New Report Finds that Upside-down State and Local Tax Systems Persist, Contributing to Inequality in Most States
• By Aidan Davis
State and local tax systems in 45 states worsen income inequality by making incomes more unequal after taxes. The worst among these are identified in ITEP’s Terrible 10. Washington, Texas, Florida, South Dakota, Nevada, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Wyoming hold the dubious honor of having the most regressive state and local tax systems in the nation. These states ask far more of their lower- and middle-income residents than of their wealthiest taxpayers.
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