Blog - State Policy
607 posts
This past week, in statehouses around the country, tax policy decisions are moving fast as budgets were signed and budget plans were released and passed...
States are Talking About the Wrong Kind of Property Tax Cuts
May 11, 2023 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Carl Davis
Concerns over property tax affordability have been at the forefront this year as housing prices have climbed and property tax bills have often increased along with them. As lawmakers mull a range of property tax cuts, circuit breakers are the best possible approach—and these policies are receiving far too little attention in the states.
State Rundown 5/10: Momentum on State Tax Credits Continues to Build
May 10, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
This week, in states across the country the momentum to center improvements to family economic security remains strong...
Minnesota Poised to Enact Landmark Loophole-Closing Corporate Tax Reforms
May 7, 2023 • 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.
While the conversations on the debt ceiling heat up in the nation's capital, debates on state tax policy also continue to unfold in capitol buildings across the nation...
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.
A compelling new examination over multiple years and multiple states found that infants are more likely to survive to age one in states that raise more revenue and raise it from those most able to pay. Generating taxes from rich people and corporations can help babies make it to their first birthday.
Kansas Avoids Flat Tax Proposal: Narrow Victory a Cautionary Tale for Other States
April 27, 2023 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Kansas lawmakers failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a damaging flat tax package. In doing so, the state narrowly avoided traveling again down the same disastrous yet well-worn path of deep income tax cuts. States across the country can learn from Kansas’s experience by rethinking tax policy decisions and broader statewide priorities.
This week the importance of state tax policy is center stage once again...
State Rundown 4/19: Revenue Discussions Heat Up Like the Temperature
April 19, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
Tax season has ended for most filers, but the topic remains a hot one in states around the country...
Everything! Taxing wealthy people and corporations and using the revenue for paid leave, child care, education, health care and college would transform America for girls and women of every race and family type, in every corner of this country.
State Rundown 4/12: Tax Day 2023 – A Good Reminder of the Impact of Our Collective Investments
April 12, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
With Tax Day quickly approaching it’s worth taking some time to reflect not just on tax forms (though those are important!), but also on the current state of state tax policy...
Deep Public Investment Changes Lives, Yet Too Many States Continue to Seek Tax Cuts
April 12, 2023 • By Aidan Davis
When state budgets are strong, lawmakers should put those revenues toward building a stronger and more inclusive society for the long haul. Yet, many state lawmakers have made clear that their top priority is repeatedly cutting taxes for the wealthy.
As Tax Day approaches, it’s worth thinking about not only the taxes that we individually pay but the overall condition of our tax code as well. State tax codes, while perhaps less discussed than the federal system, are critically important. Depending on how they are designed, state taxes can improve or worsen economic and racial […]
This week, a bill out of Arkansas that would cut the top personal income tax rate and the corporate income tax rate found its way to the governor’s desk...
Minnesota’s Tax Code Should Be Based on Ability to Pay, Not Year of Birth
March 31, 2023 • By Carl Davis, Eli Byerly-Duke
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a carveout that would treat seniors much more favorably than young families. The proposal would fully exempt all Social Security income from state income tax, even for seniors with exceptionally high incomes.
Over the past week Washington state saw a major victory for tax fairness after the state Supreme Court held the state’s capital gains tax—passed in 2021—constitutional...
As nature bursts into life and color with the arrival of spring, state tax proposals are doing the same as the legislative seeds planted by lawmakers earlier this year start to grow, blossom, and in some cases rot. However, some governors are not entirely happy with what state lawmakers have produced.
States Prioritize Old Over Young in Push for Larger Senior Tax Subsidies
March 23, 2023 • By Carl Davis, Eli Byerly-Duke
Under a well-designed income tax based on ability to pay, it is simply not necessary to offer special tax subsidies to older adults but not younger families. At the end of the day, your income tax bill should depend on what you can afford to pay, not the year you were born. It’s really as simple as that.
It’s March and state lawmakers are showing why the Madness isn’t only reserved for the basketball court...
State Rundown 3/9: The Whirlwind 2023 Legislative Session Continues
March 9, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
State 2023 legislative sessions are proving to be eventful ones. With many states eager to make use of their budget surpluses, major tax changes are still being proposed and others signed into law. Michigan residents will soon see an increase to their state Earned Income Tax Credit (from 6 percent to 30 percent) after the […]
This week, several big tax proposals took strides on the march toward becoming law...
New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut Should Keep Corporate Taxes Strong, Extend Surcharges
February 28, 2023 • 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 flat tax plan and others being discussed that would cut even deeper would be windfalls for the wealthy, and expensive ones at that. Families with incomes over $300,000 per year, for example, could expect to gain, as a group, about a billion dollars annually under the flat tax plan. If you asked Ohio families about their top priorities for this legislative session, it’s a safe bet that very few of them would choose a billion-dollar tax cut for this group over funding for schools, parks, and infrastructure.
State Rundown 2/23: Tax Dominos Take Shape, Begin to Fall as Session Heats Up
February 23, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
The 2023 legislative session is in full swing, and dominos continue to be set up as others fall...
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