Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Income Taxes

What Biden Means By No Tax Increases on Anyone “Making Under $400,000”

Presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Friday that under his proposals, no one with income below $400,000 would pay higher taxes than they do now. Does this make sense? It is true that Congress and the next president have many options to raise trillions of dollars from people who have incomes even higher than that. […]

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Talking Taxes in Alaska

March 6, 2020 • By Carl Davis

Talking Taxes in Alaska

Alaska’s tax system underwent major changes in the 1970s when oil was found at Prudhoe Bay. Lawmakers repealed the state’s personal income tax (making Alaska the only state ever to do so) and began balancing the state’s budget primarily with oil tax and royalty revenue instead. But as oil prices and production levels have declined, a yawning gap has opened between state revenues and the cost of providing vital public services.

State Itemized Deductions: Surveying the Landscape, Exploring Reforms

State itemized deductions are generally patterned after federal law, though nearly every state makes significant changes to the menu of deductions available or the extent to which those deductions are allowed. This report summarizes the key details of each state’s itemized deduction policies and discusses various options for reforming those deductions with a focus on lessening their regressive impact and reducing their cost to state budgets.

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Maine Reaches Tax Fairness Milestone

September 26, 2019 • By Guest Blogger

Maine Reaches Tax Fairness Milestone

Lawmakers in Maine this year took bold steps toward making the state’s tax system fairer. Their actions demonstrate that political will can dramatically alter state tax policy landscape to improve economic well-being for low-income families while also ensuring the wealthy pay a fairer share.

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The Mortgage Interest Deduction Is a House of Cards

August 12, 2019 • By Jessica Schieder

The Mortgage Interest Deduction Is a House of Cards

Given how much more exclusively this deduction now benefits the highest-income households, its continued existence is hard to justify. Even when the credit was available to a larger swath of families, it was ineffective at promoting homeownership.

File Under “No Surprise”: Wealthiest Taxpayers Use Offshore Tax Shelters More Than the Rest of Us, New Research Finds

Tax evasion matters. It drains needed revenues from the public treasury, and saps public confidence in rules of the game. A recent Pew Research poll finds that 60 percent of Americans are bothered “a lot” by the feeling that the best-off don’t pay their fair share of taxes. And now, thanks to a new report, […]

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How Does Your State Tax Income?

May 22, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

How Does Your State Tax Income?

One of the most important decisions that must be made when designing a state personal income tax is whether to charge taxpayers a single flat rate on all their taxable income, or whether to levy a series of graduated rates that ask more of high-income taxpayers

How Heavily Does Your State Rely on Individual Income Taxes?

Income taxes vary considerably in their structure across states, though the best taxes are fine-tuned to taxpayers’ ability-to-pay.