States
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report March 22, 2016 Higher Education Income Tax Deductions and Credits in the States
Read full report in PDF Download detailed appendix with state-by-state information on deductions and credits (Excel) Every state levying a personal income tax offers at least one deduction or credit… -
report February 24, 2016 Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2016)
This report was updated in March 2017 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page Public debates over federal immigration reform often suffer from insufficient… -
media mention February 12, 2016 Albuquerque Journal: Legislature must change course fast
“There are also ways to rebalance our tax structure to make it less heavily reliant on working families. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest-income New… -
brief February 11, 2016 Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
See the 2016 Updated Brief Here Read the brief in a PDF here. that time, the EITC has been improved to lift and keep more working families out of poverty.… -
report February 11, 2016 Tax Foundation Model Seeks to Revive Economic Voodoo
In recent months, the Tax Foundation has used its Taxes and Growth Model (TAG Model) to estimate the impact that a variety of tax policy changes would have on the nation’s economy–including tax plans proposed by current presidential candidates.
The Tax Foundation describes the underlying “logic” of its TAG Model as being rooted in the assumption that “taxes have a major impact on economic growth.” More specifically, the TAG Model has concluded that proposals to lower taxes for high-income individuals and businesses would dramatically grow the economy, and that proposals to raise taxes would significantly slow economic growth.
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brief February 5, 2016 How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely increased. A growing number of states have recognized the problem with this approach and have switched to a “variable-rate” gas tax under which the tax rate tends to rise over time alongside either inflation or gas prices. A majority of Americans live in a state where the gas tax is automatically adjusted in this way.
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brief February 5, 2016 Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
The federal government and many states are seeing shortfalls in their transportation budgets in part because the gasoline taxes they use to generate those funds are poorly designed. Thirty-one states and the federal government levy “fixed-rate” gas taxes where the tax rate does not change even as the cost of infrastructure materials inevitably increases over time. The federal government’s 18.4 cent gas tax, for example, has not increased in over 22 years. And twenty states have gone a decade or more without a gas tax increase.
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media mention December 22, 2015 The News Journal: Are we really a xenophobic and racist country?
“The rhetoric from anti-immigrants is that they come here to usurp benefits they do not deserve. The reality is that many of these immigrants – both undocumented and documented –… -
media mention December 15, 2015 The Spokesman Review: For tax cutters, here’s another cold shower
“In terms of distributing the tax burden equally among rich and poor alike, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Idaho’s balanced system of sales, income and property taxes… -
ITEP Work in Action November 4, 2015 Transportation Futures: Overview of Transportation Funding
An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis shows the purchasing power of the Federal fuel tax has lost 28% from 1997 to 2011 through a combination of inflation and… -
brief October 20, 2015 A Primer on State Rainy Day Funds
Read the Report in PDF Form An individual savings account can serve as an emergency reserve – a financial cushion to sustain yourself in the event of an emergency. “Rainy… -
report September 17, 2015 State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
The U.S. Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2014, the national poverty rate was 14.8 percent – statistically unchanged from the previous year. However, the poverty rate remains 2.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2007, before the Great Recession, indicating that recent economic gains have not yet reached all households and that there is much room for improvement. The 2014 measure translates to more than 46.7 million – more than 1 in 7 – Americans living in poverty. Most state poverty rates also held steady between 2013 and 2014 though twelve states experienced a decline.
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brief September 17, 2015 Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
Despite some economic gains in recent years, the number of Americans living in poverty has held steady over the past four years. At the same time, wages for working families have remained stagnant and more than half of the jobs created by the economic recovery since 2010 were low-paying, mostly in the food services, retail, and employment services industries. Our country’s growing class of low-wage workers often faces a dual challenge as they struggle to make ends meet. First, wages are too low and growing too slowly – despite recent productivity gains – to keep up with the rising cost of food, housing, child care, and other household expenses. At the same time, the poor are often saddled with highly regressive state and local taxes, making it even harder for low-wage workers to move out of poverty and achieve meaningful economic security. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is designed to help low-wage workers meet both those challenges.
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media mention August 28, 2015 Report: Tax Policy Benefits Flow Heavily to Wealthiest Ohioans
The windfall for the wealthy results from cuts in state income taxes, the major tax that is based on the ability to pay, while increases in other taxes such as… -
media mention August 26, 2015 News and Observer: Unfair ‘Bill of Rights’
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “The personal income tax can be – and usually is – the fairest of the main revenue sources relied on by… -
media mention August 25, 2015 Newsmax: Pros and Cons of Illegal Immigrants Filing Taxes With IRS
Undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $10.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, CNN reported. Those tax contributions will rise… -
media mention August 24, 2015 Standard-Times: Undocumented Immigrants’ Economic Impact Unclear in Texas
“Meanwhile, about 1.7 million immigrants are unauthorized, according to the center. The report cites the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy as saying that in Texas unauthorized immigrants in 2010… -
media mention August 24, 2015 Policy Mic: What Republicans Don’t Want You to Know About “Securing the Border”
New York’s place on that list is especially salient given its place as the largest of the estimated 200 “sanctuary cities” across the country. The designation reflects a decision by… -
media mention August 18, 2015 News Net 5: States are Doing What Congress Won’t on the Gas Tax
“We had quite a long drought where states weren’t willing to deal with this issue, despite the fact that their infrastructure wasn’t in great shape,” said Carl Davis, research director… -
media mention August 18, 2015 Five Thirty Eight: Everything* Donald Trump’s Immigration Plan Gets Wrong
But there’s another side to the equation: taxes. Many undocumented immigrants work off the books and don’t pay taxes on their earnings. But many others do pay taxes. One recent… -
media mention August 17, 2015 Minn Post: Tax and Spin: Most Families in Wisconsin, it Turns Out, Would Save on Taxes by Moving to Minnesota
For years, Wisconsin has had some of the highest residential property taxes in the country. The result is that across every income bracket, homeowners in Wisconsin pay a higher share… -
media mention August 17, 2015 TV Newsroom: Tax-Free Weekend Offers Great Savings
“The bottom line is that whatever policy goal you want to achieve through a sales tax holiday, there are probably better ways to achieve those goals”, said Matthew Gardner, executive… -
media mention August 17, 2015 Daily Lobo: Letter: Support for Trump’s Hatred of Immigrants Not Backed by Facts
An economic perspective: The Partnership for a New American Economy found that immigrants started 28 percent of new U.S. businesses in 2011, though they account for only 13 percent of… -
media mention August 14, 2015 Slate: Don’t Fall for Back-to-School Tax Holidays
If shoppers are simply shifting their spending to save on taxes, that means the states are losing revenue. That’s certainly the position of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy,… -
media mention August 13, 2015 News and Observer: Problems with NC Legislation to Cap Taxes, Reduce Spending
Colorado has struggled with its TABOR, with declines in the percentage it has spent on education, including secondary and elementary schools, and on higher education. Colorado declined from 35th to…