ITEP Work in Action
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Will Further Solidify An Unequal Federal Income Tax Structure for Generations
May 23, 2023
A new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) predicts that making permanent the temporary provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cost nearly $290 billion in 2026. H.R. 976, the TCJA Permanency Act, would permanently enshrine the portions of the TCJA that were set to expire in 2025. In Arizona, […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: $2 Billion Tax Cuts for the Rich are Irresponsible
May 13, 2022
Last year, the legislature passed huge tax cuts whose benefits will only be seen by the richest Arizonans. Once these new tax cuts go into effect, they will reduce state revenues by an estimated $2 billion a year. The state approved a flat tax that will not result in a meaningful tax cut for most […]
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Flat Tax Exacerbates Inequalities for Households of Color
May 26, 2021
Arizona’s elected leaders have created a tax code that is upside down and regressive– meaning that those with low incomes pay a much higher share of their income in taxes compared to Arizona’s highest income earners. Our state’s tax code is both a product of and perpetrator of stark racial inequities. The cumulation of Arizona’s […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: The flat tax falls flat for most Arizonans
April 28, 2021
The Arizona legislature is poised to permanently cut over a billion dollars in state revenues, the largest tax cut in the last three decades. This cut will make Arizona’s tax system more regressive than it is today with 91 percent of the tax cuts going to people in the top 20 percent of incomes. Read […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Arizona’s regressive tax policy contributes significantly to economic and racial injustice
April 13, 2021
Tax policy plays a role in the fight for economic and racial justice. The type of tax and how it is structured matters. A new report issued by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Taxes and Racial Equity , explains how historical and contemporary policy choices have resulted in tax codes that maintain […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: In Search of a State Budget That Creates Opportunity for All
January 28, 2020
While all families in Arizona help pay for health, education and public safety through state and local taxes, low-income and middle-income families pay a larger portion of their income in taxes than do wealthier families. When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales, and property—families with income in the lowest 20 percent […]
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: In Search 2020
January 26, 2020
In Search of State Budget That Creates Opportunity for All When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales, and property—families with income in the lowest 20 percent pay twice what families in the top 1 percent do—$12.95 for every $100 of income and $8.49 for middle income families compared to $5.91 for […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: More Money for Public Education Will Benefit Arizona Small Businesses
November 5, 2019
Most small business owners will continue to be taxed at some of the lowest personal income tax rates in the nation. Small business owners whose profits and wages from their businesses are high enough to be in the top 1% of income earners will still have the first $250,000 they earn as individual filers or […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Using Increased Revenues from Conformity on More Tax Cuts is Fiscally Irresponsible
July 11, 2019
Arizona Should Use Increased Revenues to Prepare for Next Recession Instead of Giving Tax Cuts While a recession does not appear imminent, the current economic expansion began in June 2009 and in July will become the longest economic expansion in American history at 121 months. Given this and the impossibility of predicting when the next […]
Wrong Priorities: It Doesn’t Make Sense to Give a Tax Cut to the Rich While Arizona Asks Children in Public Schools to Wait
February 5, 2019
Arizona stands to gain $130 million to $230 million in General Fund revenues if it conforms the Arizona tax code to the federal tax changes enacted in 2017. Rather than directing those additional revenues to better prepare for the next economic downturn or toward increased investments in our public schools, SB1143 and HB2522 will direct the additional revenues toward a tax cut that will benefit the wealthiest Arizonans.
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Wrong Priorities: It Doesn’t Make Sense to Give a Tax Cut to the Rich While Arizona Asks Children in Public Schools to Wait
January 2, 2019
Arizona stands to gain $130 million to $230 million in General Fund revenues if it conforms the Arizona tax code to the federal tax changes enacted in 2017. Rather than directing those additional revenues to better prepare for the next economic downturn or toward increased investments in our public schools, SB1143 and HB2522 will direct […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Arizona Proposal Would Finance School Funding Boost, Make Tax Code Less Regressive
May 30, 2018
The measure would also make Arizona’s tax code somewhat less regressive. Currently, the poorest 20 percent of households pay 12.5 percent of their annual income to state and local taxes — more than twice as much as the wealthiest 1 percent of Arizonans, who pay just 5.7 percent, according to the Institute on Taxation and […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Just Like the House GOP Plan, the Senate GOP Tax Plan Is Another Handout to the Wealthiest Households and Large Corporations
November 14, 2017
Newly published data shows that the new Senate GOP tax plan isn’t much better than the House GOP tax plan for the middle-class, small businesses, and lower-income Americans. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis (https://itep.org/senatetaxplan/) shows that on average, the top 5% of Americans will receive around 50% of the tax cuts. Read […]
Arizona Center for Economic Progress: With Further Analysis Completed, It’s Time to Call the GOP Tax Plan What it Is: Welfare for the Wealthy
November 6, 2017
A 50-state analysis of the House tax plan released last week reveals that in Arizona the wealthiest 1% of Arizonans will receive the greatest share of the total tax cut in year one and their share would grow through 2027. And during that 10-year window, the value of the tax cut gets smaller and smaller for every […]
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Questions and Answers About Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes 2017
January 24, 2017
State budgets and taxes are the foundation for achieving our common priorities that will lead to more quality jobs, a strong economy, and thriving communities. This publication provides information and analysis to help policymakers, community leaders, and community-based organizations make good decisions about Arizona’s state budget and taxes to reach those goals. These questions and […]
The Arizona Center for Economic Progress: Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes: What Every Arizonan Needs to Know About Growing Our Economy
January 10, 2017
When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales and property—families with incomes in the bottom fifth pay nearly three times what families in the top 1 percent do—$12.50 for every $100 of income compared to $4.58 for the highest income families and $8.20 for middle income families. Sales taxes make up the […]
Children’s Action Alliance: Arizona’s Individual Income Tax
October 21, 2015
The balance and fairness of any tax system depends on the impact of all the taxes an individual or family pays. State and local sales taxes always take a bigger bite out of the income of taxpayers at the lowest income levels. Arizona’s graduated income tax partially offsets the impact of the sales tax on […]
Children’s Action Alliance: Questions and Answers About Arizona’s State Budget and Taxes
October 21, 2015
State budgets and taxes are tools to reach our common goals for health, education, security and a vibrant, prosperous future. This publication provides information and analysis to help policymakers, community leaders, and community-based organizations make good decisions about Arizona’s state budget and taxes to reach those goals. These questions and answers highlight key facts […]
Children’s Action Alliance: HB 2069 – S/E Online TPT/Income Tax Reduction Fact Sheet
March 6, 2015
HB 2069 shifts taxes from the wealthiest Arizonans to low and middle income taxpayers, attempts to limit options available to future legislatures, and depends on a “best guess” to make sure that state revenues aren’t cut back too far with no chance of correction….This ill-advised legislation has many problems: At a time when Arizona is […]
Arise Citizens’ Policy Project: Study on Alabama’s tax system: The less you make, the bigger share you pay
January 21, 2015
Low- and middle-income Alabamians pay more than twice as much in taxes as a share of their income compared to the state’s wealthiest residents, according to a study released Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. The study, Who Pays?, analyzes tax systems in […]
Arise Citizens’ Policy Project: Out of Step – Alabama’s Unusual State Tax System
June 11, 2014
Taxes are the tools that Americans use to pay for education, public health, transportation and other elements of the common good. Just as states differ in the scale of services offered, they also differ on the ways to pay for those services. Some states lean on property taxes to fund public services, while others rely […]
Children’s Action Alliance: The Flat Tax Proposal – Winners and Losers – Which One Are You?
January 14, 2013
Arizona families need a budget that works for them. HB 2636 doesn’t do that. Instead, it provides significant tax breaks to those at higher income levels at the expense of low- and middle-income Arizonans.
Arizona Children’s Action Alliance: Skin in the Game: Who really Pays Arizona taxes?
December 17, 2012
“In political talking points, the phrase “everyone should have skin in the game” is being used to push unfair revenue schemes around the country. The phrase is used under the false assumption that low-income Americans aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. In Arizona, some proponents of the so-called flat tax are using this slogan […]
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