Just Taxes Blog by ITEP

Category: Tax Credits for Workers and Families



  • September 26, 2019

    Maine Reaches Tax Fairness Milestone

    Lawmakers in Maine this year took bold steps toward making the state’s tax system fairer. Their actions demonstrate that political will can dramatically alter state tax policy landscape to improve economic well-being for low-income families while also ensuring the wealthy pay a fairer share.
  • Meg Wiehe
    Meg Wiehe
    Deputy Executive Director
    July 18, 2019

    Many States Move Toward Higher Taxes on the Rich; Lower Taxes on Poor People

    Several states this year proposed or enacted tax policies that would require high-income households and/or businesses to pay more in taxes. After years of policymaking that slashed taxes for wealthy households and deprived states of revenue to adequately fund public services, this is a necessary and welcome reversal.
  • Misha Hill
    Misha Hill
    Policy Analyst
    September 20, 2018

    State Tax Codes Can Help Mitigate Poverty and Impact of Federal Tax Cuts on Low- and Middle-Income Families

    The national poverty rate declined by 0.4 percentage points to 12.3 percent in 2017. According to the U.S. Census, this was not a statistically significant change from the previous year. 39.7 million Americans, including 12.8 million children, lived in poverty in 2017. Median household income also increased for the third consecutive year, but this was […]
  • Aidan Davis
    Aidan Davis
    State Policy Director
    July 10, 2018

    Building on Momentum from Recent Years, 2018 Delivers Strengthened Tax Credits for Workers and Families

    Despite some challenging tax policy debates, a number of which hinged on states’ responses to federal conformity, 2018 brought some positive developments for workers and their families. This post updates a mid-session trends piece on this very subject. Here’s what we have been following:
  • Aidan Davis
    Aidan Davis
    State Policy Director
    March 26, 2018

    Trends We’re Watching in 2018, Part 3: Improvements to Tax Credits for Workers and Families

    This has been a big year for state action on tax credits that support low-and moderate-income workers and families. And this makes sense given the bad hand low- and middle-income families were dealt under the recent Trump-GOP tax law, which provides most of its benefits to high-income households and wealthy investors.   Many proposed changes are part of states’ broader reaction to the impact of the new federal law on state tax systems. Unfortunately, some of those proposals left much to be desired.
  • Misha Hill
    Misha Hill
    Policy Analyst
    September 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.

  • 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 […]
  • Misha Hill
    Misha Hill
    Policy Analyst
    May 23, 2017

    Trump Budget Plan Would Eliminate Child Tax Credits for Working Families Due to Parents’ Immigration Status

    As 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.
  • Aidan Davis
    Aidan Davis
    State Policy Director
    May 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 […]
  • Misha Hill
    Misha Hill
    Policy Analyst
    March 24, 2017

    What to Watch in the States: State Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) on the Move

    While 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 […]

Blog Categories


Full Archive

All Blog Posts