
July 20, 2017
Twenty-six states have raised or updated their gas taxes since 2013, including eight so far this year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit research organization in Washington. Read more
July 20, 2017
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on Thursday projected a minimum $4.8 trillion federal revenue reduction over a 10-year period under President Donald Trump’s tax plan that the nonprofit said would give more than three-fifths of all tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. Based on the broad outlines of the Trump […]
July 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reveals a federal tax reform plan based on President Trump’s April outline would fail to deliver on its promise of helping middle-class taxpayers, showering three out of every five dollars of the total tax cut on the richest 1 percent nationwide. In Maine, the top 1 percent of the state’s residents would receive an average tax cut of $53,000 compared with an average tax cut of $400 for the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers in the state.
July 19, 2017
Since last October, NextEra Energy, the world’s biggest producer of wind energy, has filed lawsuits in federal and state courts against five rural governments, including the town of Hinton, Oklahoma, population: 3,000. NextEra is funding its courthouse mugging of small-town America with your tax dollars. A recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic […]
July 19, 2017
And among other things, the legislation would raise Kentucky’s tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. This would initially generate about $155 million in revenue, but – more importantly – it would discourage tobacco use and reduce associated costs. Kentucky has one of the highest smoking rates and highest rates of lung cancer […]
July 19, 2017
The U.S. currently taxes companies on their income at home and abroad. Corporations, however, don’t have to pay taxes on their income abroad until they repatriate it back home. Supporters of a territorial system argue it could help bring lost tax dollars back into the U.S. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that […]
July 16, 2017
In more than a dozen other states, legislators fought down to the wire. Maine and New Jersey were forced into brief government shutdowns. Much press was given to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) time at the beach over the July 4th weekend when some stretches of state coastline were closed to beach-goers. “In some […]
July 14, 2017
Currently 16 states have back-to-school sales tax holidays planned for 2017, with most located in the Southeast. Some states also have sales tax holidays for other products, such as guns and hunting supplies, energy-efficient appliances and hurricane preparedness items. “Sales tax holidays may provide some taxpayers savings on necessary purchases, but they’re a distraction from […]
July 14, 2017
Carl Davis, research director at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says state taxes don’t play that large a role in economic development decisions. Companies search for an ideal location and a trained workforce and balance a host of other factors during site selection. “There’s just so much more than state tax policy […]
July 12, 2017
Currently, Washington is one of the few states that don’t levy a personal or corporate income tax. No cities in Washington levy a tax on income, either. That’s partially why the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found in 2015 that the state has most regressive taxation system in the entire country, with low- and […]
July 12, 2017
There were about 11,000 individuals in Seattle with earned annual incomes of at least $250,000 in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The Seattle tax would cover both earned and unearned income. “Washington has among the most regressive tax systems in the United States,” the legislation states, citing research by the Institute on Taxation […]
July 11, 2017
Below is an excerpt of an op-ed by ITEP Senior Fellow Steve Wamhoff that was published in The Hill on July 11, 2017 Does moving a tax cut for the rich out of one bill and into another bill make lawmakers seem more in touch with the middle class? Senators trying to repeal the Affordable […]
July 10, 2017
There were about 11,000 individuals in Seattle with earned annual incomes of at least $250,000 in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The Seattle tax would cover both earned and unearned income. “Washington has among the most regressive tax systems in the United States,” the legislation says, citing research by the Institute on Taxation […]
July 7, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
With the 3 percent surcharge repealed, the state’s tax code is out of balance. Those with the most are asked to pay the least. This means a middle-class family keeps 91 cents on average after state and local taxes for each dollar earned, versus 93 cents kept by the wealthiest in the state. This preferential tax treatment of wealthy Maine household also comes at a cost to roads, public health, and quality education that low and middle income Mainers rely on the most to succeed.
July 6, 2017
Public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars. School tuition vouchers allow taxpayer dollars to fund private education by paying for private school tuition. Tuition tax credits work in a similar fashion, by allowing a credit for donations to private school voucher funds. In this article, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Carl Davis, discusses […]
July 5, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Nevada’s poorest 20 percent of families pay 6.1 percent of their income in sales tax. The wealthiest one percent of Nevada families pay six-tenths of 1 percent. Given the fact that low income people bear a heavier portion of taxation in Nevada than the affluent, the […]
June 30, 2017
The urge to hit the road comes as the national average gas price is 4 cents per gallon cheaper than at the same time last year, at $2.28 per gallon, according to AAA. “With gas prices at historically low levels, state lawmakers have decided that now is a good time to ask drivers to pay […]
June 29, 2017
Another challenge is that taxes on services are regressive, with a disproportionate impact on low-income residents, and are sometimes seen as an unfair way to plug a budget hole or reduce other taxes, prompting opposition from advocates for the poor. “The services that get pulled into these plans … are not necessarily the ones that […]
June 27, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Since 2011, Wisconsin state lawmakers have made it a high priority to cut taxes, particularly personal income and property taxes. The tax cuts they have passed have disproportionately gone to Wisconsin residents with the highest incomes. Middle-class residents received less than the wealthy, and residents with low incomes received the smallest tax cut. Read more […]
June 26, 2017
All the programs basically work this way: Individuals and businesses make cash or stock donations to scholarship granting organizations. The organizations award scholarships to qualifying families with K-12 students, primarily children in failing public schools or whose families’ income meets the state’s poverty threshold. Students can then attend a private or religious school of their […]
June 26, 2017
Both men have pitched their rate-cut plans as a way to spur hiring and economic growth. But setting a 28 percent tax rate would be largely meaningless for more than 150 of the largest U.S. companies, which already paid lower rates than that from 2008 through 2015, according to a recent study. The companies took […]
June 22, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Minnesota’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients pay an estimated $15 million in state and local taxes, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). They are contributing to our communities and our economy, and the report shows they would contribute even more if given the opportunity to apply […]
June 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The final budget agreement from leaders of the House and Senate puts North Carolina on precarious fiscal footing, The tax changes that leaders agreed to—which were less a compromise and more of a decision to combine the tax cuts in both chambers’ proposals—make the cost of these tax cuts bigger than what either chamber proposed. Including the new tax cuts,approximately 80 percent of the net tax cut since 2013 will have gone to the top 20 percent. More than half of the net tax cut will go to the top 1 percent.
June 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The CAT Fairness Credit would be a credit on personal income taxes based on family size and income. It would cost about the same as the combined impact of the personal income tax changes and EITC increase, and would target relief to low- and middle-income taxpayers.
June 20, 2017
Alan Essig, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says data from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that the health bill that cleared the U.S. House is less about health policy than tax breaks for the top 3 percent of U.S. earners. “The end result is 23 million people losing health care […]