Illinois
Pekin Daily Times: Illinois Taxes Hit Vulnerable the Hardest
March 6, 2015
Illinois has the fifth most regressive tax system in the country, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. That means low-income and middle-class people are hit the hardest. “The problem with our state tax systems is that we are asking far more of those who can afford the least,” said Meg Wiehe, a […]
Chicago Sun Times: More Education Cuts
March 4, 2015
Meanwhile, our system of taxes hits low-income families the hardest. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy named us one of the 10 “Most Regressive State Tax Systems,” with the third-highest “Taxes on the Poor.” Yet if just 20 large Illinois companies had paid state taxes at the required statutory rate over the past five […]
An updated version of this report has been published with data through July 1, 2017. Read the report in PDF form. Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely increased.1 […]
Progress Illinois: Illinois Ranks Poorly on Wellbeing Indicators
February 2, 2015
Additionally, researchers highlighted the fact that Illinois has the fifth most regressive tax system in the nation, according to a separate study recently issued by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The analysis showed that the poorest Illinois residents currently pay almost three times more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the richest people in the […]
Major tax overhauls are on the agenda in a record number of states, and “Who Pays?” documents in state-by-state detail the precise distribution of state income taxes, sales and excise taxes and property taxes paid by each income group as of January 2013. It is a critical baseline against which future proposals can be measured. […]
Fiscal Policy Center: Fair For Whom? IL Taxes the Lowest Earners at the Highest Rates
January 21, 2015
As part of his campaign platform and “Jobs and Growth Agenda,” Governor Rauner has identified the need to “overhaul the tax code so that it’s fair to all taxpayers.” We couldn’t agree more. Considering all major state and local taxes Illinoisans pay, those who earn the least — less than $19,000 a year — pay […]
Evanston Now: Illinois Tax System Among the Most Regressive
January 21, 2015
A new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says Illinois residents face one of the most regressive state and local tax systems in the nation. The institute — which defines regressive taxation as a system in which lower income people pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than those who […]
Public News Service: Illinois Poor Face Unfair Tax Burden
January 20, 2015
A new study finds Illinois’ poorest residents are paying almost three times more in taxes than the top one percent of earners. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the state takes a much greater share of income from middle and low income families than from the wealthy. Read more A new study […]
WJBC: Illinois among most unfair tax states
January 16, 2015
“The Illinois system is the fifth most unfair in the nation, in terms of low-income people paying the highest proportion of their income in taxes vs. the wealthy paying the lowest, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Executive director Matt Gardner explains the consequences: “When you have a tax system that decides, […]
Salon: Defiant Sam Brownback vows to move toward zero income tax — and make Kansas even more unequal
January 16, 2015
“A study released this week underscores one of the most pernicious effects of such a tax regime: It exacerbates inequality. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that “[v]irtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair,” with state and local taxes eating disproportionately into lower-income workers’ wages. But the effect was far worse in […]
WYSO: In Ohio, Poor People Pay More Of Their Incomes In Taxes Than Rich People
January 16, 2015
“A national report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Ohio 18th in the country for most imbalanced tax systems. In a “regressive” tax system, low- and middle-income people pay a larger balance of their incomes in state and local taxes than high earners. The study finds very few states with “progressive” tax […]
Capital Fax: Illinois has fifth most regressive state/local taxation in nation
January 15, 2015
A new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and the Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children finds that the lowest income Illinoisans pay nearly three times more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state’s wealthiest residents. The study, Who Pays?, analyzes tax systems in […]
Illinois Times: Illinois Broken Tax System
January 9, 2015
It adds up to the fourth-most regressive tax code in the nation, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. In thundering against the status quo, Rauner has raised expectations in a state that has traditionally seen tax hikes and overhauls when Republicans occupy the governor’s […]
The Register-Mail: Progressive Income Tax Better for Illinois
December 15, 2014
The flat in Illinois tax seems fair, but when grouped with all the other taxes people pay it is out of balance. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Illinois’ tax system (all taxes) is regressive toward low and middle income families with the third highest tax burden of all states. Read more […]
ABC (Michigan Affiliate WZZM): Gas Tax 101
December 3, 2014
Carl Davis, a senior analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., said Michigan is one of only four states, with Indiana, Illinois and Hawaii, that fully apply their general sales tax to fuel sales. Of the 41.4 cents in state taxes Michigan motorists pay on a gallon of fuel, only […]
My Fox Chicago: Chicago’s Undocumented Population Reacts to Obama’s Immigration Plan
November 24, 2014
“If illegal immigrants in Illinois are legalized, they would pay $711.6 million in state and local taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.”
International Business Times: Immigration Reform 2014: Economic Impact Of Obama Helping Immigrants Includes More Jobs, Tax Revenue
November 20, 2014
TEXAS Immigrants comprise 21 percent of Texas’ labor force, according to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau. If all illegal immigrants were removed from Texas, the state would lose $69.3 billion in economic activity, $30.8 billion in gross state product and roughly 403,174 jobs, according to a 2008 report by the Perryman Group. If illegal immigrants […]
Windy City Times: Immigration Facts and Fictions
November 6, 2014
Unauthorized migrants pay sales taxes, property taxes, whether they rent or own, ‘use’ taxes, and, in some cases, even income taxes, whether state, local, or federal, including social security and medicare taxes. In July 2013, the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ( ITEP ) issued a report that statistically demonstrated the tax contributions […]
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 […]
Alston Telegraph: Illinois Not the Worst–for Once
September 17, 2014
It’s always nice when Illinois is not at the absolute bottom of a list. Imagine — finding a reason to rejoice because we are not the worst. So WalletHub study author John S. Kiernan first tried to determine what constitutes a fair state and local tax system. His crew started with an online survey to […]
Chicago Tribune: Roads May Crumble as People Go Green
September 8, 2014
By Julie Wernau State governments aren’t the only ones struggling. Over the past five years, Congress has transferred $53 billion from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Highway Trust Fund supports 39 percent of […]
Chicago Tribune: How Some of Illinois’s Largest Companies Cut Their Taxes
September 5, 2014
The United States generally taxes the income of large corporations at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. It has spurred companies such as Lake Forest-based Hospira to enter talks to buy a French company in a deal that would enable the drugmaker to move its headquarters to that country and lower […]
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
August 5, 2014 • By Meg Wiehe
Sales taxes are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state revenues in 2013. But sales taxes are also inherently regressive because the lower a family's income, the more of its income the family must spend on things subject to the tax.
Voice for Illinois for Children: Congress Must Act to Stop Corporate Inversions
July 30, 2014
A number of high-profile U.S. corporations have, or are reportedly considering, corporate “inversions,” where they move their “headquarters” overseas to avoid paying U.S. corporate income taxes. Unless Congress acts, federal and state governments are set to lose, at minimum, tens of billions in revenue to support urgent priorities such as schools, roads and bridges, and […]
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in helping states to adequately fund public services in a way that improves the progressivity of state tax systems. While many of the taxes levied by state and local governments fall most heavily on low-income families, only the very wealthy pay estate and inheritance taxes. Recent changes in the federal estate tax, however, culminating in the "fiscal cliff " deal of early 2013, have forced states to reevaluate the structure of their estate and inheritance taxes. Unfortunately, the trend of late has tended toward weakening…
