Tax policy alone cannot solve the housing crisis but lawmakers who are focused on tax policy solutions have better options available than sweeping property tax cuts and caps: property tax circuit breakers, renter credits, vacancy taxes, land value taxes, and changes to existing property tax assessments can move the needle on the affordable housing crisis.
Publications
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brief March 19, 2025 Housing Affordability and Property Taxes: How to Actually Move the Needle
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report March 18, 2025 Shelter Skelter: How the Educational Choice for Children Act Would Use Tax Avoidance to Fuel School Privatization
The Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 would ostensibly provide a tax break on charitable donations to organizations that give out private K-12 school vouchers. Most of the so-called “contributions,” however, would be made by wealthy people solely for the tax savings, as those savings would typically be larger than their contributions.
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report March 18, 2025 A Revenue Impact Analysis of the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025
The Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 would provide donors to nonprofit groups that distribute private K-12 school vouchers with a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit in exchange for their contributions. In total, the ECCA would reduce federal and state tax revenues by $10.6 billion in 2026 and by $136.3 billion over the next 10 years. Federal tax revenues would decline by $134 billion over 10 years while state revenues would decline by $2.3 billion.
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brief March 6, 2025 Proposed Missouri Tax Shelter Would Aid the Wealthy, Anti-Abortion Centers Alike
In Missouri, donations to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers come with state tax credits valued at 70 cents on the dollar. One bill currently being debated in the state would increase that matching rate to 100 percent—that is a full, state-funded reimbursement of gifts to anti-abortion groups.
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report March 3, 2025 High-Rent, Low-Wealth: Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap through a Federal Renter Credit
While the federal tax code has some policies focused on raising income of low earners, it contains fewer provisions designed specifically to address wealth inequality. A renter tax credit offers a simple, administratively practical means of reaching low-wealth populations through the federal tax code without requiring a comprehensive measurement of every household’s wealth.
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report March 1, 2025 State-by-State Tax Expenditure Reports
Below is a list of tax expenditure reports published in the states.
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report February 20, 2025 A Revenue Analysis of Worldwide Combined Reporting in the States
Universal adoption of mandatory worldwide combined reporting would boost state corporate income tax revenues by roughly 14 percent. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia would experience revenue increases totaling $19.1 billion.
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brief February 5, 2025 The (Mostly Untapped) Power of Local Income Taxes
Local income taxes can be an important progressive revenue raiser, as they ask more of higher-income households and are connected to ability to pay. They can raise substantial revenue to fund key public services to make cities and regions better off.
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brief January 8, 2025 Trump’s Plan to Extend His 2017 Tax Provisions: Updated National and State-by-State Estimates
Trump’s plan to make most of the temporary provisions of his 2017 tax law permanent would disproportionately benefit the richest Americans. This includes all major provisions except the $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) paid.
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brief January 6, 2025 The Pitfalls of Flat Income Taxes
While most states have a graduated rate income tax, some state lawmakers have recently become enamored with the idea of moving toward flat rate taxes instead. What’s the difference? And… -
brief December 12, 2024 Federal Tax Debate 2025
Congress will soon debate provisions from the Trump tax law that are set to expire at the end of 2025, as well as other tax policies that Trump proposed on the campaign trail. Here we examine what’s at stake as lawmakers consider significant changes to our tax system.
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brief December 5, 2024 How Local Governments Raise Revenue — and What it Means for Tax Equity
Local taxes are key to thriving communities. One in seven tax dollars in the U.S.—about $886 billion annually—is levied by local governments in support of education, infrastructure, public health, and other priorities. Three fourths of this funding comes from property taxes, 18 percent comes from sales and excise taxes, and six percent comes from income taxes.
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report October 23, 2024 A Distributional Analysis of Kamala Harris’ Tax Plan
The tax proposals from Vice President Kamala Harris would, on average, lead to a tax increase for the richest 1 percent of Americans and a tax cut for all other income groups.
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report October 7, 2024 A Distributional Analysis of Donald Trump’s Tax Plan
Former President Donald Trump has proposed a wide variety of tax policy changes. Taken together, these proposals would, on average, lead to a tax cut for the richest 5 percent of Americans and a tax increase for all other income groups.
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brief September 13, 2024 Extending Temporary Provisions of the 2017 Trump Tax Law: Updated National and State-by-State Estimates
The TCJA Permanency Act would make permanent the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that are set to expire at the end of 2025. The legislation… -
brief September 12, 2024 State Earned Income Tax Credits Support Families and Workers in 2024
Nearly two-thirds of states (31 plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have an Earned Income Tax Credit. These credits boost low-paid workers’ incomes and offset some of the taxes they pay, helping lower-income families achieve greater economic security.
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brief September 12, 2024 State Child Tax Credits Boosted Financial Security for Families and Children in 2024
Fifteen states plus the District of Columbia provide Child Tax Credits to reduce poverty, boost economic security, and invest in children. This year alone, lawmakers in three states – Colorado, New York, and Utah – expanded their Child Tax Credits while lawmakers in the District of Columbia created a new credit that will take effect in 2025.
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report August 6, 2024 Sales Tax Holidays Miss the Mark When it Comes to Effective Sales Tax Reform
Nineteen states have sales tax holidays on the books in 2024. These suspensions combined will cost states and localities over $1.3 billion in lost revenue this year. Sales tax holidays are poorly targeted and too temporary to meaningfully change the regressive nature of a state’s tax system.
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report July 30, 2024 Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants
Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. Providing access to work authorization for undocumented immigrants would increase their tax contributions both because their wages would rise and because their rates of tax compliance would increase.
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report July 17, 2024 Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive
Undocumented immigrants who work and pay taxes but don’t have a valid Social Security number for either themselves or their children are excluded from federal EITC and CTC benefits. Fortunately, several states have stepped in to ensure undocumented immigrants are not left behind by the gaps in the federal EITC and CTC. State lawmakers should continue to ensure that immigrants who are otherwise eligible for these tax credits receive them.
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report July 16, 2024 Corporate Tax Breaks Contribute to Income and Racial Inequality and Shift Resources to Foreign Investors
Corporate tax cuts and corporate tax avoidance worsen income and racial inequality in our country. Most of the benefits flow to foreign investors and the richest 20% of Americans.
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report June 27, 2024 Who Benefits and Who Pays: How Corporate Tax Breaks Drive Inequality
Corporate tax breaks and corporate tax avoidance significantly contribute to income and racial inequality and largely benefit foreign investors.
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report June 26, 2024 States Should Enact, Expand Mansion Taxes to Advance Fairness and Shared Prosperity
The report was produced in partnership with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-authored by CBPP’s Deputy Director of State Policy Research Samantha Waxman.[1] Click here to use… -
report May 2, 2024 Corporate Taxes Before and After the Trump Tax Law
The Trump tax law slashed taxes for America’s largest, consistently profitable corporations. These companies saw their effective tax rates fall from an average of 22.0 percent to an average of 12.8 percent after the Trump tax law went into effect in 2018.
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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…