ITEP Work in Action
New Jersey Policy Perspective: StayNJ 2.0: Senior Tax Cut Still 2 Regressive and 2 Expensive
June 28, 2023
Updated StayNJ senior tax cut proposal would still send the biggest benefits to already-wealthy households. Read more.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Stay Away from StayNJ: Proposal Cuts Taxes for the Rich, Leaves Low-Income Seniors Behind
June 9, 2023
Housing affordability is one of the most pressing challenges facing New Jersey, but not all policies aimed at making the state affordable are equally effective, efficient, or equitable. When evaluating new proposals and changes to the tax code, it’s critical to consider who stands to benefit, by how much, and who is left behind. In […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: How an Expanded Child Tax Credit Would Help More Hard-Working New Jersey Families
January 31, 2023
Doubling the maximum credit amount would help hundreds of thousands of children and their families pay for basic needs. Read more.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Making New Jersey Affordable for Families – The Case for a State-Level Child Tax Credit
February 23, 2022
A state-level child tax credit would recognize the unique costs of raising children and the support that most families need to care for their kids and set them up for success. When families can pay for basic expenses and save for their children’s futures, it improves child well-being immediately by reducing key costs like food […]
The Rockefeller Foundation: The Untold Benefits of State EITCs on Child Welfare
June 16, 2021
With the passing of the American Rescue Plan in March, more than 5 million children are projected to be lifted out of poverty this year, cutting child poverty by more than half, through Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansions. But what about state tax codes? What can states do to […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Blueprint to Secure a Just Recovery
April 24, 2021
In 2017, New Jersey Policy Perspective released the Blueprint for Economic Justice and Shared Prosperity. It charted a course forward for the state after decades of short-sighted policymaking that exacerbated racial disparities, spread economic inequality, and weakened our ability to address emergent problems. Now, as we begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Unemployment Insurance Taxes Paid by Undocumented Workers Top $1 Billion
June 17, 2020
Over the past ten years, unemployment insurance taxes paid based on undocumented immigrants’ work in New Jersey added more than $1.36 billion to state and federal unemployment insurance trust funds, according to a recent analysis conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Fiscal Policy Institute. In addition to contributions to unemployment […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Road to Recovery: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Code
June 9, 2020
A sensible way to address revenue shortfalls and an unfair tax code is to raise income taxes on the state’s wealthiest households. By reforming New Jersey’s income tax, our recovery can be strengthened by reducing the tax burden that low-paid and middle class families pay, while generating more revenue for public programs and services that […]
NJ Spotlight: GOP Leaders Call on NJ Democrats to Reconsider Middle-class Tax Cuts
October 29, 2018
The related tax-cut bills — and another that would shield most retirement-savings contributions from state income taxes — were introduced at the start of the year but have not been posted for votes by the Democratic leaders who control the Assembly’s agenda. Bucco suggested a report released earlier this month by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that found middle-income taxpayers in New Jersey pay a higher effective tax rate than any other group — including the top 1 percent of earners — as a reason to begin prioritizing adoption of the GOP bills.
NorthJersey.com: 2018 Elections: Candidates Taking Wait-and-See Approach to SALT Deductions
October 22, 2018
A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-partisan think tank, found that a majority of New Jersey taxpayers in every income group will pay less taxes next year than they did in 2017 as a result of last year’s federal tax-code overhaul. The cap is expected to affect those in high-income brackets the most. Thousands of New Jersey homeowners rushed to prepay their 2018 taxes in December to take advantage of bigger deductions on their 2017 returns before the cap took effect.
NJ Spotlight: New Jersey’s Tax System Ranked Among Fairest in the Country
October 18, 2018
A report on the fairness of state and local tax policy that was released yesterday by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranked New Jersey among the U.S. states with the most equitable tax systems. Read more
NJ BIZ: Report: NJ’s Top Earners Pay Lower Tax Share Than Middle-Income Families
October 17, 2018
New Jersey’s top earners enjoy vastly more wealth than the majority of New Jersey residents but pay a much lower percentage of taxes than middle-income families in the state. That’s according to a nationwide analysis released Wednesday by New Jersey Policy Perspective and the Institution of Taxation and Economic Policy.
Insider NJ: New Analysis: Middle Class Taxpayers in New Jersey Still Paying More Than Tax Rate Paid by Richest 1 Percent of New Jerseyans
October 17, 2018
A new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) finds that New Jersey’s middle class families pay more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state’s wealthiest residents.
Washington Post: N.J. Approaches a Government Shutdown as Democrats Feud Over Tax on Millionaires
June 28, 2018
New Jersey is just days away from a government shutdown over a plan to raise taxes on the rich that has divided Democrats and revealed the political difficulty of raising funds for the party's ambitious social spending goals.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Fast Facts: Proposed Tax Changes Would Bring More Balance to New Jersey’s Tax Code
May 24, 2018
The tax changes proposed in Gov. Murphy’s first budget would bring more balance to New Jersey’s tax code by raising taxes on the wealthiest one percent while reducing them for the lowest-income New Jerseyans.[1] Updating the tax code would also raise nearly $2 billion in new revenue for targeted investments in early education, public transit, health care and other essential public services.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA Recipients Contribute $59 Million Per Year in Taxes
May 15, 2018
The ITEP study found that New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA contribute $59 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all fifty states. These contributions would increase by $38 million per year – the sixth most of all states – if all of those eligible for DACA enrolled […]
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes: County Breakdown of Taxes Paid
April 16, 2018
While undocumented immigrants in New Jersey now face greater threats from the federal government than ever before, new data at the state and county level released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy make clear that the Garden State’s undocumented immigrants are an important economic benefit to this immigrant-rich state. Read more here
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Op-Ed: Tax Law Requires More Than ‘SALT Cap’ Workarounds
March 14, 2018
If you live in a high-wealth and high-tax state like New Jersey, the news gets worse. For the first time in 100 years, taxpayers may no longer deduct their full state and local taxes (“SALT” for short) from the income on which federal taxes are owed. The deductible ceiling is set at $10,000, so if you pay more than that with property and income taxes combined, your taxable income will increase by a bit.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Op-Ed: How to Counter the GOP Tax Plan with Bold Action
February 14, 2018
The new federal tax law has generated a lot of press, sparked a fair amount of outrage and led many elected officials scrambling to respond with sound policies. Unfortunately, there seems to be widespread confusion about the winners and losers under the new law – confusion that is complicating efforts to clean up New Jersey’s tax code and raise new resources to invest in critical public services.
NJPP: A Grain of ‘SALT’: New Jersey Needs More Than Workarounds to Respond to GOP Tax Plan
January 25, 2018
That’s because these workarounds would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest households in New Jersey, to make no mention of the fact that the Trump administration is unlikely to allow them to stand.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Failure to Act on DACA and Dream Act Would Harm New Jersey’s Tax Revenues
December 20, 2017
There are 53,000 young immigrants who were potentially eligible for DACA that call New Jersey home. They have attended our public schools, graduated high school and many have enrolled in our public colleges. And many are our coworkers, our neighbors and loved ones. They currently pay a total of $57 million to state and local […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
September 15, 2017
Today, the most well-off New Jerseyans hold a greater share of the state’s income than they have in nearly a century, thanks to decades of unequal economic growth, creating an off-balance economy in which many middle- and lower-income New Jerseyans face barriers to economic opportunity. Recent tax policy changes have exacerbated this trend.
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
September 12, 2017
These reforms would also make New Jersey’s tax system more equitable, but it would not undo the tax code’s upside-down nature, in which low-income and middle-class New Jerseyans pay greater shares of their incomes to state and local taxes than wealthy residents. With these changes, this inequity would be slightly evened out. The share paid by the top 1 percent would rise to 7.7 percent from 7.1 percent, but that would still be lower than any other group of New Jersey families.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Trump Tax Plan: A Boon for the Wealthiest New Jerseyans
July 21, 2017
A federal tax package based on President Trump’s April outline would fail to deliver on its promise of mostly helping the middle class, instead showering most of its help to the richest 1 percent, according to a new 50-state analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released today.
New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA-Eligible New Jerseyans Pay $66 Million a Year in Taxes
April 25, 2017
New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) contribute $66 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all the states. And those annual contributions would increase by $27 million – the sixth most of all states – under comprehensive immigration reform.
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