District of Columbia
Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix
• By Carl Davis
Read this report in PDF form Introduction For years, academics and transportation experts have been discussing the possibility of taxing drivers for each mile they travel on the nation’s roads. This “vehicle miles traveled tax” (VMT tax) could either supplement or replace the existing gas tax as the primary method of funding transportation infrastructure. To […]
Issues with Taxing Marijuana at the State Level
• By Carl Davis, Richard Phillips
Read as a PDF. Table of Contents Introduction Why Tax Marijuana? Designing a State Tax on Marijuana How Much Revenue Would Marijuana Legalization Generate for States Factors that Could Negatively Impact Marijuana Revenue Factors that Could Positively Impact Marijuana Revenue Conclusion Endnotes Charts and Text Boxes Current Approaches to Taxing Retail Marijuana Sales How Should […]
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2015)
• By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe
This report was updated February 2016 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is often lacking. The reality is the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions […]
LA Times: How States Suck the Fairness out of the Tax System
April 14, 2015
A look at the data used by CTJ shows why this happens. It’s compiled annually by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which issues its own report, “Who Pays,” every few years. The main culprits are sales and excise taxes, which disproportionately hammer lower-income taxpayers. In every state and the District of Columbia, the wealthy pay […]
C-SPAN Washington Journal: State and Local Tax Systems
March 30, 2015
Matthew Gardner, executive director of ITEP, talked about the fairness of state and local tax systems in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia and what this means as people file their income taxes. He talked about how the 2015 edition of the report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), […]
The Daily Item: Tax the Rich More
March 16, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Pennsylvania at No. 6 in the Institute’s “Terrible 10” states that taxes low income earners up to seven times as much of their income in taxes as the top 1 percent are taxed on their income. Washington, Florida and Texas top the list of the “Terrible 10” […]
The Patriot News: There’s a Reason Pennsylvania Makes the Top 10 Terrible Tax States
March 11, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Pennsylvania at number six in the its “Terrible 10” states that tax low income earners up to seven times as much, as a percentage of income, as the top one percent are taxed. Washington, Florida and Texas top the list of the “Terrible 10” states, and Delaware, Montana […]
Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
• By ITEP Staff
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…
Bloomberg: Will State Legislatures Pass Gas Tax Hikes This Year?
February 11, 2015
However, the kind of funding structure that Maryland put in place has been called good policy by organizations like the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization in Washington, D.C., because the inflation adjustment allows the revenue’s buying power to keep up with transportation expenses over time. Flat-rate taxes do […]
Baltimore Post-Examiner: Maryland Taxes Are Fairer Than Most
January 20, 2015
Maryland ranked as the 38th least “unfair” state in Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s semi-annual taxation report, published on Wednesday. This means Maryland’s tax policies are considered more fair than three-quarters of the states.The report “Who Pays” outlines the percentages of local and state taxes as a percentage of income for all 50 states […]
DC Fiscal Policy Institute: The Recommendations of the D.C. Tax Revision Commission Are Having a Favorable Impact on the District
• By ITEP Staff
The Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP) issued its 2015 report — Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States – today. The fifth edition of this report, which also includes findings for DC, shows the District of Columbia’s progress towards improving the fairness of the DC tax system. […]
Accounting Today: States Tax Poor More Heavily than Ultra-rich
January 16, 2015
A new report finds that every state tax system, with the exception of the District of Columbia, taxes its poorest residents at significantly higher tax rates than the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers. The report, from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, is the fifth edition of the nonprofit research organization’s “Who Pays?” report […]
Maryland Reporter: Maryland taxes are fairer than in most states, report says
January 15, 2015
“Maryland ranked as the 38th least “unfair” state in Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s semi-annual taxation report, published on Wednesday. This means Maryland’s tax policies are considered more fair than three-quarters of the states. The report “Who Pays” outlines the percentages of local and state taxes as a percentage of income for all 50 […]
The Washington Post: D.C.’s tax system is one of America’s fairest
January 15, 2015
“The District of Columbia might have a reputation as a highly taxed jurisdiction, but it should have a reputation as a fairly taxed jurisdiction, according to a new study. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on Wednesday issued the latest edition of its regular “Who Pays?” survey of state tax systems, rating the District […]
Who Pays? Fifth Edition
• By ITEP Staff
Read the Report in PDF The 2015 Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States (the fifth edition of the report) assesses the fairness of state and local tax systems by measuring the state and local taxes that will be paid in 2015 by different income groups as a share […]
What’s the Matter with Kansas Is What Ails All 50 States
• By Jenice R. Robinson
It’s easy to hold up Kansas as the poster child for regressive tax policies gone awry. By now it’s apparent Gov. Sam Brownback and his allies in the state legislature were wrong when they predicted lopsided tax cuts would boost the state’s economy. The state will have trouble funding priorities such as education and services […]
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
• By Meg Wiehe
Read the Report in PDF Form The Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2013, the national poverty rate was 14.5 percent, a slight drop from last years’ rate of 15 percent and the first decline since 2006.1 However, the poverty rate remains 2.0 […]
Marketplace: D.C. Makes the Case for Taxing More Services
June 24, 2014
"If you don't tax services in the long run, you don't have a sales tax. End of story," says Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. He says states should tax more services, ideally at a lower rate. But broadening the tax base isn't easy, he says.
Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix
• By Carl Davis
The gasoline tax is the single largest source of funding for transportation infrastructure in the United States, but the tax is on an unsustainable course. Sluggish gas tax revenue growth has put strain on transportation budgets at the federal and state levels, and has led to countless debates around the country about how best to pay for America's infrastructure.
Improving Tax Fairness with a State Earned Income Tax Credit
• By Meg Wiehe
The simplest, most effective, and most targeted way to begin to counteract regressive state tax codes is a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia already have some version of a state EITC. Each one is modeled on the federal credit, making it easy for taxpayers to claim and simple for state tax officials to administer. This report explains how all states - even those who already have…
DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Making DC’s Tax System Fair: Progress in the 2015 Budget
• By ITEP Staff
Most DC residents — like most Americans — agree that income tax rates should be graduated by income. Low-income households should pay the lowest rate, so that there is an incentive to work and they can support their basic needs. This kind of progressive approach also means tax rates get higher as incomes rise and […]
D.C. Tax Revision Commission: Final Report
• By ITEP Staff
On Dec. 18, 2013, the D.C. Tax Revision Commission unanimously approved a set of recommendations designed to improve the District’s tax system and help its residents and businesses prosper.The Commission’s recommendations are a roadmap to a more fair, competitive, and efficient tax system. Read the Full Report
Economic Progress Institute: Improve Rhode Island’s Earned Income Tax Credit to Help Hard-working Rhode Islanders
• By ITEP Staff
Rhode Island is among 25 states and the District of Columbia that offer a state EITC, but unlike most states, the credit is only partially refundable. Just over 83,000 Rhode Island taxpayers claimed the state’s EITC in Tax Year 2012 . The average credit was $119. Of those taxpayers receiving a credit, 73,119 received a […]
Most Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
• 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-two 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 twenty years. And almost half…
The Record: The 5-cent solution – gas tax for New Jersey
March 24, 2014
(Original Post) MARCH 21, 2014, 4:53 PM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014, 4:53 PM BY CARL DAVIS THE RECORD Carl Davis is senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues. IF YOU WERE to ask five […]
