Citations
ITEP's Citations Research Priorities
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.
Nashville Pride: Lawmakers Push to Repeal Tennessee Grocery Tax, Citing New Report
March 3, 2025
A new in-depth report is strengthening the push to eliminate Tennessee’s state sales tax on groceries without cutting essential public services. The analysis shows that closing corporate tax loopholes could generate nearly $900 million in revenue—enough to offset the cost of repealing the grocery tax entirely. Read more.
ThinkTennessee: Tennessee’s Working Families Are Paying More Than Their Fair Share of Taxes
April 29, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
A new fact sheet released today by nonpartisan think tank ThinkTennessee finds that while Tennessee has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the nation, its low-income families face a higher effective tax rate than both wealthier families and businesses. The analysis comes on the heels of Tax Day when millions of individual income tax returns are due to be submitted to the federal government.
MarketWatch: Moving to Florida Might Not Be the Tax Play It’s Cracked Up to Be — Unless You’re Loaded
January 12, 2024
Florida, Texas and Tennessee have become hot real-estate markets in recent years, in part because they offer the allure of low taxes and cheap living costs. But a new analysis of how much state and local taxes cost rich and poor residents in those states throws cold water on the assumption that moving to states like Florida […]
South Strong: Racial Equity and Taxes in Southern States
August 26, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer, Meg Wiehe
Southern states have a particularly egregious record on tax equity, rooted partly in racism. Lawmakers baked some of the most egregious and anti-democratic tax policies into southern state constitutions, such as supermajority requirements to raise taxes in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, income tax rate caps in North Carolina and Georgia, and the recent elimination of […]
WPEC: Retailers Ready for Back-to-School Tax ‘Holiday’
July 31, 2019
But not everyone is sold on the value of sales-tax holidays. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit liberal think tank, calls such holidays an “outdated gimmick.” Dylan Grundman, a senior policy analyst for the institute, argued in a news release that the brief holiday periods don’t reduce taxes for low- […]
Chattanooga Times Free-Press: Yet Again, Tennessee Combined State, Local Sales Tax Rates Nation’s Highest
July 27, 2019
While the sales tax is the workhorse of Tennessee’s budget, it’s also seen by critics as a “regressive tax” in that it takes a larger percentage of income from the pockets of lower-income and, some say, middle-income earners than those with higher incomes. Heavy reliance on the sales tax has thrust Tennessee into the No. […]
New York Times: State and Local Taxes Are Worsening Inequality
July 21, 2019
Low-income households in Illinois pay about 14 cents in state and local taxes from every dollar of income, while the state’s most affluent households pay about 7 cents per dollar. That gap between the poor and the wealthy in Illinois is one of the largest in any state, but the poor pay taxes at higher […]
The Tennessean: Where Are The Tax Cuts Going?
July 30, 2018
So where has the money gone? Many companies won’t say or are scant on specifics. Several publicly traded companies in Tennessee have issued press releases announcing bonuses or minimum wage increases, but few have offered details on the size and scope of those raises. Meanwhile, privately held companies in Tennessee have been reticent to share any of their […]
Fox Business: Higher State Taxes, Not OPEC, Boosting Gas Prices
July 5, 2018
In July, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee were among seven states that raised their gas taxes Opens a New Window. . At least 27 states have raised or updated their gas taxes since 2013, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Opens a New Window. . California – where drivers pay some […]
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Troubling Hints About Direction for Tax Reform
June 8, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The corporate tax cuts described above mean profitable businesses chip in less for the public services that help them succeed. And the result of less reliance on income and inheritance taxes is clear (see graph below): those at the top in Tennessee and Indiana pay an even smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest Kentuckians do, and their lowest-income residents pay an even higher share than the poorest Kentuckians.
Governing: Raising the Gas Tax Is No Longer Taboo in Many States
May 7, 2017
Already this year, governors in California, Indiana and Tennessee signed laws to raise fuel taxes, meaning a total of 22 states have passed laws imposing higher gas taxes in the past five years. Chances are also good that the list will grow even longer this year. “It is such an unusual thing to see nearly […]
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 […]
The Tennessean: Bill aims to exempt feminine products, diapers, food from sales tax
February 14, 2017
Several organizations have rated Tennessee’s tax system poorly because of the high sales tax and no state income tax. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy rated Tennessee as one of the “Terrible Ten” and among the worst tax structures in the country because it says the tax system is unfairly weighted on the poorest individuals. Read more
The Sycamore Institute: Tennessee State Budget Primer
February 2, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
It is our pleasure to present to you the Sycamore Institute’s first Tennessee State Budget Primer. We hope this report – the information, the graphics, and the discussion – will demonstrate our commitment to putting reliable data and research in the hands of our state leaders, policymakers, and the general public. Below you will find […]
The Tennessean: Grocery tax proposal complicated for most Tennesseans
January 30, 2017
Other organizations, like the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regard Tennessee’s tax structure statewide as regressive, meaning it inhibits growth and proportionally taxes the poorest Tennesseans the hardest. The group rates Tennessee as one of the “Terrible Ten” and among the worst tax structures in the country. Read more
Chattanooga Times Free-Press: Tennessee House GOP pursues anything-but-gas-tax-increase plans for road funding
January 26, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, five states have not implemented an increase in their gas tax rates since the 1980s or earlier: Alaska, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. That’s longer than any of the 45 other states. Read more
WDEF: HOW WOULD TENNESSEE STACK UP AGAINST OUR NEIGHBORS WITH NEW GAS TAX?
January 23, 2017
“Governor Haslam argues that Tennessee hasn’t raised the gas tax in a long time. In fact, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that the 27 years since we raised the tax is one of the longest streaks in the nation. Tennessee ranks 5th longest without a tax increase in their graph.” Read more
Yahoo! Finance: New Jersey just hiked its gas tax by 159%. Is your state next?
November 7, 2016
“Of course, New Jersey isn’t the only state that has or is toying with raising gasoline taxes. Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington upped their gas taxes in 2015, notes the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Louisiana, Tennessee, Alaska, Alabama and Minnesota are contemplating increases in 2017.” […]
CBS News: Is your state next to raise its gas tax?
October 14, 2016
“’There has been a lot of procrastination,’ said Carl Davis, research director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. ‘It’s an issue that the states cannot put off any longer. There are 21 states which have gone a decade or more since the last time they increased their gas tax rate. These states have […]
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Tennessee Now Holds Sales Tax Holiday on Same Weekend as Georgia
August 8, 2016
Seventeen states, primarily in the Southeast, stand to lose more than $300 million in tax revenue because they waive sales taxes on back-to-school items and other goods, including hunting gear, energy-efficient appliances and severe weather preparedness, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization with offices in Washington, D.C., […]
Chattanooga Times Free Press: Tennessee now holds sales tax holiday on same weekend as Georgia
July 28, 2016
“Seventeen states, primarily in the Southeast, stand to lose more than $300 million in tax revenue because they waive sales taxes on back-to-school items and other goods, including hunting gear, energy-efficient appliances and severe weather preparedness, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization with offices in Washington, D.C., […]
St. Louis Post Dispatch: Editorial: Tennessee as tax-cut role model? Never mind
July 22, 2016
“Tennessee’s gains are being subsidized by the poor and working class. The poorest 20 percent of Tennesseans pay 8.9 percent of their income on sales and excise taxes, according to the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The state’s richest residents pay just 1.2 percent.” Read more
USA Today: These states will hike gas taxes ahead of record 4th of July travel
June 30, 2016
“Despite the fluctuations, most states have also gone years without changing their rates, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Sixteen states have gone at least two decades without a gas-tax increase, according to the study. Five of those states have seen an increase since at least the 1980s: Alaska, […]
The Leaf-Chronicle: Clarksville, Montgomery County calculate Hall tax revenue losses
May 27, 2016
“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reportedly said repealing the Hall tax will cause Tennessee’s tax system to become more regressive, because it will benefit the wealthiest taxpayers, while the majority of Tennesseans will see no benefit at all.” Read more
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.