Despite claims by the architects of North Carolina’s failed tax-cut experiment, policy choices since 2013 have not ensured that middle and low-income taxpayers are paying lower shares of their income in state and local taxes. Instead the richest taxpayers—whose average income is more than $1 million—continue to pay 33 percent less in state and local taxes as a share of their income than taxpayers who have averages incomes annually of $11,000, a threshold that aligns with deep poverty.
Who Pays?
Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States is the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s flagship report. First published in 1996, and updated most recently in 2018, Who Pays? shows the distributional impact by income level of all major state and local taxes in each state, as well as in the District of Columbia. This section highlights related Who Pays? resources, articles and information.
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ITEP Work in Action October 22, 2018 NC Policy Watch: North Carolina’s Tax Code Isn’t Helping the State’s Growing Inequality
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ITEP Work in Action October 22, 2018 Idaho Statesman: Poor Idahoans Pay Largest Share of Taxes, Study Finds
Low-income Idahoans were hit hardest by property and sales taxes, ITEP reported. The lowest-earning segment spent 3.3 percent of income on property tax and 6 percent of income on sales and excise taxes (the latter are sometimes known as “sin taxes”).
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ITEP Work in Action October 21, 2018 Tulsa World: Political Notebook: Report Says Oklahoma’s State and Local Taxes Among the Most Regressive in the Nation
Oklahoma’s state and local taxes are among the most regressive in the country, according to a report released last week by the Institute on Taxation and Policy.
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ITEP Work in Action October 20, 2018 KTVB: Idaho Tax Analysis
Study finds lower income Idahoans paying higher tax rates than those with higher incomes.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 CPPP: The Staggering Unfairness of Our State Tax System
Here’s one way to think about it: Families at the top of the income ladder receive 20 percent of all personal income in Texas, but pay only 8.5 percent of all state and local taxes. Families at the bottom of the scale receive only three percent of all income, but pay 5.7 percent of all taxes.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 WVTF: Study: State Taxes Have Disproportionate Impact On Lower Income Virginians
Virginians who make the least amount of money pay 40 percent more taxes as a percent of their income than the wealthiest Virginians. That’s according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which says Virginia’s tax code is upside down.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 WOWK TV: Tax Issues in West Virginia
WOWK TV – Sean O’Leary, of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, talks to Mark Curtis about a new report that shows there’s room improve West Virginia’s upside-down tax system.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 FOX13 SLC: Middle Income Utahns Bear Brunt of State and Local Tax Burden
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report showing how every state and the District of Columbia use tax policy in regressive and progressive ways.
Their conclusion: all but five states and the District of Columbia have regressive systems, meaning they favor the wealthy over middle and/or low-income earners.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 Eagle Pass Business Journal: Report: Low-Income Taxpayers Pay Most in Connecticut
The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Connecticut Voices for Children, found the state’s lowest-income earners pay 41 percent more of their income in taxes than wealthier residents. According to Jamie Mills, director of fiscal policy and economic inclusion at Children’s Voices of Connecticut, taken as a whole the tax system in the Nutmeg State is upside down – because, as in many other states, the tax on personal income is only part of total tax revenue.
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ITEP Work in Action October 19, 2018 Florida Phoenix: New Study Says Florida Has the 3rd Most Unfair State and Local Tax System in US
Florida is the third largest state in the country, and according to a new report, has the third-most unfair state and local tax system in the U.S. That data comes from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan, nonprofit tax policy organization.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute: Report Shows Higher Effective Tax Rates for Residents with Low Incomes
Most New Hampshire residents with lower incomes pay a higher percentage of the money they earn in state and local taxes than residents with higher incomes do. In a new report released yesterday, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy conducted evaluations of state and local government tax systems in each of the 50 states and modeled their impacts on non-elderly residents. The report concludes that 45 states have tax systems that ask a greater percentage of the incomes of those with low earnings than those with the highest incomes.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 Kentucky Center for Economic Policy: New Report Shows Kentucky’s Tax System Worsens Income Inequality
In Kentucky, the income inequality that exists between our poorest and wealthiest residents is magnified by the structure of our tax system. And thanks to the new tax law enacted by the 2018 General Assembly, that problem is getting worse.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy: West Virginia’s Upside Down Tax System Grows Inequality
State and local tax systems can be effectively used to boost economic opportunity, create broadly shared prosperity and build equitable state economies. But in most states, including West Virginia, tax systems are upside down and are making inequality worse, as a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 Seattle Met: Report: Washington State Taxes Are Still the Most Inequitable in the Country
In Washington state, the less money you make, the larger your percentage of income goes toward taxes.
A study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released on Wednesday concludes that Washington state still has the most regressive taxes in the U.S., meaning the poorest households pay a disproportionate amount of taxes compared to the richest households in the state.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 NJ Spotlight: New Jersey’s Tax System Ranked Among Fairest in the Country
A report on the fairness of state and local tax policy that was released yesterday by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranked New Jersey among the… -
ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 Message-Inquirer: Tax Study Explores ‘Who Pays?’ in Kentucky
A new study from a national economic policy research group suggests Kentucky’s tax structure has become less equitable since the last General Assembly’s tax reform legislation, putting more tax obligation on poor and middle-class Kentuckians.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 Providence Business Journal: Study Finds the Wealthy Pay a Lesser Share of Their Income Taxes in R.I.
The greater your income in Rhode Island, the less of it you pay in state and local taxes, a new study finds.
The top one percent of Rhode Islanders [those making more than $467,700 a year] pay 7.9 percent of their income in total state and local taxes, while the bottom 20 percent [those earning less than $21,700 a year] pay 12.1 percent of their income in such taxes.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 KRWG: Lowest-Income Taxpayers in NM Pay 1.8 Times the Tax Rate Paid by the Richest New Mexicans
Commentary: A new study released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds that the lowest-income New Mexicans pay a state and local tax rate that is almost double what the state’s wealthiest residents pay as a share of their income.
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ITEP Work in Action October 18, 2018 Rutland Herald: In All Fairness
Anti-tax advocates across the country and in Vermont continue to push for policies that reduce tax rates for the wealthy and businesses, the report finds. However, a movement is growing in opposition to this agenda, as the public realizes that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations mean less money to fund the things that benefit everyone: schools, parks and public spaces, infrastructure, public safety and other basic services.
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media mention October 17, 2018 NJ BIZ: Report: NJ’s Top Earners Pay Lower Tax Share Than Middle-Income Families
New Jersey’s top earners enjoy vastly more wealth than the majority of New Jersey residents but pay a much lower percentage of taxes than middle-income families in the state. That’s according to a nationwide analysis released Wednesday by New Jersey Policy Perspective and the Institution of Taxation and Economic Policy.
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ITEP Work in Action October 17, 2018 Big Island Now: STUDY: Hawai‘i’s Low-Income Taxpayers Carry 2nd Highest Tax Rate
The main cause of the heavy tax burden on those making the least in Hawaiʻi is the General Excise Tax (GET). Families in the lowest fifth spend 10.5% of their meager incomes on the GET, while the top 1% spend only 1.2% of their large earnings. In other words, those at the bottom spend 8.75 times more of their income on the GET than do those at the top.
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ITEP Work in Action October 17, 2018 DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Narrowing Income Inequality Through the Tax Code
DC’s tax system stands out in two key ways, according to a new analysis on how state tax policies affect families at different income levels. First, taxes on DC families living on very low incomes–below about $24,000 a year–are lower than in any state in the U.S. That good news is due primarily to income and property tax credits targeted to help residents working hard to make ends meet. But the analysis shows that families with incomes just above that level pay the same share of their income in DC taxes (income, sales, and property taxes) as the District’s wealthiest residents. At a time when the income of the top fifth of DC households is 34 times larger than the bottom fifth ($320,000 compared with $9,000)—and a time of growing income gaps between Black and white residents—the District should be asking its wealthiest residents to pay more to address the city’s inequities.
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ITEP Work in Action October 17, 2018 Maine Center for Economic Policy: Maine Still Has Work to Do in Building a Balanced and Adequate Tax Code
Building an inclusive economy requires tax policy that meets two conditions. The first is that those with the most are asked to pay more, or at the very least pay as great a share of their income in taxes as everyone else. The second is that enough shared resources are raised through the tax code to invest adequately in foundations of a strong economy including good schools, access to health care, and safe and modern infrastructure.
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ITEP Work in Action October 17, 2018 New Mexico Voices for Children: New Analysis: Lowest-Income Taxpayers in NM Pay 1.8 Times the Tax Rate Paid by the Richest New Mexicans
“Taxes are the way we accomplish great things for our state – build our schools and infrastructure, provide health care and public safety, and more,” said James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, which partnered with ITEP on the report release. “These systems and services underpin our economy and improve our quality of life. We all need to do our part to support them, but our current state tax system ensures that those who can afford to pay the most actually pay the least.”
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ITEP Work in Action October 17, 2018 Michigan League for Public Policy: News Flash: Michigan Taxes Are Still Upside-Down
While no news is often regarded as good news, in this case, it’s not. Michigan’s tax structure is still highly regressive, and taxes Michiganders with low incomes at a higher rate than Michigan’s wealthiest residents, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.