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.
The Commonwealth Institute: Policy Choices to Protect and Increase Investment in Virginia Communities
November 17, 2025
To make sure every community in Virginia is a good place to live, work, and raise a family, we must invest in quality public education, health care, affordable housing, access to food, and other important services and supports. Read more.
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: “One Big Beautiful Bill’s” Tax Provisions a Bad Deal for WV (Unless You’re Rich)
September 18, 2025
Proponents of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (HR 1), including all four of West Virginia’s members of Congress, have repeatedly touted the tax provisions of the legislation as benefiting most or all West Virginia families. The WVCBP has already covered in detail how the SNAP and Medicaid provisions of HR 1 are particularly harmful for West Virginians […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Big Beautiful Bill’s Tax Cuts Overwhelmingly Favor the Wealthiest in West Virginia Even Before Accounting for Tariffs and Benefit Cuts
May 31, 2025
Earlier this month the U.S. House of Representatives passed a major new tax and spending bill that not only represents the largest cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in history, taking away SNAP and Medicaid benefits from millions of recipients including tens of thousands in West Virginia, but also includes tax provisions that would overwhelmingly favor the richest taxpayers in […]
The Commonwealth Institute: How the Governor’s Proposal Increases Taxes for Low-Income Families, Gives Significant Cuts to the Wealthy
January 23, 2024
When we all pitch in our fair share, we can invest in the programs and services that help everyone to thrive, like public education, affordable housing, and more. But Virginia’s tax code is upside-down, where those with the most pay the least taxes as a share of income.
The Commonwealth Institute: Cutting Top Personal Income Tax Boosts the Wealthy, Excludes People with Lower Incomes
June 6, 2023
With no budget compromise yet from the Virginia General Assembly, $1 billion in untargeted tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy and profitable corporations are still on the table. Read more.
The Commonwealth Institute: Support Virginia Families Through a Commonwealth Kids Credit
January 17, 2023
True economic prosperity means that families are doing well and have the resources and opportunity to thrive. By coming together, people in Virginia have won an improved Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), increased minimum wage, and expanded workers rights in recent years — policy wins that lift families up. Yet more must be done to […]
Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission: Options to Make Virginia’s Individual Income Tax More Progressive
October 24, 2022
Though Virginia has substantially reduced taxes for low and lower-middle income filers, it could further reduce the tax burden for these filers and make the income tax even more progressive. Read more.
The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis: Gas Tax Proposal Misses the Mark
March 29, 2022
Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced a new policy proposal to suspend the state’s 26-cents per gallon gas tax for three months and to cap gas tax rates in future years. If enacted, this policy is likely to miss the mark on helping families in Virginia who are struggling with higher costs, while […]
West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: House Personal Income Tax Cut Plan Largely Benefits Wealthy, Not Fiscally Sustainable
February 15, 2022
The West Virginia Legislature has introduced a bill to cut and eventually eliminate the state’s personal income tax. The House Finance Committee voted to advance that bill to the House floor with no discussion or questions asked. Like previous attempts to eliminate the state’s income tax, HB 4007 would lead to major revenue losses for the […]
The Commonwealth Institute: Youngkin Administration’s Proposals Would Sharply Reduce State Resources, Largely Exclude Working Families with the Lowest Incomes
February 7, 2022
The Youngkin administration’s tax plan would leave out nearly 80 percent of the over 800,000 taxpayers in Virginia who have incomes below $24,000. Gov. Youngkin’s proposed changes would also sharply reduce state General Fund revenues — the portion of the state budget over which lawmakers have the most discretion and which primarily goes toward funding […]
The Commonwealth Institute: Tax Proposals Would Reduce Resources for Education, Transportation, and Other Priorities
December 8, 2021
The incoming Youngkin administration and state lawmakers have proposed several major tax proposals to reduce taxes for individuals and businesses. These include one-time tax rebates, dramatically increasing the state standard deduction, eliminating the state and local sales tax on groceries, and pausing the recent increase to the fuels tax. While some of these policy ideas […]
The Commonwealth Institute: Tax Policy in Virginia
September 24, 2021
Black and Latinx people face tremendous barriers in areas like employment, education, and housing. These barriers include explicitly racist policies like school segregation as well as policies that appear “race-neutral” yet reinforce or exacerbate racially inequitable outcomes. Virginia’s upside-down tax code is no different. A more progressive and racially equitable tax code — one that […]
West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: Senate Income Tax Cut Plan is More of the Same: Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Tax Increases and Budget Cuts for Everyone Else
March 31, 2021
This week, the Senate Finance Committee took up HB 3300, the House’s income tax cut plan, and made significant changes before quickly passing it out of committee. Unlike the House plan, which phased out the income tax over time with no revenue offsets, the Senate’s plan is more similar to the governor’s proposal, making a […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Governor Justice’s Tax Plan Favors the Wealthy, While Creating Large Holes in the Budget
March 5, 2021
Governor Justice has finally unveiled his proposal to make sweeping changes to the state’s tax system, including a substantial cut to the state’s personal income tax, while raising a variety of sales and other taxes. The changes would be a dramatic shift in who pays state taxes in West Virginia, shifting the responsibility onto working […]
West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy: House Income Tax Plan Benefits Wealthy and Could Punch Large Holes in State Budget
March 2, 2020
Once the fund reaches “an amount equal to or exceeding 2.5 times the total net reduction in personal income tax revenue collections that would have been received in that fiscal year if the income tax rates for that fiscal year had been reduced by 0.25 percent” it triggers a reduction in the state’s personal income […]
Commonwealth Institute: State Funding Proposals Include Regressive Tax Increases – Many without Offsets
February 21, 2020
Although many significant state (Virginia) tax policy bills filed for this year did not move beyond the committee level, several proposals remain under consideration. A large transportation funding package (HB 1414 and SB 890) and several standalone regional transportation funding bills have advanced from their respective chambers in the Virginia General Assembly. In addition, proposed […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Senate Tax Plan a Bad Deal for West Virginia
February 19, 2020
Senate Republicans unveiled their latest proposal to eliminate the business personal property tax this week, passing the proposal out of the Senate Finance Committee. The plan, which builds upon an earlier proposal to eliminate the property tax on manufacturing equipment, machinery, and inventory, would blow a nearly $100 million hole in the state budget, introduce inconsistency in […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Who Pays? Rethinking West Virginia’s Tax System
January 28, 2020
To get a sense of a state’s values, one often need look no further than its tax system. What a state spends its tax dollars on and how it acquires those tax dollars typically reveals a lot about the priorities of its people—what they care about and what they stand for. In theory, it’s a […]
The Half Sheet: Over 1 Million Virginia Taxpayers Expected to Miss Out on Refund Checks
September 11, 2019
If everything goes according to schedule, Virginia’s tax department will begin issuing $110 refund checks – $220 for joint filers – to Virginia taxpayers beginning next week and continuing through the first half of October. The checks are the result of tax legislation signed into law earlier this year. Unfortunately, not every tax filer will […]
Public News Service: Could Fast-Moving Tax-Cut Proposal Blow WV Budget?
February 27, 2019
House Bill 3137 would create a fund where new money, including out-of-state online sales taxes, would go. Then, each time that fund reached a certain level, it would trigger compounding cuts in state income taxes. Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said some lawmakers may not realize they […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: House Income Tax Cut Plan Mostly Benefits Wealthy and Puts Large Holes in the State Budget (HB 3137)
February 25, 2019
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a one-percentage reduction in each personal income tax rate would give a West Virginian with an income between $36,000 and $56,000 an average tax cut of $231 compared to $6,044 for someone in the top 1 percent with an income of above $451,000. This means someone […]
West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: Fixing the Social Security Tax Bill with a Bottom-Up Tax Cut for Working Families
January 24, 2019
The fact that so few West Virginians pay income tax on their Social Security benefits should tell us that this is not a middle-class tax cut. As the graph and analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) below shows, the average tax change from eliminating the state income tax on Social Security […]
The EITC Boosts Opportunities for Communities of Color
November 28, 2018
State and local taxes play an important role in shaping economic opportunity. These tax revenues pay for the schools, roads, parks, and libraries that create a foundation for thriving communities. Yet we know that Virginia’s state and local tax system is upside down. In Virginia, households with low and modest incomes pay a higher share of their incomes toward state and local taxes than the highest-income households. In tax policy terms, this is known as a regressive system. And since historical and present-day barriers for communities of color have resulted in stark differences in income by race, this means these…
WVTF: Study: State Taxes Have Disproportionate Impact On Lower Income Virginians
October 19, 2018
Virginians who make the least amount of money pay 40 percent more taxes as a percent of their income than the wealthiest Virginians. That’s according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which says Virginia’s tax code is upside down.
WOWK TV: Tax Issues in West Virginia
October 19, 2018
WOWK TV - Sean O'Leary, of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, talks to Mark Curtis about a new report that shows there's room improve West Virginia's upside-down tax system.
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