
January 26, 2026
States are facing considerable fiscal pressures from the fallout of recent federal policies, including the harmful Republican megabill enacted in July 2025. Read more.
January 26, 2026
Between Gov. Brian P. Kemp’s first full fiscal year (FY) budget as governor and his eighth and final budget for FY 2027, state spending has increased by nearly $11 billion to $38.5 billion. Governor Kemp’s AFY 2026 and FY 2027 budget proposals recognize that Georgia can use its historic level of resources to fill long-awaited […]
January 20, 2026
Lack of access to affordable, high-quality child care is a barrier to labor force participation for working parents in North Carolina and affects our state’s economy. Read more.
January 20, 2026
State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession is the product of a collaborative effort drawing on the expertise of Joint Center staff, fellows, and trusted external partners. Contributors include colleagues from United for a Fair Economy, the Center for Economic Policy Research, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the Onyx […]
January 16, 2026
Without sustainable and equitable revenue sources, incoming governor Mikie Sherrill is inheriting a state budget full of fiscal threats. Read more.
January 6, 2026
Washington ranks next to last for fairness and equality in our tax system — meaning those who make the least pay much larger shares of their income than those with the most resources. Washington families whose income is in the bottom 20% pay 13.8% of their total income in taxes, while those whose income is […]
January 5, 2026
Kentucky’s legislative leaders have made reducing the state’s individual income tax rate their top priority in recent years. Lawmakers have repeatedly acted on that, reducing the rate several times and costing the state billions annually that could have been invested in kids and families. Read more.
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 […]
January 5, 2026
The New Year will bring little certainty to everyday North Carolinians. State legislators have failed to use the policy tools available to them to address rising costs for the basics, from food to child-care to housing. Read more.
December 22, 2025
Policy gimmicks in HR 1 disguise its true nature as a huge tax giveaway to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations — Maine should not compromise the future well-being of its residents to give tax breaks to the rich. Read more.
December 19, 2025
The income groups paying the highest tax rates in Texas are disproportionately Hispanic and Black, whereas the lowest-taxed group (the wealthiest 5%) is predominantly white. Read more.
December 19, 2025
This November, the DC Council significantly increased economic security for approximately 78,000 children and their families through legislation that restores the District’s Child Tax Credit (CTC) and strengthens the DC Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Read more.
December 17, 2025
The Kentucky General Assembly will perform its most important job — crafting a two-year state budget that funds education, health, social services and other critical needs. But unlike recent years, when pandemic-era stimulus created robust revenue growth, lawmakers are now facing a serious budget crunch due to the loss of federal funds, a weakening economy […]
December 16, 2025
Evidence suggests the 2021 temporary Child Tax Credit expansion reduced material hardship and improved parental mental health. This expansion was also associated with improvements in child behavioral health. Read more.
December 16, 2025
This article provides a brief history of the capital gains preference, examines statistical income and wealth disparities based on gender and race, and proposes solutions to reduce the negative impact of the capital gains preference that leaves behind women and persons of color. Read more.
December 15, 2025
Billionaire corporations have engaged in a lobbying blitz with the Treasury to obtain a retroactive R&E carveout from the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax. Lawmakers are urging the Treasury not to further rig the tax code in favor of billionaire corporations. Read more.
December 2, 2025
The working class drives prosperity, and it’s time for an agenda in Frankfort that puts them first. From the state’s rural counties to our biggest cities, it’s Kentuckians—whether white, Black or brown—who make it all go. Supported by the right policies, ones that reward their efforts and prioritize their concerns, more Kentuckians could work in […]
November 25, 2025
We are in the midst of what many are deeming the largest transfer of wealth in U.S. history from Black, brown and poor communities to the ultra-wealthy. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates that Trump’s 2025 federal tax cuts will result in the richest 1% receiving $117 billion in tax cuts in […]
November 24, 2025
The Trump administration continues to enact harmful policies, like those contained in HR.1, which make massive cuts to education, health care, food assistance, and housing programs, to give tax cuts to the rich. The poverty rate is bound to continue to increase in the next few years. As a result, women and children will face […]
November 17, 2025
Eliminating Georgia’s income tax would represent the largest transfer of wealth from working and middle-class families to high income individuals and corporations in state history. Doing so would dramatically push Georgia’s budget out of balance, given that the income tax has been the state’s single largest source of revenue since 1982. Read more.
November 17, 2025
The public has supported raising taxes on the ultrarich and corporations for years, but policymakers have not responded. Small increases in taxes on the rich that were instituted during times of Democratic control of Congress and the White House have been consistently swamped by larger tax cuts passed during times of Republican control. Read more.
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.
November 12, 2025
In 2026, Kentucky’s richest 5% will receive $3.4 billion from tax cuts enacted over the last decade. That’s revenue no longer available to meet people’s needs. Kentucky workers, meanwhile, are facing stagnant and inadequate wages and a growing cost of living crisis that will get worse if state budget cuts are enacted. Read more.
November 10, 2025
To prioritize Idaho businesses and protect revenue for public services, the Center recommends remaining decoupled from (1) bonus depreciation, and decoupling from (2) qualified production property deduction, (3) research and experimentation (R&E) cost recovery, (4) relaxed interest deductibility cap, and (5) deduction of foreign derived intangible income. Read more.
November 4, 2025
This past year has been indelibly shaped by concentrated wealth and power. The 10 richest U.S. billionaires got $698 billion wealthier, and the arrival of the world’s first trillionaire grew more imminent. The Trump administration—largely with the support of the Republican-controlled Congress—has moved with staggering speed and scale to carry out a relentless attack on […]
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.