States
Higher Education Income Tax Deductions and Credits in the States
March 22, 2016 • By Carl Davis
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 designed to defray the cost of higher education. In theory, these policies help families cope with rising tuition prices by incentivizing college savings or partially […]
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2016)
February 24, 2016 • By Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
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 and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants particularly at the state level. The truth is that undocumented immigrants living in the United […]
Albuquerque Journal: Legislature must change course fast
February 12, 2016
“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 Mexicans are paying a higher percentage of their income on overall taxes than the highest-income households. We could modify capital gains deductions that do not […]
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
February 11, 2016 • By Aidan Davis, Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
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. The most recent improvements enhanced the credit for families with three or more children and for married couples. First enacted temporarily as part of the […]
Tax Foundation Model Seeks to Revive Economic Voodoo
February 11, 2016 • By Carl Davis
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.
How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
February 5, 2016 • By Carl Davis
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.
Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
February 5, 2016 • By Carl Davis
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.
The News Journal: Are we really a xenophobic and racist country?
December 22, 2015
“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 – provide more than they actually receive. For example, out of any undocumented immigrant’s pay check there is a tax on social security and Medicaid – […]
The Spokesman Review: For tax cutters, here’s another cold shower
December 15, 2015
“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 as fifth best in the country.” Read more
Transportation Futures: Overview of Transportation Funding
November 4, 2015
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 vehicle improved fuel efficiency as shown in the graphic below1. Increases in the state fuel tax rate have offset some of these impacts, but continuation […]
A Primer on State Rainy Day Funds
October 20, 2015 • By Aidan Davis
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 day” funds are much like individual saving accounts, but on a statewide scale. Lawmakers use rainy day funds to set aside state tax revenue during […]
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
September 17, 2015 • By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe
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…
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
September 17, 2015 • By Aidan Davis, Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
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…
Report: Tax Policy Benefits Flow Heavily to Wealthiest Ohioans
August 28, 2015
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 the sales tax fall more heavily on lower- and middle-income Ohioans. Those are the key findings of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and […]
News and Observer: Unfair ‘Bill of Rights’
August 26, 2015
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 state and local governments. When properly structured, it insures that wealthier taxpayers pay their fair share, provides lower rates on middle-income families, completely exempts the […]
Newsmax: Pros and Cons of Illegal Immigrants Filing Taxes With IRS
August 25, 2015
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 significantly if illegal immigrants are allowed to work in the United States legally, said Matthew Gardner, ITEP’s executive director. Read more
Standard-Times: Undocumented Immigrants’ Economic Impact Unclear in Texas
August 24, 2015
“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 paid more than $1.6 billion in state and local taxes. Immigrants as a whole contributed $65 billion in economic output for the state in wages, […]
Policy Mic: What Republicans Don’t Want You to Know About “Securing the Border”
August 24, 2015
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 local governments to protect undocumented immigrants from federal law enforcement. This makes it easier to collect taxes — undocumented immigrants paid $11.84 billion in state […]
News Net 5: States are Doing What Congress Won’t on the Gas Tax
August 18, 2015
“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 at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “We’ve definitely seen a pretty rapid change on this issue — it’s really been pretty much a […]
Five Thirty Eight: Everything* Donald Trump’s Immigration Plan Gets Wrong
August 18, 2015
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 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that undocumented workers paid nearly $12 billion in state and local taxes in 2012. They […]
Minn Post: Tax and Spin: Most Families in Wisconsin, it Turns Out, Would Save on Taxes by Moving to Minnesota
August 17, 2015
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 of their income to property taxes than those in Minnesota, according to data compiled by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, a nonpartisan think […]
TV Newsroom: Tax-Free Weekend Offers Great Savings
August 17, 2015
“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 director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.”
Daily Lobo: Letter: Support for Trump’s Hatred of Immigrants Not Backed by Facts
August 17, 2015
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 the population. Disproportionately more New Mexico business owners (12.6 percent) are immigrants (10 percent of the state’s population). A new study by the Institute on […]
Slate: Don’t Fall for Back-to-School Tax Holidays
August 14, 2015
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, a nonpartisan think tank that estimates the popular break will cost the states offering it $300 million this year. “Revenues lost through sales tax holidays […]
News and Observer: Problems with NC Legislation to Cap Taxes, Reduce Spending
August 13, 2015
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 49th in the country in higher education funding as a share of personal income, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more […]
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