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September 18, 2024
State Rundown 9/18: Special Tax Session Results? “Reply Hazy, Try Again”
As the dust settles... -
Michael Ettlinger
Senior FellowSeptember 16, 2024
Trump’s Plan to Vaporize the Economy Through Mass Deportation
This op-ed originally appeared in the Boston Globe. What would happen if 22 percent of America’s farmworkers vanished from the workforce? Would workers from across the country flock to the cotton fields of Texas, the sugar fields of Florida, and the peanut farms of Georgia to take low-paying jobs in the blazing heat? Or would […] -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorThe U.S. House Ways & Means Committee has advanced a new school voucher bill. H.R. 9462—the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2024—would create an unprecedented tax incentive designed to fund private, mostly religious, K-12 schools. -
Jon Whiten
Deputy DirectorFrom 2021-2023, child poverty has more than doubled from 5.2 to 13.7 percent. The latest Census data make clear that lawmakers have the tools to help millions of children and their families – and it’s beyond time they take action. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorSeptember 9, 2024
The Quiet Effort to Make Single Parenthood More Expensive
After the dust settles on this year’s election, one of the most pressing issues confronting the next Congress and President will be how to deal with the expiration of the 2017 Trump tax cuts and, more specifically, who will pay for the cost of extending some or all of those cuts. Among the more widely accepted ideas circulating on the right is to raise income taxes on single parents, more than four in five of whom are women and a disproportionate share of whom are people of color. -
September 5, 2024
State Rundown 9/5: Property Tax Policy Continues to Make Headlines
Property tax bills are undeniably a concern for many low- and moderate-income households across the nation... -
Joe Hughes
Senior Policy AnalystAugust 16, 2024
Here’s a Tip: Keep the Taxation of Tips As-Is
The no tax on tips idea isn't a new one, but it's always been abandoned because it's practically impossible to do without creating new avenues for tax avoidance. Despite its embrace by the candidates from both major parties, this policy idea would do little to help the roughly 4 million people who work in tipped occupations while creating a host of problems. -
Kamolika Das
Local Policy DirectorAugust 14, 2024
Local Tax Trends in 2024
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. -
Whether they’re in a special session, gearing up for one, or prepping for 2025, states around the country are focusing on important tax fights...
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Carl Davis
Research DirectorAugust 6, 2024
Minnesota Stands Out for Its Moderately Progressive Tax Code
Minnesota stands apart from the rest of the country with a moderately progressive tax system that asks slightly more of the rich than of low- and middle-income families. Recent reforms signed by Gov. Tim Walz have contributed to this reality. -
Neva Butkus
State Policy AnalystFour states expanded or boosted refundable tax credits for children and families, and the District of Columbia is poised to create a new Child Tax Credit. These actions — in Colorado, Illinois, New York, Utah, and D.C. — continue the recent trend of improving the well-being of children and families with refundable tax credits. -
State lawmakers will have a lot to discuss when they compare notes on how they spent their summer vacations this year...
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Aidan Davis
State Policy DirectorJuly 18, 2024
Five Tax Takeaways from 2024 State Legislative Sessions
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. -
July 11, 2024
State Rundown 7/11: Mansion Taxes in the Spotlight
While Massachusetts legislators recently dropped a real estate transfer tax from their major housing bill, the District of Columbia council sent a budget to the mayor that includes a mansion tax that would increase the tax rate on properties valued over $2.5 million. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Jersey and South Carolina continue to, respectively, raise and reduce needed revenues. -
Amy Hanauer
Executive DirectorTwo of the last five presidents won office over the objection of the majority of the people; California, with 65 times more people, has the same voting power in the U.S Senate as Wyoming; and the U.S. Supreme Court just permitted South Carolina lawmakers to dilute Black votes in drawing districts. These obvious flaws undermine our claim to be a strong democracy. One less appreciated but similarly undemocratic trend is our extreme inequality that supercharges the power and wealth of corporations and the uber-rich, weakens what the public sector can deliver, and often feeds on itself. -
Eli Byerly-Duke
State Policy AnalystKeeping the Kentucky income tax on a march to zero would mean tax hikes for working families or widespread cuts to education, health care, and other public services. Reversing course is certainly the wiser course of action. -
Many families are heading out on summer vacations, but legislators across the country are heading back to statehouses for special sessions...
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Brakeyshia Samms
Policy AnalystWell-designed property tax circuit breaker programs allow states to reduce the impact that property taxes have on the upside-down tilt of their tax codes. -
Steve Wamhoff
Federal Policy DirectorThe Supreme Court matters, for tax fairness as for every other part of our lives. Whether or not we ever have a government that taxes billionaires as much as it taxes the rest of us will depend on how the Supreme Court rules in the future and who appoints justices to the Court. -
Brakeyshia Samms
Policy AnalystJune 17, 2024
Tax Policy is a Part of the Black American Story
Juneteenth is a reminder of the hard-fought victories that helped Black Americans secure their delayed freedom, justice, and suffrage. And in the chapters about tax policy, the tales are no less fraught. From America’s prologue to the last paragraph of the Civil War, governments raised more tax revenue from the taxation of Black bodies than […] -
State budgets are falling into place as lawmakers near the end of their legislative sessions...
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June 6, 2024
State Rundown 6/6: A Tale of Two Tax Laws
This week, it was the best of times or, in some cases, the worst of times for tax policy in two different states... -
May 30, 2024
State Rundown 5/30: Sessions Are In for Summer
Legislative sessions across the country are still very much in for summer, which means more pencils, more budgets, and more tax plans... -
Jon Whiten
Deputy DirectorWhile there is plenty of room to expand Direct File at the federal level, states can take matters into their own hands and bring this benefit to their residents by opting into the program. -
State legislatures are wrapping up, but don’t stray too far from your state capital or you’ll miss out on the action...
Blog Categories
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- Tax Reform Options and Challenges
- Taxing Wealth and Income from Wealth
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