States
NHPR: N.H. Legislators Will Make Another Run At Raising Gas Tax
January 22, 2014
(Original Post) By BRIAN WALLSTIN A year after failing to agree on how to pay for a long list of road and bridge improvements, lawmakers will take another shot at bolstering the state’s chronically underfunded infrastructure this session. Several bills are on the table, including one that would channel proceeds from a casino into the […]
A Federal Gas Tax for the Future
September 23, 2013 • By Carl Davis
Gas tax revenues are on an unsustainable course. Over the last five years, Congress has transferred more than $53 billion from the general fund to the transportation fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues. By 2015, the transportation fund will be insolvent unless an additional $15 billion transfer is made. Larger transfers will be needed in subsequent years.
Low Tax for Who?
September 19, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe
Annual state and local finance data from the Census Bureau are often used to rank states as "low" or "high" tax states based on taxes collected as a share of state personal income. But focusing on a state's overall tax revenues overlooks the fact that taxpayers experience tax systems very differently. In particular, the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers pay a greater share of their income in state and local taxes than any other income group in all but 10 states (including DC). And, in every state, low- income taxpayers pay more as a share of income than the wealthiest…
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
September 19, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe
New Census Bureau data released this month show that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high, despite other signs of economic recovery. The national 2012 poverty rate of 15 percent is essentially unchanged since 2010 , but still 2.5 percentage points higher than pre-recession levels. This means that in 2012, 46.5 million, or about 1 in 6 Americans, lived in poverty.1 The poverty rate in most states also held steady with five states experiencing an increase in either the number or share of residents living in poverty while only two states saw a decline.2
Tax Expenditure Reports: A Vital Tool with Room for Improvement
August 14, 2013 • By Carl Davis
State and local tax codes include a huge array of special tax breaks designed to accomplish almost every goal imaginable: from encouraging homeownership and scientific research, to building radioactive fallout shelters and caring for "exceptional" trees. Despite being embedded in the tax code, these programs are typically enacted with tax policy issues like fairness, efficiency, and sustainability only as secondary considerations. Accordingly, these programs have long been called "tax expenditures." They are essentially government spending programs that happen to be housed in the tax code for ease of administration, political expedience, or both.
Tax Incentives: Costly for States, Drag on the Nation
August 14, 2013 • By Carl Davis
Tax incentives are intended to spur economic growth that would not have otherwise occurred. More specifically, these narrowly targeted tax breaks are usually offered in an attempt to convince businesses to relocate, hire, and/or invest within a state's borders.
The White House: Fixing Our Broken Immigration System
August 1, 2013
Trends in the agriculture sector – due in part to growing domestic demand for fresh fruit and vegetables year-round – indicate that farmworkers are increasingly settling permanently in places where they previously worked temporarily.37 This means not only a more stable and available workforce for farmers, but also higher, year-round consumer demand in the local […]
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
July 24, 2013 • By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2012. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
Arkansas Times: Immigration reform would be good for the economy
July 10, 2013
Original Post July 10, 2013by Max Brantley Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families cites the benefits of immigration reform that would legalize more of the people already at work and building families in the U.S. With fiscal costs and benefits figuring large in the immigration reform debate, a new analysis estimates that undocumented immigrants are […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Four Steps to Moving State Sales Taxes Into the 21st Century
July 10, 2013
Antiquated sales taxes are hindering states’ ability to strengthen their economies. As they emerge from the recession and look to compete in a 21st century economy, many states are recognizing the urgent need to invest in highly competitive education systems, modern transportation networks, and a range of other innovative public initiatives that will form a […]
Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions (2013)
July 10, 2013 • By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe
In the public debates over federal immigration reform, much has been made of the argument that undocumented immigrants would be a drain on federal, state and local government resources if granted legal status under reform. But it is also true that the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States are already taxpayers, and that their local, state and federal tax contributions would increase under reform.
Don’t Blame the Gas Tax for High Gas Prices
May 20, 2013 • By Carl Davis
American consumers are keenly aware of the price of gasoline, but uninformed about what drives that price. When asked about the federal gas tax, for example, six in ten Americans said the tax rate goes up every year. In reality, the federal gas tax hasn't budged from its 18.4 cent rate in almost twenty years, and roughly half the states haven't seen their gas tax rates change in a decade or more.
Public Finance Review: Voter Ideology, Economic Factors, and State and Local Tax Progressivity
May 2, 2013
This study examines the relationship between voter ideology and the distribution of tax burdens across income groups using state and local data, aggregated at the state level, for 1995, 2002, and 2007. I find that average voter liberalism is positively related to subnational tax progressivity. However, the effects are economically insignificant. A state’s ethnic demographic […]
The Nonprofit Quaterly: Nonprofits and State Tax Systems – The Big Picture
May 2, 2013
On Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill, charities have been involved in an all-consuming debate over the future of the federal charitable tax deduction. But can nonprofits effectively participate in the national debate over taxes and expenditures if they don’t know what is happening at the state level? There are fifty states with budgets that are paid […]
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem
April 19, 2013
State revenues plummet in recessions, just when states can least afford the loss. Some proposals to address this flaw in state tax systems would change the systems’ structure — for instance, by replacing state personal income taxes with sales taxes — but wouldn’t solve the problem and would exacerbate others in state tax systems. States […]
States with “High Rate” Income Taxes are Still Outperforming No-Tax States
February 28, 2013 • By Carl Davis
Lawmakers in about a dozen states are giving serious consideration to either cutting or eliminating their state personal income taxes. In each case, these proposals are being touted as a way to boost economic growth.
Laffer’s New Job Growth Factoid is All Rhetoric and No Substance
February 27, 2013 • By Carl Davis
A new talking point printed on the opinion page of The Wall Street Journal is proving irresistible to state lawmakers looking for an excuse to reduce or eliminate their states' income taxes: A new analysis by economist Art Laffer for the American Legislative Exchange Council finds that, from 2002 to 2012, 62% of the three million net new jobs in America were created in the nine states without an income tax, though these states account for only about 20% of the national population.
CNN: By the Numbers- Politics in 2013
January 3, 2013
(Original Post) By Amy Roberts, CNN Libraryupdated 11:14 AM EST, Thu January 3, 2013 (CNN) — Two-thousand-thirteen promises to be an interesting political year — with two governors races that will be closely watched, the very real possibility of another special Senate election in Massachusetts, a possible debate in Washington over immigration reform as the […]
Corporation for Enterprise Development: Tax Burden by Income
December 17, 2012
States have the flexibility to design their own tax rates and structures to fund public services. Most states rely on three types of taxes: personal income, property and consumption (sales and excise) taxes. Whether the state’s tax system is regressive (taxes the poor more heavily than the rich) or progressive (taxes the rich more heavily […]
Political Economy Research Institute: Raising Revenue from High-Income Households
December 17, 2012
“These anticipated reactions – changes in the timing and composition of income and other forms of tax avoidance – are not nearly as dramatic as the consequences predicted by some parties in the debate over taxes. Some, but not all, of these reactions can be expected to result in inefficiency and deadweight loss for a […]
National Conference of State Legislatures: Paving the Way
December 17, 2012
“Activity in Congress earlier this year raised hopes that a federal transportation authorization spanning more than one calendar year would finally be passed. This would have allowed state transportation officials to plan with more certainty. Although both the Senate and House have now passed bills, the possibility of reconciling their differences in conference—and thus of […]
National Conference of State Legislatures: On the Move- State Strategies for 21st Century Transportation Solutions
December 17, 2012
“This report explores a wide array of innovative surface transportation reform laws, policies and programs that policymakers are considering or pursuing to take the nation’s transportation system well into the 21st century. Particular focus is placed on policies that promote fiscal and environmental sustainability; facilitate affordable, safe and accessible transportation choices; and achieve shared benefits […]
Previewing Tax Reform in the States: National Trends and State-specific Prospects for 2013
December 13, 2012 • By Meg Wiehe
Following an election that left half the states with veto-proof legislative majorities, 39 states with one-party rule and more than a dozen with governors who put tax reform high on their agendas, 2013 promises to be a big year for changes to state tax laws.
Five Steps Toward a Better Tax Expenditure Debate
October 1, 2012 • By Carl Davis
Almost without exception, state lawmakers do not closely scrutinize special tax credits, exemptions, and other "tax expenditures" on a regular basis. A recent report by the Pew Center on the States found, for example, that half the states have done nothing even remotely rigorous in the last five years to determine if even a single one of their economic development tax incentives is working.
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
September 13, 2012 • By Meg Wiehe
The tax systems of virtually every state are pushing poor families deeper into poverty. But state tax systems also have the potential to play a role in fighting poverty. The four low-income tax credits discussed in this report are among the most cost-effective anti-poverty strategies available to lawmakers: the Earned Income Tax Credit, property tax circuit breakers, targeted low-income tax credits, and child-related tax credits. This report identifies the states in which each of these credits is offered, and provides specific recommendations tailored to policymakers in each state as they work to combat poverty.
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