Category: State Policy
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Misha Hill
State Policy FellowSeptember 15, 2017
Poverty is Down, But State Tax Codes Could Bring It Even Lower
The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage this week. For the second consecutive year, the national poverty rate declined and the well-being of America’s most economically vulnerable has generally improved. In 2016, the year of the latest available data, 40.6 million (or nearly 1 in 8) Americans were living in poverty. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, Pennsylvania lawmakers risk defaulting on payments due to their extremely overdue budget and Illinois legislators will borrow billions to start paying their backlog of unpaid bills. Governing delves into why there were more such budget impasses this year than in any year in recent memory. And Oklahoma got closure from its Supreme Court on whether closing special tax exemptions counts as "raising taxes" (it doesn't). -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorIt's been a quiet week for tax policy in most states, though lawmakers are still making noise in Pennsylvania, where a budget agreement is still needed, and in Wisconsin, where legislators are searching for the will to raise revenue for the state's ailing transportation infrastructure. In our "What We're Reading" section you'll find interesting reading on the fiscal fallout of Hurricane Harvey, as well as an in-depth series on how states' disaster response needs are likely to continue to increase. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorTax and budget debates are progressing at different paces in different parts of the country this week. In Connecticut and Wisconsin, lawmakers hope to finally settle their budget and tax differences soon. In South Dakota, a court case that could finally enable states to enforce their sales taxes on online retailers inches slowly closer to the U.S. Supreme Court. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorState lawmakers who want to send public dollars to private schools have devised a shrewd tactic for getting around political and constitutional obstacles that make it difficult to do so. These lawmakers found a way to pay high-income taxpayers to fund those schools on states’ behalf, sometimes even offering those taxpayers a tidy profit in […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, Oklahoma lawmakers learned they'll need to enter a special session to balance their budget and that they'll likely face a lawsuit over their low funding of public education. Pennsylvania's budget stalemate is also coming to a head as the state literally runs out of funds to pay its bills. And Amazon's tax practices are in the news again as the company has been sued in South Carolina. -
Lisa Christensen Gee
Senior Policy AnalystAugust 10, 2017
The Many Reasons for the Seattle Income Tax
A month ago, the Seattle City Council passed an income tax measure, which has garnered a lot of attention as well as volumes of supportive and opposition commentary. Haven’t had a chance to dive into the details yet? We’ve got you covered. What is the new income tax law and who does it impact? The […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorAugust 9, 2017
State Rundown 8/9: And Then There Were Three
This week, Rhode Island lawmakers agreed on a budget, leaving only three states – Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – without complete budgets. Texas, however, remains in special session and West Virginia could go back into another special session over tax issues. And in New York City, the mayor proposes a tax on the wealthy to […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorIn nine states, tax rewards gained by donating to fund private K-12 vouchers are so oversized that “donors” can turn a profit. This is the shocking but true finding of a pair of studies released by ITEP over the last year. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorBudget deliberations continue in earnest this week in Alaska, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In South Dakota and Utah, the focus is on gearing up for ballot initiative efforts to raise needed revenue, though be sure to read about legislators nullifying voter-approved initiatives in Maine and elsewhere in our "what we're reading" section. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorWhile only a few states still remain mired in overtime budget debates, there is plenty of budget and tax news from around the country this week. Efforts are underway to repeal gas tax increases in California and challenge a local income tax in Seattle, Washington. And New Jersey legislators' law to modernize its tax code to tax Airbnb rentals has been vetoed for now. -
July 24, 2017
Sound Tax Policy Made a Comeback in 2017
2017 marked a sea change in state tax policy and a stark departure from the current federal tax debate as dubious supply-side economic theories began to lose their grip on statehouses. Compared to the predominant trend in recent years of emphasizing top-heavy income tax cuts and shifting to more regressive consumption taxes in the hopes […] -
Dylan Grundman
Senior Policy AnalystState lawmakers face a dilemma when it comes to sales tax holidays, an attractive and popular policy that nonetheless proves to be a poor choice compared to developing thoughtful, targeted tax policies or investing in well-executed public services. Luckily, word seems to be getting out that the costs associated with these holidays far outweigh their purported benefits. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorTax and budget debates drag on in several states this week, as lawmakers continue to work in Alaska, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. And a showdown is brewing in Kentucky between a regressive tax shift effort and a progressive tax reform plan. Be sure to also check out our "What We're Reading" section for a historical perspective on federal tax reform, a podcast on lessons learned from Kansas and California, and more! -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorIllinois and New Jersey made national news earlier this month after resolving their contentious budget stalemates. But they weren’t the only states working through (and in some cases after) the holiday weekend to resolve budget issues. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, several states attempt to wrap up their budget debates before new fiscal years (and holiday vacations) begin in July. Lawmakers reached at least short-term agreement on budgets in Alaska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, but such resolution remains elusive in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorSummer gas prices are at their lowest level in twelve years, which makes right now a sensible time to ask drivers to pay a little more toward improving the transportation infrastructure they use every day. Seven states will be doing this on Saturday, July 1 when they raise their gasoline tax rates. At the same time, two states will be implementing small gas tax rate cuts. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorSupporters of creating a local personal income tax in Seattle are rightly concerned about the lopsided nature of their state’s tax code. In a 50-state study titled Who Pays?, produced using our microsimulation tax model, we found that Washington State’s tax system is the most regressive in the nation. -
Aidan Davis
Senior Policy AnalystWest Virginia’s roller coaster ride of a session is nearing its tumultuous end. In a press conference this morning, Gov. Jim Justice announced that he will let the legislature’s most recent budget bill become law without his signature. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week several states rush to finalize their budget and tax debates before the start of most state fiscal years on July 1. West Virginia lawmakers considered tax increases as part of a balanced approach to closing the state’s budget gap but took a funding-cuts-only approach in the end. Delaware legislators face a similar choice, […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week lawmakers in California and Nevada resolved significant tax debates, while budget and tax wrangling continued in West Virginia, and structural revenue shortfalls were revealed in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Airbnb increased the number of states in which it collects state-level taxes to 21. We also share interesting reads on state fiscal uncertainty, the tax experiences of Alaska and Wyoming, the future of taxing robots, and more! -
Lisa Christensen Gee
Senior Policy AnalystJune 13, 2017
How to Recover from A Failed Tax Experiment: Part 1
Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax experiment in Kansas was a failure. His radical tax cuts for the rich eventually had to be partly paid for through tax hikes on low- and middle-income families and also failed to deliver on promises of economic growth. Meanwhile, the tax cuts decimated the state’s budget, diminished its credit rating, and compromised its ability to meet the state’s constitutional standard of adequacy for public education. -
Steve Wamhoff
June 8, 2017
Kansas May Have Saved Us All
Sitting in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, hidden in the jumble of Americana like Thomas Jefferson’s desk, Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown and the ruby slippers worn in the Wizard of Oz, is a napkin with a drawing on it. Probably one of the least known exhibits in the museum, this napkin, quietly hiding behind glass lest some child wandering from a school group wipe his nose on it, has on several occasions destroyed the finances of the federal government and several state governments, most recently in Kansas. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, special legislative sessions featuring tax and budget debates are underway or in the works in Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, and West Virginia, as lawmakers are also running up against regular session deadlines in Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, a legislative study in Wyoming and an independent analysis in New Jersey are both calling for tax increases to overcome budget shortfalls. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, Kansas lawmakers continued work on fixing the fiscal mess created by tax cuts in recent years, as legislators in Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia attempted to wrap up difficult budget negotiations before their sessions come to an end, and Delaware lawmakers advanced a corporate tax increase as one piece of a plan to close that state's budget shortfall. Our "what we're reading" section this week is also packed with articles about state and local effects of the Trump budget, new 50-state research on property taxes, and more. -
Misha Hill
State Policy FellowAs ITEP has detailed, undocumented immigrants are taxpayers, contributing close to $12 billion a year in state and local taxes while also paying federal payroll, income, and excise taxes. In spite of these facts, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, has spread erroneous information to validate the administration’s cruel proposal to strip a proven anti-poverty benefit from undocumented immigrants and their children. -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week saw tax debates heat up in many states. Late-session discovered revenue shortfalls, for example, are creating friction in Delaware, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, while special sessions featuring tax debates continue in Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Meanwhile the effort to revive Alaska's personal income tax has cooled off. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorA new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being used as profitable tax shelters by high-income taxpayers. By exploiting interactions between federal and state tax law, high-income taxpayers in nine states are currently able […] -
Dylan Grundman
Senior Policy AnalystSouth Carolina lawmakers this week raised the state’s gas tax for the first time in 28 years, a time period that tied for the third-longest in the nation. While the increase was meaningful and hard-fought, the final result remains flawed in ways that could have been easily remedied or avoided. The biggest positive of the […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week saw a springtime mix of state tax debates in all stages of life. In West Virginia and Louisiana, debates over income tax reductions and comprehensive tax reform are full of vigor. Other debates that bloomed earlier are now settled, such as Florida‘s now-complete budget debate and the more florid debates over gas taxes […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorThis post was updated July 12, 2017 to reflect recent gas tax increases in Oregon and West Virginia. As expected, 2017 has brought a flurry of action relating to state gasoline taxes. As of this writing, eight states (California, Indiana, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia) have enacted gas tax increases this year, bringing the total number of states that have raised or reformed their gas taxes to 26 since 2013. -
Aidan Davis
Senior Policy AnalystMay 4, 2017
EITC Victories Await in Both Hawaii and Montana
Two states are on the verge of embracing a tried and tested anti-poverty policy, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In the past two weeks, lawmakers in both Hawaii and Montana passed EITC legislation, which governors in both states are expected to sign. Once officially enacted, these states will join 26 other states and the […] -
Dylan Grundman
Senior Policy AnalystNebraska lawmakers had a long and contentious tax-cut debate this session but ultimately chose the wise path and rejected attempts to give a massive tax cut to the wealthy at the expense of the state’s schools, other public services, low- and middle-income families, and property tax payers. Tax cut efforts in Nebraska last year ended […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, Kansas lawmakers found that they’ll have to roll back Gov. Brownback’s tax cuts and then some to adequately fund state needs. Nebraska legislators took notice of their southern neighbors’ predicament and rejected a major tax cut. Both Hawaii and Montana‘s legislatures sent new state EITCs to their governors, and West Virginia began an […] -
Dylan Grundman
Senior Policy AnalystThree of the biggest needs facing state policymakers right now are new revenues to fund their priorities in the face of budget shortfalls and federal funding cuts, ways to insulate those revenue streams from unpredictable tax changes at the federal level, and approaches to meet these needs without leaning even more heavily on low- and […] -
Aidan Davis
Senior Policy AnalystApril 27, 2017
New State Corporate Study: 3 Percent and Dropping
States are experiencing a rapid decline in state corporate income tax revenue, and the downward trend has become increasingly pronounced in recent years. Despite rebounding bottom lines for many corporations, a new ITEP report, 3 Percent and Dropping: State Corporate Tax Avoidance in the Fortune 500, 2008 to 2015,finds that effective tax rates paid by […] -
ITEP Staff
Guest Blogger; Josue Chavarin, Program Associate at the California Endowment California’s counties gain hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from undocumented residents— collectively over $1.53 billion according to a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Public debates in California over immigrants, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week, transportation funding debates finally concluded with gas tax updates in Indiana, Montana, and Tennessee, and appear to be nearing an end in South Carolina. Meanwhile, Louisiana and Oregon lawmakers debated new Gross Receipts Taxes, and Texas legislators considered eliminating the state’s franchise tax. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP Deputy Director, @megwiehe Louisiana Gov. Bel Edward’s Commercial Activities Tax (CAT) was pulled from committee early this week without a vote due to opposition, […] -
Misha Hill
State Policy FellowApril 25, 2017
Young Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes Too
A few weeks ago, a young undocumented immigrant posted a photo on Facebook after filing her taxes that went viral. The young woman, Belen Sisa, is one of 1.3 million young people who are currently eligible for temporary work authorizations and deferred deportation action through DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). President Obama signed the […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorApril 25, 2017
Income Tax Offers Best Bang for the Buck in Alaska
Earlier this month the Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-17 in favor of implementing a personal income tax for the first time in over 35 years. Gov. Bill Walker praised the bill shortly after passage, citing its ability to “provide a steady source of funding for essential services like public education and state troopers,” and […] -
Lisa Christensen Gee
Senior Policy AnalystApril 21, 2017
No Room to Swing a CAT in Louisiana Legislature
The Louisiana Legislature has been in session for two weeks now. The stage has been set for fiscal reform and the stakes are high. The state faces a $1.3 billion loss of revenue starting July 1, 2018 when the temporary sales tax base expansion and rate increase expires if lawmakers fail to close the gap […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis week Alaska‘s House advanced a historic bill to reinstate an income tax in the state, Oklahoma‘s House voted to cancel a misguided tax cut “trigger,” West Virginia‘s governor colorfully vetoed his state’s budget, tax reform debate kicked off in Louisiana, and gas tax updates were considered in South Carolina and Tennessee, among other tax-related news […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis 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 […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorApril 5, 2017
State Rundown 4/5: Focus on Major Tax Bills Intensifies
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 […] -
Dylan Grundman
Senior Policy AnalystMarch 31, 2017
All Is Peachy in Georgia, for Now
Georgia lawmakers ended their legislative session Thursday by enacting a few tax credits and smartly choosing not to pass a major income tax cut that had been working its way through the legislature. Policymakers in other states should take note and follow Georgia’s lead by rejecting costly and inequitable flat-tax and other high-income tax cut […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorMarch 29, 2017
Seeking the Right Balance in Alaska
It’s been a little over a year since Alaska Gov. Bill Walker proposed implementing a state personal income tax for the first time in 35 years, and the idea is now receiving close attention in the Alaska House of Representatives. Alaska is the only state to repeal a personal income tax, having done so after it […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorIt’s only appropriate that April 1 will mark a new milestone in foolish federal transportation infrastructure policy. On Saturday, the nation’s federal gasoline tax rate will have been stuck at 18.3 cents per gallon for 8,584 days in a row—or more than 23.5 years. This surpasses the previous record of 8,583 days without an update […] -
Meg Wiehe
Deputy DirectorThis 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 […] -
Misha Hill
State Policy FellowWhile 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 […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorMarch 23, 2017
Taxing the Gig Economy
Our ever-changing economy demands that lawmakers update our tax laws to keep pace. Take, for example, the growth of online sales. As recently as six years ago, Amazon, the nation’s biggest online retailer, only collected sales tax on consumer purchases in five states. This meant that state treasuries were missing critical sales tax revenue, a […]