Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

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ITEP’s Andrew Boardman: The State of Local Taxes in Alaska

October 1, 2023 • By Andrew Boardman

In late September, ITEP Local Policy Analyst Andrew Boardman presented on the state of local taxes in Alaska to the Presentation at the Alaska Municipal League 2023 Tax Conference. Click here for the slide deck.

Marketplace: High-income taxpayers help some states stay above water

March 1, 2021

However, in 22 states, tax revenue actually increased, with revenue in four states — Idaho, Utah, South Dakota and Colorado — up more than 5%. Revenue fell in the remaining states, with seven down more than 10% —Texas, Oregon, Florida, Nevada, North Dakota, Hawaii and Alaska. This disparity has a lot to do with the […]

Crain’s New York Business: Legalizing Marijuana Can’t Cure Inequality, But It Will Ease Budget Crisis

June 14, 2020

My methodology is informed by the work of Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, who recently published a thoughtful blog post on per-capita cannabis excise tax collections. Davis found that last year more than $1.9 billion of tax revenue was collected across seven adult-use states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, […]

Bloomberg: Pot, Liquor ‘Essential’ to Keep Up Spirits, Revenue During Virus

April 10, 2020

The state of Washington raised the most cannabis tax revenue last year—$67.31 per person, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. That compares with $60.11 per person raised in Colorado, $53.50 in Nevada, $38.83 in Alaska, $31.75 in Oregon, $15.93 in California, and $12.92 in Massachusetts, the institute said. Read more

Crooked: Democrats Must Keep Fighting Trump’s Bailouts

March 27, 2020

These massive corporations also reaped huge benefits from Trump’s 2017 corporate tax cuts. An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report from March 10 lays it out: “In the two full years since the Trump corporate tax cuts took effect, seven large U.S.-based airlines reported $30 billion of U.S. pretax income and paid an average […]

American Prospect: Avoid Taxes, Receive Federal Bailouts

March 25, 2020

On that haul, they paid an average effective federal income tax rate of 2.3 percent. According to Matthew Gardner at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, that rate is actually inflated by Southwest Airlines, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of the income taxes paid by this group. “The other six—Delta, American, United, Alaska […]

Anchorage Press: The Pocketbook Reasons Most Alaskans Should Prefer an Income Tax to a Statewide Sales Tax

February 24, 2020

An analysis in 2017 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) produced similar results. All people in households who make less than $73,000 per year—and some in higher-earning households—would do better financially under a state income tax than a statewide sales tax, according to this study. A statewide sales tax would hit both […]

POLITICO: Cannabis was supposed to be a tax windfall for states. The reality has been different.

October 14, 2019

In all, five of the nine states that have set up tax systems for legalized marijuana employ cultivation levies on growers, while all but Alaska charge an excise tax specifically on cannabis sales. Five states also charge the general sales tax, though not the same exact group that has a cultivator tax. The actual effective […]

POLITICO: Cannabis Was Supposed to Be a Tax Windfall for States. The Reality Has Been Different.

October 14, 2019

In all, five of the nine states that have set up tax systems for legalized marijuana employ cultivation levies on growers, while all but Alaska charge an excise tax specifically on cannabis sales. Five states also charge the general sales tax, though not the same exact group that has a cultivator tax. The actual effective […]

Associated Press: Oil Unease: Alaska Faces Tough Budget Decisions

August 8, 2019

Carl Davis, research director with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said cutting the dividend is regressive, hitting lower-income families particularly hard. He sees no conflict between paying a dividend and taxing residents. While some Democrats want to debate oil taxes and whether companies are paying enough, Dunleavy has focused on cutting […]

Anchorage Daily News: As Alaska’s Budget Uproar Rolls on, a Top Dunleavy Adviser Has Seen It Before

July 24, 2019

Arduin, Laffer & Moore has been criticized by economists for what some see as less than rigorous methods. One Oklahoma study on eliminating the state’s personal income tax produced by the firm was trashed as not “meeting professional standards” and including “biased and greatly exaggerated estimates” by University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University economists. […]

City Lab: The Airbnb Effect: It’s Not Just Rising Home Prices

February 4, 2019

And cities with less stringent Airbnb regulations might also be losing out on a lot of tax revenue. Traditional lodging entities (when combining city, state, and county taxes), are taxed at an average rate of 13 percent in the 150 largest cities. But Airbnb is treated differently in different jurisdictions, and is trusted to self-report […]

Bloomberg: Cannabis Excise Tax Revenue Could Eclipse Alcohol Revenue in 2019

January 23, 2019

Excise tax revenue from marijuana sales is expected to surpass alcohol excise collections in 2019, according to the co-author of a new report. Carl Davis, a research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, noted in his report that state and local retail marijuana excise tax collections already rivaled alcohol tax collections in […]

The Columbia Missourian: New Tax on Motor Fuels Would Rev up Road and Bridge Spending

October 25, 2018

As it stands, only Alaska has a lower fuel tax than Missouri. Every neighboring state’s tax is higher. And more than 20 states increased their fuel taxes between 2013 and 2017, according to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy website. Read more

Politifact: The Facts Behind Trump’s Jabs at Amazon on Taxes, USPS and Lost Retail Jobs

March 30, 2018

Amazon paid $957 million in income tax in 2017, according to regulatory filings. Amazon paid nothing in federal taxes this year thanks to tax credits and, in large part, Trump’s new tax law. But the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Amazon is either not collecting local taxes or is charging a lower […]

Fortune: President Trump Claims Amazon Pays “Little or No Taxes.” Here’s Where He’s Wrong

March 30, 2018

Where Trump is correct: Amazon doesn’t collect taxes on behalf of third-party vendors, and it still may not collect some local taxes, giving it an advantage over some traditional retailers, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank. According to an analysis from the ITEP, the gap between the tax rate […]

Bloomberg Law: Trump’s Amazon Tweet Comes at Eventful Time for State-Local Taxes

March 30, 2018

Meanwhile, Amazon may not be paying its share of local sales taxes. A report released March 26 by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said Amazon either doesn’t collect and remit local sales tax or is charging a lower sales tax rate than traditional retailers in seven states: Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, […]

Dallas Morning News: Texas Was Tougher Than Other States in Dealing with Amazon on Sales Taxes

March 30, 2018

When a Dallas resident or shopper in College Station or Lubbock makes a purchase from Amazon or any other online retailer with a physical presence in Texas such as Wayfair and RH.com, the state gets its 6.25 percent. The cities get their local sales taxes too. In Dallas, that’s an additional 2 percent for a […]

Seattle Times: As Amazon steps up tax collections, some cities are left out

March 27, 2018

Thanks in part to a series of deals with state governments in recent years, Amazon is collecting sales tax in every state that has one. But those deals do not always extend to taxes assessed by local governments. The company still is not collecting sales taxes in dozens of cities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Cedar […]

Bloomberg BNA: Tax Breaks Plentiful for Second Amazon HQ Even Without Bids

March 27, 2018

Amazon also benefits at the state and local level when it comes to sales tax, according to a report released March 26 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy based in Washington, D.C. In seven states—Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania—Amazon is either not collecting local taxes or charging a lower […]

The Fiscal Times: More States Are Turning to Toll Roads

January 9, 2018

Nineteen states have waited a decade or more since last increasing their gas tax rates. Another 13 states have gone at least two decades, and three states — Alaska, Oklahoma and Mississippi — have not increased their gas tax rates since the 1980s, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank […]

Select state coverage of ITEP’s analyses of Republican tax Plans

January 1, 2018

Burlington County Times: Will Phil Murphy raise NJ’s taxes (and 4 other political questions for .. Kaplan Herald: This chart exhibits how the GOP tax plan will hit your pockets Wiscnews: Tax cuts increase inequity Patch.com: MacArthur Touts Tax Reform; Will It Help NJ As Much As He Says? NJ.com: Long lines spring up as […]

Alaska stopped collecting income taxes 35 years ago, and Wyoming has never remotely considered implementing one in the 82 years since it decided instead to charge state and local sales taxes. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) discovered recently that nearly 82 percent of Alaskans could expect to pay less under a progressive income tax than they would under a sales tax designed to generate an identical level of revenue.

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Cutting WV Income Tax Likely to Backfire

April 11, 2017

There are nine states with no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Tennessee. Only Texas has seen job growth — as a result of being the center of the oil industry. The others have not; job growth has trailed population growth in the other eight. This is based […]

Alaska Dispatch News: How billion-dollar companies paid nothing in taxes

March 13, 2017

Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. Eighteen, including General […]