Income Taxes
State Rundown 10/22: Despite Obstacles, Progressive Taxes Define 2026
• By ITEP Staff
As more states move to raise revenue and tax the rich, anti-tax lobbyists and lawmakers are hard at work to undo that progress. Despite pushback, important conversations around needed revenue continue.
State Rundown 10/8: Ballot Debates and Gas Tax Promises Accelerate as Election Day Nears
• By ITEP Staff
As the Iran War continues to cause gas prices to rise across the country, lawmakers are stepping on the accelerator instead of pumping the brakes on costly and ineffective proposals to suspend the gas tax ahead of the November election.
Impact of Key Trump Policies on Taxes and Costs: National and State Estimates
• By Steve Wamhoff
The major tax and economic policies of President Trump’s second term have increased taxes and household costs for most Americans except the richest 1%.
New State Taxes on the Wealthy Raise Revenue and Rebalance Tax Codes, Advancing Racial Justice
• By Brakeyshia Samms
Taxing the rich is proven fiscal policy – it raises revenue for vital public services and makes tax codes fairer. But a part of the debate that rarely gets enough attention: taxing the rich is also one of the most effective tools available for advancing racial equity.
Where America’s Biggest Cities Get Their Tax Revenue
• By ITEP Staff
Property taxes are the largest source of revenue for over half of the 50 largest cities, but to a lesser degree than for other local governments.
State Rundown 9/10: States Brace for (and in Some Cases Embrace) Ballots and Budgets
• By ITEP Staff
States across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems, while other states are receiving budget forecasts that could further shape upcoming policy debates.
How the 50 Largest American Cities Raise Revenue and What That Means for Tax Equity
• By Rita Jefferson, Nick Johnson, Galen Hendricks
Large cities have the technical capacity, the economic base, and often more political might than smaller localities and governments that local officials should utilize to design fairer tax systems.
2026 State Tax Ballot Measures to Watch
• By Aidan Davis
This fall, voters across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems. Here’s some of what we’re following.
State Rundown 8/27: Tax Policy is Cool as Summer Wraps
• By ITEP Staff
With many state legislatures already adjourned, developments in tax policy have slowed.
State Rundown 8/13: Income Tax Elimination Fails in Missouri
• By ITEP Staff
In a win for Missouri workers and families, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed amendment that would have allowed lawmakers to replace the state's income tax with increased or expanded sales taxes.
Missouri Voters Reject Amendment 5 and a Damaging Tax Shift onto Working Families
• By Eli Byerly-Duke, Jon Whiten
Yesterday Missouri voters rejected Amendment 5, declining to give lawmakers a blank check to raise or expand sales taxes, something some lawmakers sought to enable enormous income tax cuts for the state’s wealthiest households.
State Rundown 7/29: The Misguided, Miserly Missouri Amendment to Eliminate the Income Tax
• By ITEP Staff
Missouri voters are facing a major decision at the ballot box next week on Amendment 5, which would amend the state constitution to allow lawmakers to eliminate the individual income tax and expand the state’s sales tax on any good or service to make up for lost revenue.
Congressional Republicans Say D.C. Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Run Its Own Tax System
• By Matthew Gardner
This week a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved a bill that would effectively take away Washington, D.C.’s fiscal autonomy, requiring Congressional approval of any new D.C. laws that increase taxes or fees.
Missouri’s Amendment 5 Would Cut Taxes for the Rich and Raise Taxes on Seniors and the Middle Class
• By Eli Byerly-Duke
On August 4, Missouri voters will vote on whether to increase taxes on the middle class and seniors to fund tax cuts for the richest households in the state.
2026 Sessions in Review: States Move to Tax the Rich and Corporations
• By Aidan Davis
This year several states raised income tax rates on high-income people to fund crucial services and make progress toward remedying the regressive tilt of their tax codes.
State Rundown 6/25: Trending This Summer? New Revenue!
• By ITEP Staff
It's the first official week of summer, and while many of us are planning vacations, state lawmakers remain busy finalizing and debating tax proposals.
Celebrate Juneteenth With Tax Justice for All
• By Brakeyshia Samms
If Juneteenth is to mean anything beyond symbolism, it must also be a call to confront the policies that continue to shape racial inequities today. One of the most powerful drivers of that inequity is our tax system.
Rhode Island Budget Bets on Tax Fairness with Millionaires’ Tax and New Child Tax Credit
• By Miles Trinidad
The spending plan, signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee today, features a new millionaires’ tax, the state’s first permanent child tax credit, expanded eligibility for its Social Security exemption , and strategic decoupling from federal business tax provisions.
State Rundown 6/11: Taxing the Rich Heats Up
• By ITEP Staff
As we head into summer, many state legislatures are in the final stretches of their sessions. Rhode Island moved another step closer to joining the ranks of Washington, Maine, and Hawai’i in enacting a new high-income surcharge this year.
State Rundown 6/4: Fiscal Flowers and Weeds Bloom in June
• By ITEP Staff
A veritable superbloom of tax and budget policies occurred over these last few weeks, including both flowers worth admiring and weeds worth fighting back.
As Inequality Grows, More States Look to Tax the Rich
• By Alex Welch
From surcharges on the income of high-earners to higher taxes on second homes, here are recent steps states have taken to tax the rich.
Tax the Rich, Fund Our Communities: Local Options for Progressive Revenue
• By Rita Jefferson, Nick Johnson, Angelo Pis-Dudot
The task for local elected officials in this moment is therefore clear: use available tools to make the wealthy pay their fair share to fund the essential public goods that allow our communities to live safe, healthy, and thriving lives.
State Rundown 5/7: Federal Showers Make States Dour
• By ITEP Staff
The effects of last year’s federal tax and spending cuts continue to ripple through the states. With gas prices soaring due to the Iran war, some states are attempting to provide a bit of relief in the form of gas tax reductions and suspensions.
State Rundown 4/30: Aloha to Tax Cuts, Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Address Revenue Gap with High-End Tax Changes
• By ITEP Staff
This week Hawaiʻi lawmakers reached a compromise to balance the state budget and maintain tax cuts for most residents by, in part, raising rates on the richest Hawaiians. Other states are working to generate revenue from their wealthiest residents, too.
The Washington Post Is Wrong: Many Rich Americans Are Not Paying Their Fair Share
• By Jessica Vela
Bezos' hand-picked editorial board argues that our tax code does not need to be more progressive because the share of federal income tax paid by the rich already exceeds their share of income. This is grossly misleading for at least two reasons.
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.