District of Columbia

The vast majority of state and local tax systems are upside-down, with the wealthy paying a far lesser share of their income in taxes than low- and middle-income families. That’s according to the latest edition of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Who Pays?, the only distributional analysis of tax systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Vermont Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Vermont, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.7 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Vermont. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]

Oregon Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Oregon, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.5 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Oregon. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]

New York Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in New York, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.9 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in New York. State and local tax shares of family income Top […]

New Jersey Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in New Jersey, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.9 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in New Jersey. State and local tax shares of family income Top […]

New Mexico Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in New Mexico, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.6 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in New Mexico. As seen in Appendix D, recent tax policy changes […]

Minnesota Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Minnesota, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.9 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Minnesota. As seen in Appendix D, recent tax policy changes have added to […]

Massachusetts Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Massachusetts, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.8 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Massachusetts. As seen in Appendix D, recent tax policy changes have significantly lessened […]

Maine Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Maine, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.8 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Maine. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]

District of Columbia Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in the District of Columbia, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly 100 percent of DC’s tax revenue. These figures depict the District’s EITC for workers with children at its […]

California Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in California, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.2 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in California. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]

The federal estate tax has reached historic lows. In 2019, only 8 of every 10,000 people who died left an estate large enough to trigger the tax. Legislative changes under presidents of both parties have increased the basic exemption from the estate tax over the past 20 years. This has cut the share of adults leaving behind taxable estates down from more than 2 percent to well under 1 percent.

State lawmakers are increasingly interested in reforming their corporate tax bases to start from a comprehensive measure of worldwide profit. This provides a more accurate, and less gameable, starting point for calculating profits subject to state corporate tax. Mandating this kind of filing system, known as worldwide combined reporting (WWCR), would be transformative, as it would all but eliminate state corporate tax avoidance done through the artificial shifting of profits into low-tax countries.

Leading localities are using refundable EITCs to boost incomes and reduce taxes for workers and families with low and moderate incomes. These local credits build on the success of EITCs at the federal and state levels, reduce economic hardship and improve the fairness of the tax code.

The latest analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau provides an important reminder of the compelling link between public investments and families’ economic well-being. Policy decisions can drastically reduce poverty and improve family economic stability for low- and middle-income families alike, as today’s data release shows.

Nearly two-thirds of states (31 plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have an Earned Income Tax Credit, an effective tool that boosts low-paid workers’ incomes and helps lower-income families achieve greater economic security. This year, 12 states expanded and improved EITCs.

Nineteen states have sales tax holidays on the books in 2023, and these suspensions will cost nearly $1.6 billion in lost revenue this year. Sales tax holidays are poorly targeted and too temporary to meaningfully change the regressive nature of a state’s tax system. Overall, the benefits of sales tax holidays are minimal while their downsides are significant.

In 2023 so far, 17 states have either adopted or expanded a Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit. Both these policies can help bolster the economic security of low- and middle-income families and position the next generation for success.

No tax cut offers a more targeted solution to property tax affordability problems than circuit breaker credits. This is because circuit breakers are the only tools for reducing property taxes that measure the affordability of property taxes relative to families’ ability to pay. Circuit breakers protect families from property tax “overload” much like how traditional […]

Many state legislatures this year have been considering property tax cuts – but too many are ignoring the solution that speaks more directly to questions of property tax affordability than any other policy option: the “circuit breaker."

Concerns over property tax affordability have been at the forefront this year as housing prices have climbed and property tax bills have often increased along with them. As lawmakers mull a range of property tax cuts, circuit breakers are the best possible approach—and these policies are receiving far too little attention in the states.

Circuit breaker credits are the most effective tool available to promote property tax affordability. These policies prevent a property tax “overload” by crediting back property taxes that go beyond a certain share of income. Circuit breakers intervene to ensure that property taxes do not swallow up an unreasonable portion of qualifying households’ budgets.

The push by Congressional Republicans to make the provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent would cost nearly $300 billion in the first year and deliver the bulk of the tax benefits to the wealthiest Americans.