As the nation’s governors gather in Williamsburg, Virginia this week, their focus is on their Chairman’s initiative, Growing State Economies. Too often, however, a governor’s knee-jerk response to a lagging economy is to start cutting taxes, even though state tax cuts offer a demonstrably low economic bang-for-the-buck, for a number of reasons.
States
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report July 15, 2012 Four Tax Ideas for Jobs-Focused Governors
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report April 25, 2012 How Federal Tax Reform Can Help or Hurt State and Local Governments
Federal tax reform can affect state and local taxes in several ways. The federal government can create, repeal or change tax expenditures in a way that is passed on to… -
report February 15, 2012 Arthur Laffer Regression Analysis is Fundamentally Flawed, Offers No Support for Economic Growth Claims
A November 2011 report from the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs (OCPA) in partnership with Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a consulting group headed by Arthur Laffer, explains the method that… -
report February 8, 2012 “High Rate” Income Tax States Are Outperforming No-Tax States
Don’t Be Fooled by Junk Economics With the economy lagging, lawmakers seeking to reduce or eliminate state personal income taxes are touting their proposals as tools for boosting economic growth.… -
report December 14, 2011 Building a Better Gas Tax
State gas taxes are currently levied in every state, and are the most important source of transportation revenue under the control of state lawmakers. In recent years, however, state gas… -
report December 7, 2011 Corporate Tax Dodging In the Fifty States, 2008-2010
In October, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley suggested that gradually repealing the state’s corporate income tax should be a priority for lawmakers in 2012. Haley’s idea was alarming, but hardly… -
report November 13, 2011 Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers
Earlier this year, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett made headlines by publicly decrying the stark inequity between his own effective federal tax rate (about 17 percent, by his estimate) and… -
report September 22, 2011 State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools (2011)
This report presents a comprehensive view of anti-poverty tax policy decisions made in the states in 2011 and offers recommendations every state should consider to help families rise out of… -
report July 14, 2011 Sales Tax Holidays: A Boondoggle
Sales taxes are among the most important–and most unfair–taxes levied by state governments. Sales taxes accounted for a third of state taxes in 2011, but sales taxes are regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle- income taxpayers than on the wealthy. In recent years, lawmakers thinking they might lessen the impact of these taxes have enacted “sales tax holidays” that provide temporary sales tax breaks for purchases of clothing, computers, and other items. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.
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report April 14, 2011 States Should Not Allow Amazon.com to Bully Them into Forgoing Sales Tax Reform
In just the last few weeks, Arkansas and Illinois joined New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island in enacting legislation requiring some online retailers, like Amazon.com, to collect sales taxes… -
report April 10, 2011 Don’t Give Up on Pease: States Can Decouple from Recent Federal Tax Cuts for Wealthy Itemizers
In 2011, thirty one states and the District of Columbia allow a group of income tax breaks known as “itemized deductions” (Figure 1). Itemized deductions are designed to help defray… -
report March 31, 2011 In It for the Long Haul: Why Concerns over Personal Income Tax “Volatility” Are Overblown
The precipitous drop in state tax collections during the recent recession has prompted some observers to argue that relying on volatile state taxes is a recipe for budgetary disaster. The… -
report March 10, 2011 Topsy-Turvy: State Income Tax Deductions for Federal Income Taxes Turn Tax Fairness on its Head
The budget outlook for state governments is bleak. Despite evidence that revenues are rebounding, there is a general acknowledgement that ?broad fiscal conditions remain fragile. The need for public investments—particularly… -
report March 3, 2011 The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes
The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes, released in March of 2011, offers citizens, activists, journalists, and policymakers a detailed primer on state and local tax policy. The… -
report January 15, 2011 A Capital Idea
The budget outlook for the states is improving, but uncertain. In this context, states must find ways to generate additional revenue that create neither additional responsibilities for individuals and families… -
report December 15, 2010 How the Bush Tax Cuts Affect State Revenues
Less than one month from now, federal tax cuts pushed through by President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire—and Congressional tax writers have spent much of this year debating… -
report December 15, 2010 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: 2010 State Tax Policy Changes
Compared to previous years, the budget outlook for the states improved only slightly in 2010 and virtually every state continued to face a budget shortfall. As a result, the overwhelming… -
report September 15, 2010 Credit Where Credit is (Over) Due: Four State Tax Policies Could Lessen the Effect that State Tax Systems Have in Exacerbating Poverty
The ongoing recession has had an unrelenting impact on families and communities in every state across the country. Millions of Americans are without work and in many cases those with… -
report August 24, 2010 “Writing Off” Tax Giveaways: How States Can Help Balance Their Budgets by Reforming or Repealing Itemized Deductions
“Writing Off” Tax Giveaways examines options for reforming itemized deductions in the thirty-one states, plus DC, that offer such deductions. The study, released on August 24, 2010, focuses on five… -
report April 10, 2010 Leaving Money on the Table: “Federal Offset” Provides Incentive for States to Rely on Progressive Income Taxes
Seven states—Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming—have chosen to make up for the lack of an income tax by increasing their reliance on general sales taxes.1 The… -
report November 18, 2009 Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States 3rd Edition
Who Pays? is a comprehensive analysis of state and local tax systems in all fifty states. The study, released on November 18, 2009, shows that on average, state and local… -
report August 7, 2009 Recent Assertions about State Tax Increases Don’t Hold Much Water [Revised Aug 7, 2009]
A more careful examination of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data for the period from 1997 to 2006 reveals a far different picture, however. They show that the number of “rich”… -
report March 15, 2009 A Capital Idea: Repealing State Tax Breaks for Capital Gains Would Ease Budget Woes and Improve Tax Fairness
This report explains what capital gains are, how they are treated for tax purposes, and who typically receives them. It also details the consequences of providing preferential tax treatment for… -
report August 15, 2008 Latest IRS Data Reveal Fundamental Mismatches in the States
Data released late last week by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) indicate that 10 states have greater concentrations of reported income among their very wealthiest residents than the country as… -
report April 15, 2007 Combined Reporting – How Does Your State Stack Up?
Over the past few years, a number of states, seeking to address longstanding flaws in their corporate income taxes and significant declines in the revenue they yield, have instituted a…