ITEP Work in Action
Advocates and policymakers at the state and federal levels rely on ITEP’s analytic capabilities to inform their debates on proposed tax policy changes. In any given year, ITEP fields requests for analyses of policies in 25 or more states. ITEP also works with national partners to provide analyses of federal tax policy proposals. This section highlights reports that use ITEP analyses to make a compelling case for progressive tax reforms.
Public Assets Institute: State of Working Vermont 2025
January 5, 2026
In many ways, 2025 has been a year like no other. Federal actions affecting the state have been fast and furious: freezing grants, eliminating housing supports, withholding or slashing food benefits and heating assistance, decimating healthcare access both by cutting Medicaid and ending enhanced insurance premium tax credits. All of this adds up to hundreds of […]
Vermont Lt. Gov David Zuckerman: Fair Share
March 14, 2024
Today, I have an exceptionally important topic to talk about: taxes! Taxes have become a dirty word, and in many ways for good reason. Since the 1980’s there has been a significant shift in how much everyday people pay in taxes. Wealthy and high-income individuals have seen their marginal tax rates drop precipitously, while working […]
ITEP’s Marco Guzman Testifies in Favor of Tax Fairness Bills in Connecticut
March 11, 2024
Good afternoon, Senator Fonfara, Representative Horn, and members of the Committee, and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Marco Guzman and I'm a senior policy analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, and we’re a nonprofit research organization that focuses on state, local, and federal tax policy issues.
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 […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Vermont Can Invest in Brighter Future With Targeted Income Tax Measure
February 6, 2024
According to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the proposal would fall almost exclusively on the state’s richest 1 percent of households, or those with average incomes of about $1.8 million a year.[2] The remainder of the state’s residents — who to be clear, already themselves contribute significant shares of revenue through existing taxes on income, sales, and property[3] — would see no change.
ITEP’s Carl Davis: Who Pays Vermont Taxes?
January 29, 2024
ITEP Research Director Carl Davis gave a presentation on Vermont’s tax system to that state’s Ways and Means Committee on January 25, 2024. Click here for the slide deck.
Public Assets Institute: A Fairer Tax System Would Help Working Families
November 29, 2018
The report looks at how well states distribute taxes based on family incomes. In most states lower-income families pay a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than those at the top. That’s the definition of a regressive tax system. Vermont’s is one of the least regressive in the country.
Rutland Herald: In All Fairness
October 18, 2018
Anti-tax advocates across the country and in Vermont continue to push for policies that reduce tax rates for the wealthy and businesses, the report finds. However, a movement is growing in opposition to this agenda, as the public realizes that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations mean less money to fund the things that benefit everyone: schools, parks and public spaces, infrastructure, public safety and other basic services.
Public Assets Institute: New report: Vermont’s Tax System Is Among the Least Regressive
October 17, 2018
Tax systems generally favor the wealthy, but Vermont’s system is skewed less than most other states when it comes to high-income taxpayers. That was the key finding of a study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Public Assets Institute.
Public Assets Institute: Meeting Vermonters’ needs in Fiscal 2018 and beyond
April 17, 2017
Elected leaders acknowledge investments are needed to clean up Lake Champlain, provide families with child care financial assistance, and make higher education more affordable. But progress has been slow in making these investments. And to balance the budget they make cuts—to Reach Up benefits for the poorest families, to affordable housing programs, to key policy […]
Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office: ITEP and Pew Reports on Vermont’s Income Distribution and Tax System
April 21, 2015
This report is a slide deck that review’s ITEP’s Who Pays report and its findings on the Vermont state tax system. Read the full report here.
Public Assets Institute: Vermont Has the Capacity to Avoid 2016 Budget Cuts
March 24, 2015
Vermont’s income tax is among the lowest in the country: 2.7 percent of the state’s total personal income. Eliminating tax breaks and lowering income tax rates would balance the fiscal 2016 budget without cuts and still leave Vermont’s effective income tax rate lower than those of 24 other states. Read the full report here.
Public Assets Institute: How to Close the Budget Gap–Fiscal 2016 and Beyond
March 16, 2015
“Vermont is one of six states in the country that uses federal taxable income rather than adjusted gross income as the base for the state income tax. Because this base is lower, the state must set its top marginal rate higher than necessary to raise the needed revenues. Additionally, tax breaks that primarily benefit upper-income […]
Public Assets Institute: Vermont’s Tax System Is Still Unfair
January 21, 2015
Vermont taxes are higher, as a percentage of income, on the poor and those in the middle than they are on the 1 percent at the top, according to the new study Who Pays? released Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Vermont is not alone; the wealthiest pay less than everyone […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem
April 19, 2013
State revenues plummet in recessions, just when states can least afford the loss. Some proposals to address this flaw in state tax systems would change the systems’ structure — for instance, by replacing state personal income taxes with sales taxes — but wouldn’t solve the problem and would exacerbate others in state tax systems. States […]
Public Assets Institute: Vermont Has Options to Raise Revenue for Smart Investments
March 20, 2013
Gov. Peter Shumlin has the right idea when he says we should invest in expanding the availability of child care for working Vermonters. However, it just doesn’t make sense to take money from low-wage working families to pay for this initiative. Other changes to Vermont’s income tax code could produce about as much revenue as […]
Public Assets Institute: A Balanced Way to Balance the Budget
January 14, 2013
In the end, the Vermont Legislature found a balanced solution to balancing the state budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1. After a gubernatorial veto—the first budget veto in the state’s history—and a dramatic override in a special session on June 2, lawmakers put in place a budget that uses a combination of […]
Public Assets Institute: Vermonters’ Incomes Outpaced School Taxes (1996-2006)
January 14, 2013
“Since the passage of Act 60, Vermonters’ incomes have grown at a faster rate than their school taxes. Additionally, the percentage of Vermonters’ incomes that they collectively spend on school taxes has dropped from 3.7 percent in fiscal 1996 to 3 percent in fiscal 2006.” Read the Original Full Report
Public Assets Institute: Federal Tax Cuts Offer New Option
January 14, 2013
“The analysis of the effects of extending the Bush tax cuts was prepared for Public Assets Institute by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C. According to ITEP analysis, the top 1 percent of Vermont taxpayers will save a little more than $100 million, thanks to the tax-cut extension. The average personal […]
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