Major tax cuts were largely rejected this year, but states continue to chip away at income taxes. And while property tax cuts were a hot topic across the country, many states failed to deliver effective solutions to affordability issues.
Personal Income Taxes
The personal income tax is typically the fairest revenue source relied on by federal and state governments. A properly structured personal income tax could offer an important boost in progressivity to what are otherwise overwhelmingly regressive state tax structures.
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia levy broad-based personal income taxes. ITEP’s personal income tax resources provide both general and state-specific information about the impact as well as the mechanics and merits of personal income taxes.
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blog July 18, 2024 Five Tax Takeaways from 2024 State Legislative Sessions
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blog June 27, 2024 Reality Interrupts the Fever Dream of Income Tax Elimination in Kentucky
Keeping the Kentucky income tax on a march to zero would mean tax hikes for working families or widespread cuts to education, health care, and other public services. Reversing course is certainly the wiser course of action.
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blog May 30, 2024 States Should Opt Into IRS Direct File as the Program is Made Permanent
While there is plenty of room to expand Direct File at the federal level, states can take matters into their own hands and bring this benefit to their residents by opting into the program.
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blog May 16, 2024 Better Tax Codes Help Boost Teacher Pay
There are a variety of factors that affect teacher pay. But one often overlooked factor is progressive tax policies that allow states to raise and provide the funding educators and their students deserve.
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blog May 9, 2024 Iowa Flat Tax Shows Why Such Policies Are a Problem Everywhere
As Iowa lawmakers change the state’s graduated personal income tax to a single flat rate, they are designing a state tax code where the rich will pay a lower rate overall than families with modest means.
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brief April 16, 2024 Is California Really a High-Tax State?
Key Findings For families of modest means, California is not a high-tax state. California taxes are close to the national average for families in the bottom 80 percent of the… -
report April 11, 2024 Fairness Matters: A Chart Book on Who Pays State and Local Taxes
State and local tax codes can do a lot to reduce inequality. But they add to the nation’s growing income inequality problem when they capture a greater share of income from low- or moderate-income taxpayers. These regressive tax codes also result in higher tax rates on communities of color, further worsening racial income and wealth divides.
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blog March 20, 2024 States Move to Tax the Top in 2024
These forward-thinking states are demonstrating the wide variety of options for policymakers who want to raise more from the wealthiest people, rein in corporate tax avoidance, create fair tax codes and build strong communities.
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blog March 20, 2024 Eliminating Income Taxes Would Be an Expensive Giveaway
Governors and legislative leaders in a dozen states have made calls to fully eliminate their taxes on personal or corporate income, after many states already deeply slashed them over the past few years. The public deserves to know the true impact of these plans, which would inevitably result in an outsized windfall to states’ richest taxpayers, more power in the hands of wealthy households and corporations, extreme cuts to basic public services, and more deeply inequitable state tax codes.
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blog March 11, 2024 Recent Tax Cuts Have Expanded Inequality in the States
Some states have improved tax equity by raising new revenue from the well-off and creating or expanding refundable tax credits for low- and moderate-income families in recent years. Others, however,… -
blog March 6, 2024 Tax Cuts Fail Again in Kansas and Wisconsin; Lawmakers Should Pivot to Proven Investments
The governors of both Kansas and Wisconsin recently stood up to legislators who tried to push through costly tax cuts that would overwhelmingly benefit the most well-off. Lawmakers in those states and others should shift their focus from expensive, top-heavy tax cuts to tried and true policies that help middle-class and low-income families.
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ITEP Work in Action March 4, 2024 ITEP’s Kamolika Das Testifies on Pennsylvania’s Upside-Down Tax Code
Below is written testimony delivered by ITEP Local Policy Director Kamolika Das before the Pennsylvania House Finance Subcommittee on Tax Modernization & Reform on March 1, 2024. Good afternoon and… -
blog March 4, 2024 Moving the Needle Toward Tax Fairness in the States
While many state lawmakers have spent the past few years debating deep and damaging tax cuts that disproportionately help the rich, more forward-thinking lawmakers have improved tax equity by raising new revenue from the well-off and creating or expanding refundable tax credits for low- and moderate-income families.
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blog February 20, 2024 The ‘Low-Tax’ Lie: States Hyped for Low Taxes Usually Only Low-Tax for the Rich
It’s hard to go a week without seeing a politician or a news article hype up a state as the place that everyone is moving to – or should move to – because of low taxes. However, there’s a big problem with these proclamations: they aren’t true.
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January 23, 2024 State Tax Watch 2024
Updated July 15, 2024 In 2024, state lawmakers have a choice: advance tax policy that improves equity and helps communities thrive, or push tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy,… -
blog January 22, 2024 Latest Kansas Tax Plan Would Provide an Estimated $875,000 Tax Cut to Charles Koch
Last week, both houses of the Kansas legislature approved a significant tax cut centered around replacing the state’s graduated rate income tax structure with a flat tax instead. The bulk… -
map January 3, 2024 Which States Allow Deductions for Federal Income Taxes Paid?
Three states allow an unusual income tax deduction for federal income taxes paid. Missouri and Oregon limit these deductions by capping and/or phasing out the deduction, while Alabama, offers what… -
blog October 19, 2023 Eliminating Indiana’s Income Tax Would Jeopardize Public Services & Create a Windfall for the Well-Off
Meaningful investments in Indiana’s future require a smart, and fair, tax code that recognizes current economic realities and can raise a sustainable stream of funding from those most able to pay.
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blog July 7, 2023 The Highs and Lows of 2023 State Legislative Sessions
Nearly one-third of states took steps to improve their tax systems this year by investing in people through refundable tax credits, and in a few notable cases by raising revenue from those most able to pay. But another third of states lost ground, continuing a trend of permanent tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit high-income households and make tax codes less adequate and equitable.
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blog May 3, 2023 Minnesota Lawmakers Re-Envision State Tax System to Center Equity
Minnesota’s House, Senate and Governor’s office have each proposed their own vision as to how the state should maximize its $17.5 billion surplus and raise new revenue, and these tax plans make one thing clear: Minnesota lawmakers are serious about using tax policy to advance tax equity and improve the lives of Minnesotans.
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blog April 27, 2023 Kansas Avoids Flat Tax Proposal: Narrow Victory a Cautionary Tale for Other States
Kansas lawmakers failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a damaging flat tax package. In doing so, the state narrowly avoided traveling again down the same disastrous yet well-worn path of deep income tax cuts. States across the country can learn from Kansas’s experience by rethinking tax policy decisions and broader statewide priorities.
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blog April 12, 2023 8 Things to Know About State Taxes
As Tax Day approaches, it’s worth thinking about not only the taxes that we individually pay but the overall condition of our tax code as well. State tax codes, while… -
blog March 31, 2023 Minnesota’s Tax Code Should Be Based on Ability to Pay, Not Year of Birth
Minnesota lawmakers are considering a carveout that would treat seniors much more favorably than young families. The proposal would fully exempt all Social Security income from state income tax, even for seniors with exceptionally high incomes.
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blog March 23, 2023 States Prioritize Old Over Young in Push for Larger Senior Tax Subsidies
Under a well-designed income tax based on ability to pay, it is simply not necessary to offer special tax subsidies to older adults but not younger families. At the end of the day, your income tax bill should depend on what you can afford to pay, not the year you were born. It’s really as simple as that.
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blog February 28, 2023 Dear Ohio: Beware the Flat Tax
The flat tax plan and others being discussed that would cut even deeper would be windfalls for the wealthy, and expensive ones at that. Families with incomes over $300,000 per year, for example, could expect to gain, as a group, about a billion dollars annually under the flat tax plan. If you asked Ohio families about their top priorities for this legislative session, it’s a safe bet that very few of them would choose a billion-dollar tax cut for this group over funding for schools, parks, and infrastructure.