These reforms would also make New Jersey’s tax system more equitable, but it would not undo the tax code’s upside-down nature, in which low-income and middle-class New Jerseyans pay greater shares of their incomes to state and local taxes than wealthy residents. With these changes, this inequity would be slightly evened out. The share paid by the top 1 percent would rise to 7.7 percent from 7.1 percent, but that would still be lower than any other group of New Jersey families.
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.
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ITEP Work in Action September 12, 2017 New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
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ITEP Work in Action September 5, 2017 Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: The Trump Tax Plan: What Would It Mean for Arkansas?
Who benefits and who loses under the Trump tax plan? An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimates that Arkansas would fare worse under the plan compared to other states. Relative to our share of the U.S. population, we would be one of the 12 states receiving the lowest share of the total Trump tax cut.
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ITEP Work in Action September 1, 2017 New Mexico Voices for Children: The Trump Tax Plan Isn’t ‘Reform.’ Here’s Why:
In April the Trump administration released a sketchy outline of their half-baked ideas for tax changes. An analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) of that back-of-the-envelope ‘plan’ found that nearly half (48 percent) of Trump’s proposed tax cuts would go to millionaires. Millionaires make up only 0.5 percent of the U.S. population.
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ITEP Work in Action August 31, 2017 New Mexico Voices for Children: Trump Tax Plan Does Little for NM’s Middle Class
Average New Mexicans would not benefit much from President Trump’s tax reform proposal, which would give the biggest tax breaks to New Mexico’s millionaires. That’s according to a report released recently by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
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ITEP Work in Action August 30, 2017 Institute for Policy Studies: Corporate Tax Cuts Boost CEO Pay, Not Jobs
To investigate this claim, this report is the first to analyze the job creation records of the 92 publicly held U.S. corporations that reported a U.S. profit every year from 2008 through 2015 and paid less than 20 percent of these earnings in federal income tax. Did these reduced tax rates actually lead to greater employment within the 92 firms? The data we have compiled give a definitive — and sobering — answer.
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ITEP Work in Action August 28, 2017 DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Maryland Center on Economic Policy, and The Commonwealth Institute: Triple Whammy: A Regional Sales Tax for Metro, Like Fare Hikes and Service Cuts, Would Fall Hardest on Struggling Families
A strong Metro system is important to all of us in the Washington region. And everyone agrees that the Metro system needs new resources to rebuild its health. But a regional sales tax—a widely discussed option—would be an unfair way to pay for it.
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ITEP Work in Action August 25, 2017 NC Policy Watch: In N.C., 42% of Trump’s proposed tax cuts would go to the few making more than $1 million
A newly released report confirms that the White House is not really interested in tax reform that helps “ordinary Americans”. Instead, under President Trump’s proposed tax cut plan, “ordinary Americans” will hardly benefit at all, as nearly half of Trump’s proposed tax cuts would go to people making more than $1 million annually.
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ITEP Work in Action August 24, 2017 Maryland Center on Economic Policy: Trump Tax Framework Would Give Away Trillions in Tax Breaks to Millionaires
The Trump administration and congressional leaders are gearing up to overhaul the federal tax code this fall. While many of the details remain fuzzy, one thing is clear: the administration’s top priority is to hand out big tax breaks to millionaires.
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ITEP Work in Action August 21, 2017 Budget and Tax Center: Costly Tax Cuts in New State Budget Continue Precarious Road Ahead for North Carolina
The new two-year state budget passed by lawmakers included another package of tax cuts that will further limit the amount of revenue available for public investments. The latest tax cuts will reduce annual available revenue by $900 million and, when combined with tax cuts passed since 2013, result in an estimated $3.5 billion in less annual revenue compared to the tax system that was in place prior to tax changes in 2013.
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ITEP Work in Action August 17, 2017 Maine Center for Economic Policy: Maine Millionaires Primary Recipients of Proposed Trump Tax Breaks
New analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows Maine’s millionaires would get an average tax cut of $135,220 under President Trump’s proposed tax plan. Maine millionaires represent only 0.3 percent of all Maine households, yet would receive more than a quarter of all tax breaks.
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ITEP Work in Action August 15, 2017 Indiana Institute for Working Families: Trump Tax Plan Would Shortchange Indiana, Middle Class & Working Families (But Would Let Them Eat Cake)
A new analysis of the Trump tax plan from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy shows that Indiana would only get an 87% share of tax cuts relative to the state’s ratio of the U.S. population. This is the 23rd-smallest share among states. In part because the plan is aimed at high-income households and Indiana is a poorer state, no matter how you slice it, Indiana gets shortchanged compared to the average state by Trump’s plan.
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ITEP Work in Action July 21, 2017 Florida Policy Institute: The Growing Divide: Federal Tax Plan Would Give Massive Tax Cuts to Wealthy Floridians as the Poorest Americans Continue to Struggle
The federal tax plan broadly outlined by the current administration would do very little to create opportunities for Floridians struggling to make ends meet. Instead, the tax plan would provide massive tax cuts for Florida’s highest income earners, accordingly to a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Broadly outlined, the plan is likely to make an already unfair tax system that favors the wealthy even worse.
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ITEP Work in Action July 21, 2017 New Jersey Policy Perspectives: Trump Tax Plan: A Boon for the Wealthiest New Jerseyans
A federal tax package based on President Trump’s April outline would fail to deliver on its promise of mostly helping the middle class, instead showering most of its help to the richest 1 percent, according to a new 50-state analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released today.
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ITEP Work in Action July 21, 2017 Hope Policy Institute: Mississippi’s Wealthiest Get the Most Benefit under New Federal Tax Cut Proposal
New research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) looks at the potential effects of a tax cut proposal from the Trump Administration on families in the 50 states. The tax cut proposal would reduce the tax rate on corporate income from 35 percent to 15 percent, would repeal the estate tax, replace the current income tax brackets with three brackets at 10 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent, eliminate most itemized deductions, except charitable giving and home mortgage interest, and create a new tax credit for childcare expenses, among other things.
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ITEP Work in Action July 21, 2017 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Trump Tax Plan Would Be a Windfall for Only the Wealthiest Kentuckians
The wealthiest Kentuckians would be winners from the $4.8 trillion in federal tax cuts President Donald Trump has proposed, as shown by a new report from the Institute on Taxation… -
ITEP Work in Action July 20, 2017 West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: New Report Shows Trump Tax Plan Benefits Wealthy, Fails to Help Middle Class
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 largely helping middle-class taxpayers, showering 61.4 percent of the total tax cut on the richest 1 percent nationwide. In West Virginia, the top 1 percent of the state’s residents would receive an average tax cut of $51,600 compared with an average tax cut of $720 for the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers in the state.
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ITEP Work in Action July 20, 2017 Economic Progress Institute: Trump Tax Plan Would Mostly Benefit Wealthiest Rhode Island Taxpayers
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 largely helping middle-class taxpayers, showering 61.4 percent of the total tax cut on the richest 1 percent nationwide. In Rhode Island, the top 1 percent of the state’s residents would receive an average tax cut of $86,610 compared with an average tax cut of just $430 for the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers in the state.
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ITEP Work in Action July 20, 2017 Maine Center for Economic Policy: Trump Tax Plan Would Give Richest Maine Taxpayers an Average $53,000 Tax Cut and Trigger Deep Cuts to Federal Dollars for Maine
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.
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ITEP Work in Action July 7, 2017 Maine Center for Economic Policy: What Happens When Those with the Most Pay the Least Taxes?
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.
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ITEP Work in Action June 27, 2017 Wisconsin Budget Project: Missing Out: Recent Tax Cuts Slanted in Favor of those with Highest Incomes
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… -
ITEP Work in Action June 22, 2017 Minnesota Budget Project: DACA recipients make important tax contributions to Minnesota
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 Work in Action June 21, 2017 Failed Tax-Cut Experiment (in North Carolina) Will Continue Under Final Budget Agreement, Pushes Fiscal Reckoning Down the Line
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.
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ITEP Work in Action June 21, 2017 Oregon Center for Public Policy: Reason to Hope for a Commercial Activities Tax (CAT) Accompanied by a CAT Fairness Credit
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.
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ITEP Work in Action June 13, 2017 Maine Center for Economic Policy: Senate Republican Vote Defies Will of Voters, Compromises Current and Future School Funding to Give Tax Cuts to Wealthy
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, repealing the citizen approved surcharge would give a $16,300 tax break on average to the top 1% of Maine households and cost the state over $300 million in school funding over current and future biennia.
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ITEP Work in Action June 9, 2017 Oregon Center for Public Policy: Commercial Activities Tax Fairness Credit Would Strengthen the Tax Reform Package
Analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that, all else being equal, a tax reform package with a CAT Fairness Credit would be more progressive than a tax reform package with an income tax rate reduction.
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ITEP Work in Action June 8, 2017 A Better Wyoming: Guess Which Sparsely Populated Mineral Rich State is Getting an Income Tax…
Alaska stopped collecting income taxes 35 years ago, and Wyoming has never remotely considered implementing one in the 82 years since it decided instead to charge state and local sales taxes. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) discovered recently that nearly 82 percent of Alaskans could expect to pay less under a progressive income tax than they would under a sales tax designed to generate an identical level of revenue.
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ITEP Work in Action June 8, 2017 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Troubling Hints About Direction for Tax Reform
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.
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ITEP Work in Action June 6, 2017 A Better Wyoming: Everything You Know About Wyoming Taxes is Wrong
Wrong. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a D.C. think tank that studies state tax policy, Wyoming’s wealthiest residents pay the lowest tax rate in the country. Meanwhile, people at the bottom 20 percent of Wyoming’s shaky economic ladder pay taxes at seven-times the rate that the top one percent of earners do. That’s the largest tax rate discrepancy between rich and poor in the United States.
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ITEP Work in Action May 26, 2017 The Cost Of Trickle-Down Economics For North Carolina
Since 2013, state lawmakers have passed significant income tax cuts that largely benefit the state’s highest income earners and profitable corporations. These costly tax cuts have made the state’s tax… -
ITEP Work in Action May 24, 2017 Evidence Counts: Senate Tax Plan Punches More Holes Into Budget (Updated)
Similar to previous tax plans from the Senate, this plan increase taxes on most West Virginians while lowering them for higher-income residents. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the Senate tax plan increases taxes on 60 percent of West Virginia households while lowering taxes on the top 40 percent of households. This is because lower income West Virginians pay more in sales taxes than income taxes, while the opposite is true for higher income people.
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ITEP Work in Action May 24, 2017 New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute: Revenue in Review: An Overview of New Hampshire’s Tax System and Major Revenue Sources
New Hampshire’s revenue system is relatively unique in the United States, as it lacks broad-based income and sales taxes and instead relies on a diversity of more narrowly-based taxes, fees, and other revenue sources to fund public services. This system presents both advantages and disadvantages to stable, adequate, and sustainable revenue generation.
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ITEP Work in Action May 22, 2017 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Any Way You Slice It, A Shift To Consumption Taxes Will Hurt Kentucky
According to ITEP, replacing all of Kentucky’s income tax revenue with sales tax revenue would require an increase in our sales tax rate to 13.3 percent – more than double… -
ITEP Work in Action May 19, 2017 Florida Policy Institute: New Report Finds Shortcomings in Florida’s Scholarship Tax Credit Program
State tax policies are undermining high-quality public education by redirecting public dollars for K-12 education toward private schools via tuition tax credits, according to a new report published by the… -
ITEP Work in Action May 10, 2017 Evidence Counts: Latest Compromise Tax Plan Still a Bad Deal for West Virginia
Last week, the governor called the legislature back into special session to continue work on the state budget. The actual budget bill, however, was not part of the call, instead… -
ITEP Work in Action May 5, 2017 Maryland’s Money Matters: ‘Dreamers’ Make Important Contributions to Maryland
It is unclear, as of now, whether the Trump administration will choose to end protections for young adults who came to the U.S. as children and have legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. If the administration elects to end the program, thousands of Marylanders could lose their jobs and ability to attend college, many business could lose valued workers, and Maryland could lose nearly $14 million annually in state and local tax revenue.
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ITEP Work in Action May 3, 2017 The Progressive Pulse: Young Undocumented Immigrants’ Tax Contributions Would Drop by Nearly Half Without the Protection of the DACA Program
Young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) annually contribute $2 billion in state and local taxes, according to new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The ITEP report finds that this number would drop by nearly half without DACA protection at a time when the Trump Administration has sent mixed signals on whether it intends to honor the DACA executive order in the long term.
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ITEP Work in Action May 2, 2017 Oklahoma Policy Institute: Itemized Deduction Reform is a Promising State Budget Solution
When Oklahomans filed their state income taxes in 2016, more than 70 percent of households used the standard deduction, which was $6,300 for individuals and $12,600 for married couples filing jointly.… -
ITEP Work in Action April 27, 2017 Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: The Evidence on Millionaire Migration and Taxes
Economists consistently find that a well-educated workforce and a high-quality transportation system are among the bedrock elements upon which a prosperous state economy is built. Providing everyone with access to the education and training they need to reach their full potential boosts the productivity of individual workers and strengthens the overall economy.
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ITEP Work in Action April 27, 2017 Oregon Center for Public Policy: State corporate income taxes continue to shrink
As Oregon lawmakers consider raising corporate taxes to prevent cuts to schools and other public services, a new report finds that many of the nation’s largest corporations are paying little… -
ITEP Work in Action April 25, 2017 Fiscal Policy Institute: Immigrant Youth Add $140 Million to New York Tax Revenues
The report, conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and co-released in New York by the Fiscal Policy Institute, focuses on the executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The executive order first went into effect in 2012, and in New York State, of the estimated 820,000 undocumented immigrants, about 76,000 are eligible for DACA.
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ITEP Work in Action April 25, 2017 New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA-Eligible New Jerseyans Pay $66 Million a Year in Taxes
New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) contribute $66 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all the states. And those annual contributions would increase by $27 million – the sixth most of all states – under comprehensive immigration reform.
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ITEP Work in Action April 24, 2017 The Commonwealth Institute: Working, Paying Taxes, Hitting Barriers
Unauthorized immigrants in Virginia contribute more than $250 million each year in state and local taxes. That’s a lot of money. But they could contribute even more – nearly $100… -
ITEP Work in Action April 24, 2017 Evidence Counts: What is the Impact of the “Compromise Tax Proposal” on the Budget and Working Families?
Earlier this week, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy examined the fiscal impact of the proposed compromise tax plan between Governor Justice and Senate leadership that will influence how… -
ITEP Work in Action April 19, 2017 Louisiana Budget Project: Most would get tax cut under Gov. John Bel Edwards’ tax plan
Louisiana is $440 million short of the revenue needed to fund state government at current levels in next year’s budget. The problem gets much worse in the 2018-19 fiscal year,… -
ITEP Work in Action April 18, 2017 California Budget & Policy Center: California Should Do More to Raise Awareness of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC)
The California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), established in 2015, is a refundable state tax credit that helps low-earning workers and their families make ends meet and build toward economic… -
ITEP Work in Action April 18, 2017 North Carolina Justice Center: Prosperity Watch (Issue 72, No 3): Tax cuts since 2013 reinforce racial and ethnic exclusion
Changes to North Carolina’s tax system in recent years have had an impact on the level of available revenue for public investments and shifted tax responsibility among taxpayers. BTC analysis… -
ITEP Work in Action April 17, 2017 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: What Good Tax Reform Looks Like
In contrast, HB 263 would ask more of those at the top and less of low- and middle-income people who currently pay a larger share of their income in taxes.… -
ITEP Work in Action April 17, 2017 Oregon Center for Public Policy: Undocumented Workers Pay Millions in Oregon Taxes and Would Pay Millions More Under Immigration Reform
Undocumented Oregonians pay taxes. The millions in taxes they pay to help fund schools and other public services that strengthen Oregon’s economy. Oregon would collect even more tax revenue under… -
ITEP Work in Action April 17, 2017 Public Assets Institute: Meeting Vermonters’ needs in Fiscal 2018 and beyond
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… -
ITEP Work in Action April 17, 2017 Open Sky Policy Institute: Amid budget woes, plan calls for tax cuts for the wealthy
LB 461, the tax-cut package put forth by the Revenue Committee, is first and foremost an income tax cut for wealthy Nebraskans and the proposal does little to truly address…