ITEP Work in Action
ITEP’s Kamolika Das Testifies on Pennsylvania’s Upside-Down Tax Code
March 4, 2024
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 […]
Keystone Research Center: Fair Taxation Can Help Achieve a More Just Pittsburgh
December 13, 2023
Over the past several years, federal funding via the American Rescue Plan (ARP) has temporarily boosted City of Pittsburgh revenues and allowed increased investment in affordable housing, workforce training, healthy and accessible food programs, public safety, and public transportation. ARP funds, however, will expire in 2024, leaving a $30.6 million shortfall in the city budget. This […]
Keystone Research Center: REPORT: Why Pennsylvania Needs a State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
August 25, 2020
If one thing has become clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that workers who do essential things like providing care for the sick, stocking shelves at grocery stores, and cleaning facilities to keep our buildings clean and safe are undervalued in our society. Despite their hard work, many Pennsylvanians earn such low wages that […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: A Fair Share Tax Plan for Pennsylvania — 2019 Update
April 15, 2019
This paper puts forward the Fair Share Tax plan, a major step toward fixing Pennsylvania’s broken tax system and raising the revenues we need to invest in the public goods that are critical to creating thriving communities and individual opportunity in our state: education, infrastructure, protection for our air and water, and human services. The […]
Third and State: Pennsylvania’s Terrible Tax Code Asks More of You as You Make Less: Hitting Community’s of Color Especially Hard
October 23, 2018
The Commonwealth once again claims its spot in the “Terrible 10” most unfair tax structures in the nation. The lowest 20% of income earners in the state pays more than double (2.3 times) their share of family income on state and local taxes than the top 1%.
Keystone Research: The State of Working Pennsylvania 2018
August 30, 2018
“The State of Working Pennsylvania 2018,” Keystone Research Center’s 23rd annual review of the Pennsylvania economy and labor market finds that, nearly a decade into the current national economic expansion, many Pennsylvania workers are still waiting for a raise. The report points to three factors that help explain this.
Third and State: Fact Check: Undocumented Immigrants like the Dreamers are not a Drag on State and Local Governments
January 27, 2018
A recent study by the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the estimated 137,000 undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania pay our state and local governments almost $135 million in taxes each year. (They pay $11.7 billion in state and local taxes nationwide.) Read more here
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: The Pennsylvania Promise: Making College Affordable and Securing Pennsylvania’s Economic Future
January 22, 2018
Three recent briefs by the Keystone Research Center laid out the case for more affordable access to post-secondary education in Pennsylvania. The global race for raising incomes and increasing opportunity hinges critically on access to post-secondary education and training. If Pennsylvania does not expand access to higher education to more of its citizens, the Commonwealth’s economy will suffer and living standards will lag behind growth elsewhere. With a modest and smart investment, Pennsylvania can build a more prosperous future for its citizens and reinvigorate the American Dream in every corner of the keystone state. “The Pennsylvania Promise,” outlined below, shows…
Keystone Research Center: Who Pays for Property Tax Elimination?
April 6, 2017
Across all Pennsylvania families, property tax elimination would increase taxes by $334 per family. While property taxes would fall by an average of $1,685 per family, sales and income taxes would rise by over $2,000 on average per family. Moderate-income families (earning between $22,000 and $63,000), many of who live in rural areas, would see […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: The Fair Share Tax to Support Public Investment in Pennsylvania
March 23, 2017
This paper puts forward a plan, which we call the Fair Share Tax, that would take a major step toward fixing Pennsylvania’s broken tax system and raise the revenues we need to invest in the public goods that are critical to creating thriving communities and individual opportunity in our state: education, infrastructure, protection for our […]
Third and State: Undocumented Immigrants Already Paying Billions in State/Local Taxes
January 10, 2017
Just this week, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a comprehensive report on the state and local tax contributions of undocumented immigrants. In the public debate about immigration policy, there are often gross inaccuracies about undocumented immigrants that are presented as facts. This important report provides state-by-state and national estimates on undocumented immigrants’ […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Who Pays For An Increase in the PIT to 4% on Income From Wealth
January 10, 2017
Legislators are currently working to find the revenues necessary to fund the appropriations bill that passed the House and Senate this week. They are finding it difficult to agree on a proposal that raises genuine, recurring revenues in a way that does not make our already inequitable tax system more unfair. One constitutional way to […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: A Fair Share Tax Plan for Pennsylvania
January 6, 2017
“One barrier to raising revenues is the reluctance of legislators on both sides of the aisle to place additional taxes on Pennsylvania’s poor and middle-class. That reluctance is well motivated. Over the last 25 years, incomes for the richest Pennsylvanians have been rising fast while incomes for all other Pennsylvanians have been stagnant. Despite that, […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: PA Should Raise Needed Revenues in Fair Ways: Short- and Long-term Approaches to Fixing Pennsylvania’s Unfair Tax System
April 11, 2016
This briefing paper analyzes several options for raising revenue for the Pennsylvania state budget which would fall much less on middle- and low-income families than the existing Pennsylvania state and local tax system. We first analyze the income tax increase (from 3.07% to 3.4%) and expansion of income tax forgiveness and sales tax base […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Expanding the Sales Tax in an Equitable Way
December 7, 2015
“There is good reason to worry about the sales tax falling heavily on low-income families. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest-income 20% of Pennsylvania families pay an average of 5.8% of their income in sales tax. The top 20%, by contrast, pay less than 2.3% of their income in sales […]
Third and State: Unintended Consequences? Property Tax Elimination Increases Taxes on the Middle Class to Reduce Taxes for High Income Families
November 30, 2015
“Let’s start with the impact of property tax elimination on different groups of taxpayers. While we have not examined the tax incidence of the current SB 76 bill, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) did estimate for us the tax incidence of a similar proposal several years ago. That proposal, like the current […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Who Pays For An Increase in the Sales Tax: Analysis of the Tax Incidence of an Increase in the Sales Tax from 6% to 7.25%
November 18, 2015
Gov. Wolf and legislative leaders are currently negotiating over the terms of a plan to cut property taxes which would be financed by an increase in the state sales tax rate from 6% to 7.25%. This brief analyzes the size of the sales tax rate increase by income. It also compares that impact to how […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Better Choices Coalition Releases 19 Ideas to Make Pa.’s Tax System Fairer
March 3, 2015
“A recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy named Pennsylvania the sixth most unfair state and local tax system for low- to moderate-income families. The recommendations we are making today not only raise sustainable revenue for critical services like education and health care, but also make our tax system fairer for all […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Who Pays? Pa.’s Tax System Grows More Regressive: Low-Income Pay Highest Share of Income in Taxes
January 21, 2015
Pennsylvania’s ranking worsened on a biennial report card measuring the fairness of state and local taxes, according to a study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. Middle-income Pennsylvanians pay two times more in taxes as a share of income than the wealthiest earners, and […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: What Our Taxes Support and Why We Need to Close Loopholes
April 15, 2014
With the deadline for filing state and federal tax returns upon us, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has put together the following resources to help you understand what your tax dollars support and why it is so important that we close corporate tax loopholes at the state and federal level. Read the Full Report
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Pa. Companies Like PPL, Heinz Paid Little or Nothing in State Income Taxes
March 20, 2014
Many profitable Fortune 500 companies including Pennsylvania-based PPL, H.J. Heinz, Airgas, Allegheny Technologies, Hershey, and Comcast are paying little or nothing in state income taxes thanks to loopholes, tax breaks, and crafty accounting, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ). Read the […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Many Profitable Corporations Pay Little or No U.S. Income Taxes
February 27, 2014
A comprehensive five-year study of 288 highly profitable Fortune 500 companies finds that 111 of them, including six based in Pennsylvania, paid no federal corporate income tax in at least one of the last five years. Overall, one-third of the corporations studied paid a U.S. tax rate of less than 10 percent over the five-year […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: The Common Good: What Pennsylvania’s Budget and Tax Policies Mean to You
January 15, 2013
Public investments make a difference. Your tax dollars combine with everyone else’s to educate our children, keep our communities safe, move people to work over roads and transit systems, and care for the disabled and poor. Read the Full Report (PDF)
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Responsible Growth: Protecting the Public Interest with a Natural Gas Severance Tax
January 14, 2013
Currently, Pennsylvania is the only major fossil fuel-producing state that does not levy a mineral extraction, or severance, tax to recover some of the costs borne by citizens and to compensate them for the loss of a finite natural resource. Levying a tax on natural gas extraction will help achieve both of these goals. The […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: Keeping Score: More Pennsylvania Businesses are Losers Under the Single Sales Factor
January 14, 2013
Budget negotiators are considering adopting the Single Sales Factor (SSF)1, a targeted tax break promoted by a small group of Pennsylvania corporations. The SSF would cost the Pennsylvania Treasury around $100 million, when the state has a billion dollar deficit, and is facing large cuts in libraries, hospitals and services for children and vulnerable people. […]
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