Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

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ITEP's Citations Research Priorities

Members of the City Council,  Thank you for the opportunity to testify today about property tax circuit breakers. My name is Brakeyshia Samms, and I am a senior analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization that focuses on local, state, and federal tax policy issues with an emphasis on revenue sustainability and […]

Mackinac Center: Lawmakers Should Reject Sales Tax Holidays

February 19, 2026 • By ITEP Staff

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy argues that tax holidays may slightly reduce the regressive nature of sales taxes but produce minimal overall benefit. Read more.

Education Week: How Do Schools Solve a Problem Like Property Taxes?

February 19, 2026

As tax season dawns, backlash to a nationwide surge in property-tax bills is spurring states to double down on proposals to diminish one of the main revenue sources for school districts. At least 10 states are pitching the end of one of schools’ chief revenue sources. Read more.

Below is written testimony delivered by ITEP Local Policy Director Kamolika Das before the Pennsylvania House Finance Subcommittee on Tax Modernization & Reform on March 1, 2024. Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Kamolika Das, I live in South Philly, and I’m the Local Tax Policy Director at […]

Bridge Michigan: Michigan GOP tax cut plan helps wealthy at expense of equity

March 11, 2022

Following is an excerpt from an opEd co-authored by ITEP policy analyst Neva Butkus in Bridge Michigan: At the beginning of 2022, the national Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) forecasted the “tax cut fever” that has been sweeping through state legislatures across the nation — including here in Michigan, with the Legislature’s passage […]

The Guardian: ‘A really bad deal’: Michigan awards GM $1bn in incentives for new electric cars

February 25, 2022

Meanwhile, GM has recorded $70bn in profits since 2010 while taking $8bn in subsidies in recent decades – more than all but one company nationwide. The idea that it needed incentives to invest in Michigan “is absurd”, said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the progressive-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Businesses report that tax subsidies infrequently […]

Michigan Live:If second round of stimulus payments is approved, how much could you get?

May 18, 2020

Additionally, the bill as currently written would make those people retroactively eligible to receive the initial stimulus payment under the CARES Act. The Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that ITIN filers would receive over $9.4 billion in direct economic relief. Other than that, the HEROES Act has the same eligibility requirements as the previous […]

Wall Street Journal: Rising California Gasoline Prices Highlight Growing Divide in U.S.

October 23, 2019

A dozen states raised gas taxes earlier this year, including Illinois, Ohio, California, Maryland and Michigan, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a state and federal tax-policy think tank. Read more

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 […]

Detroit Free Press: Trump’s Tax Cuts Are Helping the Wealthy. Here’s How to Help Everyone Else

September 8, 2019

This stark bait-and-switch was on full display with the 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs” Act (TCJA). Billed as a way to help workers and create jobs, the federal tax law really helped wealthy residents and corporations get richer. In Michigan for 2019, more than half of the tax benefits of the TCJA went to the […]

The Wall Street Journal: From Gas Taxes to Vaping Rules, New State Laws Take Effect Across U.S.

July 2, 2019

Drivers in a number of states will now pay higher taxes on gas as part of a broader push to fund infrastructure improvements. In Illinois, the gas tax has doubled to 38 cents from 19 cents, making it the largest increase for any of these states, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, […]

Detroit Metro Times: Five Top Michigan Corporations Paid $0 in Taxes

April 17, 2019

ou may have paid federal taxes, but four Fortune 500 companies in Michigan did not. In fact, they received hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds collectively. DTE Energy, Penske Automotive Group, Whirlpool, and General Motors are among 60 corporations nationally that paid $0 in federal taxes in 2018 despite billions in profits. That’s partly […]

The Cost-of-Living Refund is an enhanced and modernized version of our state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Michigan’s current EITC—at just 6% of the federal credit—provides a huge help to working families struggling to make ends meet by boosting after-tax incomes, pulling Michigan families above the poverty line, and delivering long-lasting benefits to children in […]

Record Eagle (Mich.): Help Michigan’s Poor by Scrapping Gas Tax

January 3, 2019

ndeed, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds the Michigan tax code to be a matter of “soak the poor and middle class, spare the wealthy.” According to ITEP, the total Michigan tax rate on the top 1 percent, with average income of $1,164,700, is 5.1 percent. This includes all Michigan taxes. The lowest […]

While no news is often regarded as good news, in this case, it’s not. Michigan’s tax structure is still highly regressive, and taxes Michiganders with low incomes at a higher rate than Michigan’s wealthiest residents, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

New analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) uses current year and two-year forecasts to calculate the impact that a 0.1 or 0.25 rate reduction in the Personal Income Tax (PIT) could have on taxpayers and state revenue. The data shows that any reduction in the PIT actually shifts the tax load further to low-income Michiganders.

According to modeling by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2019 about 1,400 fewer filers (about 0.4%) will qualify for the credit, resulting in $7 million in fewer federal credits being distributed to the state. By 2027 about 14,500 fewer filers (about 2%) will qualify for the credit, resulting in a loss of $96 million of federal credit value. The same filers who lose their federal EITC will also lose their ability to claim their state EITC, resulting in a loss of additional local economic support.

Researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimate that nationwide, DACA enrollees contribute $2 billion in state and local taxes each year. In Michigan, these young adults contribute $13 million in state and local taxes annually. If federal elected officials fail to pass a replacement to DACA and beneficiaries’ work permits expire, […]

CNN: How Trump’s Policies Could Hurt the Rust Belt

October 25, 2017

Rust Belt states Ohio, Michigan and Indiana are not home to large populations of $1 million household income earners. Rather, they’re in the middle or bottom of the pack, according a summary from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. States with a higher percentage of millionaire earners voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 […]

Michigan immigrants also contribute millions in tax revenue each year, and in doing so help pay for important public programs and infrastructure in the state. In 2015 for example, undocumented immigrants in Michigan paid approximately $86.6 million in state and local taxes. Young undocumented immigrants also contribute their share in taxes. In 2015, DACA-eligible immigrants […]

The Daily News: Lower Discusses Failed Effort to Cut Income Tax

March 8, 2017

According to Gilda Jacobs, executive director of the Michigan League for Public Policy, the tax relief for the lowest earners at less than $22,000 a year would be only $16 per year, while the wealthiest earners at more than $484,000 would get a tax benefit of $3,700 a year. The average Michigan worker with an […]

Detroit Free Press: House Panel Approves Gradual Elimination of Income Tax

February 15, 2017

And Gilda Jacobs, executive director of the Michigan League for Public Policy, said that according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the tax relief for the lowest earners–less than $22,000 a year–would be only $16 per year while the wealthiest earners–more than $484,000–would get a tax benefit of $3,700 a […]

Crain’s Detroit Business Journal: In bid to eliminate Michigan income tax, fears of another Kansas

February 3, 2017

Critics of these tax cuts note that states with no income tax tend to put a higher share of the tax burden on low-income residents. According to a 2015 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research organization, five states with no income tax are ranked among the top 10 most […]

Crain’s Detroit Business: In Bid to Eliminate Michigan Income Tax, Fears of Another Kansas

February 1, 2017

According to a 2015 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research organization, five states with no income tax are ranked among the top 10 most regressive in tax structure. In reaching its conclusion, the report compared the share of personal income paid at different income levels in state and local […]