October 17, 2018

District of Columbia: Who Pays? 6th Edition

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL TAXES

Taxes as Share of Family Income

					Top 20%
Income Group	Lowest 20%	Second 20%	Middle 20%	Fourth 20%	Next 15%	Next 5%	Top 1%
Income Range	Less than $23,600	$23,600 to $44,200	$44,200 to $70,700	$70,700 to $122,300	$122,300 to $304,000	$304,000 to $919,300	over $919,300
Average Income	$12,800	$34,000	$55,300	$91,400	$186,300	$473,800	$2,264,800
Sales & Excise Taxes	6.4%	5.3%	4.5%	3.3%	2.4%	1.4%	0.6%
General Sales – Individuals	3.1%	2.5%	2.3%	1.8%	1.4%	0.8%	0.4%
Other Sales & Excise – Ind.	0.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.3%	0.2%	0.1%	0.0%
Sales & Excise on Business	2.4%	2.0%	1.7%	1.2%	0.8%	0.5%	0.2%
Property Taxes	3.6%	2.4%	1.9%	1.9%	2.0%	2.1%	1.7%
Home, Rent, Car – Ind.	2.5%	1.6%	1.2%	1.4%	1.6%	1.5%	0.6%
Other Property Taxes	1.2%	0.9%	0.7%	0.5%	0.4%	0.7%	1.1%
Income Taxes	-3.8%	1.3%	3.4%	4.9%	5.4%	5.7%	7.2%
Personal Income Tax	-3.8%	1.2%	3.4%	4.8%	5.3%	5.6%	7.0%
Corporate Income Tax	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
TOTAL TAXES	6.3%	9.0%	9.8%	10.1%	9.8%	9.3%	9.5%

Individual figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Download the table

TAX FEATURES DRIVING THE DATA in District of Columbia

Progressive Features	Regressive Features
Graduated personal income tax structure Provides a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for families with children and an enhanced credit to workers without children in the home Limits itemized deductions for upper-income taxpayers Provides a refundable property tax “circuit breaker” credit for low-income and elderly taxpayers Sales tax base excludes groceries Requires the use of combined reporting for the corporate income tax Levies a state estate tax	Comparatively high cigarette tax rate

Progressive Features

Regressive Features

Graduated personal income tax structure
Provides a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for families with children and an enhanced credit to workers without children in the home
Limits itemized deductions for upper-income taxpayers
Provides a refundable property tax “circuit breaker” credit for low-income and elderly taxpayers
Sales tax base excludes groceries
Requires the use of combined reporting for the corporate income tax
Levies a state estate tax

Comparatively high cigarette tax rate

ITEP Tax Inequality Index

According to ITEP’s Tax Inequality Index, the District of Columbia’s local tax system does not worsen income inequality and ranks 50th on the index. The large income gap between lower- and middle-income taxpayers, as compared to the wealthy, is somewhat narrower after state and local taxes than before. (See Appendix B for state-by-state rankings and the methodology for additional detail on the index.)

Note: Figures show permanent law in the District of Columbia enacted through September 10, 2018, at 2015 income levels. Top figure represents total District taxes as a share of non-elderly income. The sixth edition of Who Pays does not include the impact of the federal deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) because policy changes in the 2017 federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act temporarily limited the extent to which the SALT deduction functions as a generalized offset of state and local taxes.