Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP Work in Action

Oklahoma Policy Institute: Private school tax subsidy blurs the line between charitable gift and money laundering

January 10, 2017

Carl Davis is Research Director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state, and local tax policy issues. Photo by ccPixs.com / CC BY 2.0 Photo by ccPixs.com / CC BY 3.0 When is a charitable contribution not a “donation” at all?  If a […]

Oklahoma Policy Institute: The tax shift rears its head

January 10, 2017

  Last week the Oklahoma Senate Finance Committee approved SB 977, a bill that would suspend 23 tax credits for the next two years as a way to partially address the state’s massive budget shortfall. While the bill targets numerous credits, a large majority of the impact would come from ending three important tax credits […]

Maryland Center for Economic Policy:To Support a Strong Economy, All Marylanders Must Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes

January 10, 2017

  Maryland’s success today is due to our past public investment in good schools, a strong transportation system and other building blocks of a prosperous economy. As another “tax day” rolls around, it’s worth remembering that the income taxes we pay help make these investments possible. Cutting state income taxes or corporate taxes would undermine […]

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: A Preview of the 2016-2018 Kentucky State Budget

January 10, 2017

  A comprehensive preview of the upcoming two-year Kentucky state budget confirms both a massive funding gap facing the state for the next two years and a need for reinvestment in many areas post-recession. Authored by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP), the report notes that expected growth in state revenue the first year […]

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: 2016 Kentucky Budget Primer

January 10, 2017

  The Budget of the Commonwealth is a financial plan, enacted every two years by Kentucky’s General Assembly, that maps out our state’s investments in education, health, transportation, public safety, human services and other areas that build a strong state economy. As such, the budget is a statement of Kentucky’s priorities: How we invest reflects […]

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Inheritance Tax Repeal Is Giveaway to the Top Kentucky Can’t Afford

January 10, 2017

  Since 1906, Kentucky has relied on the inheritance tax to help pay for the good schools, infrastructure and other investments that strengthen the Commonwealth. A repeal of the inheritance tax would be a $51 million tax cut tilted to the very wealthy that would weaken those investments and make economic progress harder in the […]

Iowa Fiscal Partnership: Understanding Iowa Taxes

January 10, 2017

The Iowa Fiscal Partnership is pleased to distribute a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes. We hope you will find this useful in understanding and evaluating state and local tax policy. Many of the general tax principles and issues presented in the […]

Indiana Institute for Working Families: Tax Rate Cuts to Offset Gas and Cigarette Tax Increases? There are Better Ways

January 9, 2017

  Ensuring Indiana has funding needed to adequately repair its roads and bridges over the next several years is a top priority among lawmakers this legislative session. Among the proposed infrastructure improvement plans is HB 1001, which would raise the state’s gasoline tax by 4 cents per gallon, the tax on diesel fuel by 7 […]

Voices for Illinois Children: Fair Tax Bill Introduced

January 9, 2017

Representative Lou Lang introduced a fair tax rate structure (House Bill 689), which would provide over 99% of income taxpayers with a tax cut while raising $1.9 billion to prevent more harmful budget cuts. Read more here

Connecticut Voices for Children: Impact of the Final FY 2017 Budget on Children and Families

January 9, 2017

“Following hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts in Fiscal Year 2016, Connecticut policymakers tackled the nearly $1 billion budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY 17) by adopting a two-pronged austerity approach. First, policymakers refused to consider any new revenues, taking a cuts-only method that struck $233.6 million from programs that support children […]

California Budget & Policy Center: Should California Maintain Higher Taxes on the Wealthiest to Fund Education, Health Care, and Other Services?

January 9, 2017

“Proposition 30, approved by voters in 2012, provided critical revenues to California at a time when the state faced daunting budgetary challenges. Prop. 30’s tax rate increases are scheduled to fully expire at the end of 2018. Prop. 55, which will appear on the November 8, 2016 statewide ballot, would extend for 12 years the […]

California Budget & Policy Center: What Has Proposition 30 Meant for California?

January 9, 2017

Proposition 30, approved by voters in 2012, provided critical revenues to California at a time when the state faced daunting fi scal challenges. These revenues increased school funding and allowed for reinvestment in other public services after years of cuts. Prop. 30’s tax rate increases are scheduled to expire over the next several years. Although […]

Kansas Center for Economic Growth: KCEG Testimony to the House Taxation Committee as Neutral on HB 2023.

January 9, 2017

The LLC Loophole is unfair, expensive, and failed to create jobs. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the LLC loophole costs Kansas nearly $290 million per year. It was originally touted as the plan’s signature feature, but now legislators and business leaders of all political stripes publicly acknowledge that it failed to […]

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Problems down the road with governor’s highway plan

January 9, 2017

“The governor wants to get through the first year by spending down some of the rainy day fund and using part of reamining surplus funds. As far as short term solutions, it could be a lot worse. But big problems with the Governor’s plan show up in year two and beyond. The plan leaves a […]

Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development: Sustainable Solutions for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure in Louisiana

January 9, 2017

The Governor’s Task Force on Transportation Infrastructure Investment​ is an 18-member Task Force established by Governor Edwards to recommend community-driven solutions for Louisiana’s transportation infrastructure investment needs. The Task Force submitted its formal recommendations to the Governor in December 2016. Read the full report here

North Carolina Justice Center: 12 Charts about N.C.’s Economy in 2016

January 6, 2017

“The economic challenges that face North Carolina families were front and center in 2016. North Carolina wrestled with the disconnect between political rhetoric and everyday reality this election year, thanks to a recovery that failed to boost wages or provide enough jobs for many of our communities. Here are 12 charts that tell the story […]

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: A Fair Share Tax Plan for Pennsylvania

January 6, 2017

“One barrier to raising revenues is the reluctance of legislators on both sides of the aisle to place additional taxes on Pennsylvania’s poor and middle-class. That reluctance is well motivated. Over the last 25 years, incomes for the richest Pennsylvanians have been rising fast while incomes for all other Pennsylvanians have been stagnant. Despite that, […]

Policy Matters Ohio: Flat Tax Would Make Most Ohioans Pay More

January 5, 2017

Using a sophisticated model of Ohio’s tax system, the national research group, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), found that with a 3.5 percent flat tax, 72 percent of Ohioans would pay more state income tax, while just 4 percent would pay less. The remaining 24 percent would pay the same amount as they […]

Montana Budget & Policy Center: Montana Corporate Income Taxes

December 31, 2016

For generations, our tax dollars have served as shared investments in the programs and services that make our state a great place to live, work, and play. Tax dollars enable Montanans to work together to achieve things which we could not do alone - educate our children, build and maintain infrastructure, provide public safety through police and fire protection, keep our air and water clean, and pave the way to a stronger and more inclusive economy.

The Governor’s Task Force on Infrastructure Investment: Sustainable Solutions for Multimodal Transportaion Infrastructure in Louisiana

December 19, 2016

Pursuant to the charges of JBE 2016-23, the Governor’s Task Force on Transportation Infrastructure Investment (Task Force) worked diligently over a six-month period to determine what must be done to address Louisiana’s vast multimodal transportation issues. Through the course of six formal meetings at the capitol and by attending eight regional meetings across the State […]

Report to the Louisiana Governor: SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN LOUISIANA

December 18, 2016

Pursuant to the charges of JBE 2016-23, the Governor’s Task Force on Transportation Infrastructure Investment (Task Force) worked diligently over a six-month period to determine what must be done to address Louisiana’s vast multimodal transportation issues. Through the course of six formal meetings at the capitol and by attending eight regional meetings across the State […]

Kansas Center for Economic Growth: A Guide to Comprehensive Tax Reform in Kansas

December 18, 2016

The morning after the election was tough. Half the country woke up feeling devastated, the other half awoke feeling excited. Regardless of who you voted for, it’s hard to come back together when we feel so deeply divided. In Kansas, however, we have a special opportunity to rise to the occasion. Read more here

Georgia Budget & Policy Institute: A Bottom-Up Tax Cut to Build Georgia’s Middle Class Update

December 16, 2016

Building a better Georgia, with a strong economy and vibrant communities, requires a more resilient middle class and more opportunities for working families to climb the economic ladder. One of the best tools to help ensure that all Georgians share in that prosperity is a state-level Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), or Georgia Work Credit. […]

Migration Policy Institute: The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States

December 13, 2016

“While the United States has long been a top destination for the world’s best and brightest, it has fallen short when it comes to fully tapping the skills and training of these newcomers. As a result, nearly 2 million immigrants with college degrees in the United States—one out of every four—are relegated to low-skilled jobs […]

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: Those at the Top Would Get More Tax Breaks, Investments Would Suffer from Shift to Consumption Taxes

December 13, 2016

“The table below shows the impact, by income group, of two such hypothetical shifts. Notice that even when the shift is seemingly minor – one penny less on the dollar for the top income tax rate and one penny more on the sales tax rate – the top one percent of households get a $5,396 […]

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.