Blog
172 posts
Local Governments Are Increasingly Strapped: 2026 Will Bring New Challenges and New Opportunities
January 21, 2026 • By Kamolika Das
2025 saw an intensification of state and local tax fights across the country, as well as growing experimentation with local-option taxes, levies, fees, and tourism taxes aimed at keeping budgets afloat while also navigating political constraints imposed by state legislatures.
State Rundown 12/17: Tax Policy ‘Naughty or Nice’ List Has Late Entrants
December 17, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
With a little over a week left, some states are solidifying their spots on the tax policy “naughty or nice” list.
States are increasingly facing difficult choices as revenues stagnate and deficits come clearer into focus.
How Much Would Every Family in Every State Get if the Megabill’s Tax Cuts Given to the Rich Had Instead Been Evenly Divided?
July 14, 2025 • By Michael Ettlinger
If instead of giving $117 billion to the richest 1 percent, that money had been evenly divided among all Americans, we'd each get $343 - or nearly $1,400 for a family of four.
State Rundown 7/8: State Tax Cuts Continue Despite Federal Megabill Passing
July 8, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The last states are wrapping up legislative sessions, and some are crossing the finish line with major income tax cuts.
Trump Megabill Will Give $117 Billion in Tax Cuts to the Top 1% in 2026. How Much In Your State?
June 30, 2025 • By Michael Ettlinger
The predominant feature of the tax and spending bill working its way through Congress is a massive tax cut for the richest 1 percent — a $114 billion benefit to the wealthiest people in the country in 2026 alone.
How Much Do the Top 1% in Each State Get from the Trump Megabill?
June 30, 2025 • By Carl Davis
The Senate tax bill under debate right now would bring very large tax cuts to very high-income people. In total, the richest 1 percent would receive $114 billion in tax cuts next year alone. That would amount to nearly $61,000 for each of these affluent households.
State Rundown 6/20: Federal tax policy heats up, states wrap sessions and weigh impacts
June 18, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
As state legislative sessions come to a close, decisions on tax policy are being made. Several southern states have cut taxes, while the northeast is making some more measured reforms.
State Rundown 6/5: States Wrap Sessions, Some Prepare for Fiscal Uncertainty
June 5, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
States use the final hours of their legislative sessions to address deficits and preserve revenue in preparation for the times ahead.
State Rundown 5/21: Big and Not-So Beautiful Tax Cut Bills Abound in States
May 21, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
As a sprawling, regressive tax bill continues to take shape at the federal level, many states are moving forward with major tax cut proposals of their own.
State Rundown 5/15: State Tax Debates Carry On in the Midst of Chaotic Federal Tax Landscape
May 15, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Even as most major headlines have been about the ever-changing landscape of federal tax policy, the latest “ideas of the week," and now the House tax bill, state tax policy continues to be a priority for lawmakers.
State Rundown 5/1: State Tax Debates Wrapping Up, and Just Beginning
May 1, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The rampant uncertainty this year extends far beyond the national economy and federal policy, as many state legislatures are declaring their tax and budget debates finished, and just getting started, sometimes in the same breath.
Missouri is Sleepwalking into a Half-Billion Dollar Tax Cut for the Rich
April 22, 2025 • By Carl Davis
Missouri lawmakers are debating a tax cut that will mostly benefit the wealthiest in the state, while relying on an unrealistic estimate of what it will cost.
IRS Cooperation with ICE Will Damage Public Trust, Putting Tax Revenues in Jeopardy
April 10, 2025 • By Marco Guzman
Attempts by the Department of Homeland Security to secure private information from the IRS on people who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number is a violation of federal privacy laws that protect taxpayers. It is also a change that could seriously damage public trust in the IRS, which could jeopardize billions of dollars in tax payments by hardworking immigrant families.
State Rundown 3/6: In the Shadow of Chaotic Federal Policymaking States Seek to Tax the Top, Cut Taxes
March 6, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Proposals from governors in both New Jersey and Wisconsin include provisions to tax high-income earners. Meanwhile, several major tax proposals are advancing in the great plains, with Iowa considering a major cut to unemployment taxes, North Dakota advancing new benefits for private schools, and Wyoming cutting property taxes. The District of Columbia is facing a more than a $1 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years, compared to previous estimates, and a mild recession due in large part to the layoffs of federal workers.
Turning IRS Agents to Deportation Will Reduce Public Revenues
February 11, 2025 • By Carl Davis, Jon Whiten
The Trump Administration’s plan to turn IRS agents into deportation agents will result in lower tax collections in addition to the harm done to the families and communities directly affected by deportations.
More details on this year’s batch of major tax proposals are emerging from statehouses - and some revenue cuts look like they could be steep. A governor-backed and House-passed plan in Mississippi would phase out the personal income tax, while a recent tax cut proposal out of Idaho is anchored by a $253 million dollar income tax cut.
It’s a new year, and state legislatures across the country are resolved to write new tax policy. Tax debates are heating up nearly everywhere in the early days of 2025, but states’ fiscal situations vary dramatically. New York is considering expanding the state’s Child Tax Credit following Gov. Hochul’s proposed expansion. On the other side […]
On Election Day, Voters Across the Country Chose to Invest in Their States & Communities
November 19, 2024 • By Kamolika Das
On election day, voters across the country — in states red and blue and communities rural and urban — approved a wide range of state and local ballot measures on taxation and public investment. The success of these measures clearly shows that voters are willing to invest in public priorities that feel tangible and close to home.
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.
Four 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.
Tax History Matters: A Q&A with Professor Andrew Kahrl, Author of ‘The Black Tax’
April 24, 2024 • By Brakeyshia Samms
In his new book, The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America, Professor Andrew Kahrl walks readers through the history of the property tax system and its structural defects that have led to widespread discrimination against Black Americans.
State Rundown 4/3: Some States Buck the Trend on Foolish Tax Policy
April 3, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
This week tax cuts were debated across the upper Midwest...
Anti-tax interests finally found the end of the tax cutting appetite in a few states this week...
Tax Cuts Fail Again in Kansas and Wisconsin; Lawmakers Should Pivot to Proven Investments
March 6, 2024 • By Neva Butkus
The governors of both Kansas and Wisconsin recently stood up to legislators who tried to push through costly tax cuts that would overwhelmingly benefit the most well-off. Lawmakers in those states and others should shift their focus from expensive, top-heavy tax cuts to tried and true policies that help middle-class and low-income families.
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