Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Louisiana

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Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive

July 17, 2024 • By Emma Sifre, Marco Guzman

Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive

Undocumented immigrants who work and pay taxes but don't have a valid Social Security number for either themselves or their children are excluded from federal EITC and CTC benefits. Fortunately, several states have stepped in to ensure undocumented immigrants are not left behind by the gaps in the federal EITC and CTC. State lawmakers should continue to ensure that immigrants who are otherwise eligible for these tax credits receive them.

State Rundown 6/26: Summer Special Sessions Are In, Anti-tax Ballot Initiatives Out

Many families are heading out on summer vacations, but legislators across the country are heading back to statehouses for special sessions...

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Tax Policy is a Part of the Black American Story

June 17, 2024 • By Brakeyshia Samms

Tax Policy is a Part of the Black American Story

Juneteenth is a reminder of the hard-fought victories that helped Black Americans secure their delayed freedom, justice, and suffrage. And in the chapters about tax policy, the tales are no less fraught. From America’s prologue to the last paragraph of the Civil War, governments raised more tax revenue from the taxation of Black bodies than […]

States Should Opt Into IRS Direct File as the Program is Made Permanent

While there is plenty of room to expand Direct File at the federal level, states can take matters into their own hands and bring this benefit to their residents by opting into the program.

State Rundown 5/22: When One Legislative Session Closes, Another Opens

State legislatures are wrapping up, but don’t stray too far from your state capital or you’ll miss out on the action...

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Better Tax Codes Help Boost Teacher Pay

May 16, 2024 • By Alex Welch

Better Tax Codes Help Boost Teacher Pay

There are a variety of factors that affect teacher pay. But one often overlooked factor is progressive tax policies that allow states to raise and provide the funding educators and their students deserve.

State Rundown 5/2: Vetoes and New Major Tax Proposals

This week, many states took steps toward enacting tax cuts...

State Rundown 3/28: Tax Cut Madness, But Our Brackets Bet on Tax Fairness

While madness is typically reserved for basketball in March, several high-profile, regressive tax cuts are making their way through state legislatures this week...

Eliminating Income Taxes Would Be an Expensive Giveaway

Governors and legislative leaders in a dozen states have made calls to fully eliminate their taxes on personal or corporate income, after many states already deeply slashed them over the past few years. The public deserves to know the true impact of these plans, which would inevitably result in an outsized windfall to states’ richest taxpayers, more power in the hands of wealthy households and corporations, extreme cuts to basic public services, and more deeply inequitable state tax codes.

State Rundown 2/22: Some Top-Heavy Tax Cut Proposals are Getting the Chop

With many state legislatures now in full swing with activity heating up, some tax cut proposals have lost steam...

State Rundown 2/1: Black History Month Begins as Tax Debates Heat Up Nationwide

This week the showdown between the Kansas legislature and governor continued as Gov. Kelly vetoed the legislature’s latest attempt to pass a flat personal income tax. Elsewhere, the focus is on doing more for working families through proposals to expand refundable credits in Maryland and adding a millionaire tax bracket in Rhode Island. Meanwhile, there’s […]

State Rundown 1/26: Wealth Taxes Drawing Interest Early in Legislative Sessions

Bills are moving and state legislative sessions are picking up across the country, giving elected officials the opportunity to consider two distinct paths when it comes to tax policy...

State Tax Watch 2024

January 23, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Tax Watch 2024

Updated July 15, 2024 In 2024, state lawmakers have a choice: advance tax policy that improves equity and helps communities thrive, or push tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, drain funding for critical public services, and make it harder for low-income and working families to get ahead. Despite worsening state fiscal conditions, we expect […]

How the Fairness of State Tax Codes Affects Public Education

The findings of Who Pays? go a long way toward explaining why so many states are failing to raise the amount of revenue needed to provide full and robust support for our public schools.

State Rundown 1/18: State Tax Priorities Taking Shape in 2024

Tax policy themes have begun to crop up in states as governors give their yearly addresses and legislators lay out their plans for the 2024 legislative season...

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In Most States, the Tax Code Makes Inequality Worse

January 9, 2024 • By Carl Davis

In Most States, the Tax Code Makes Inequality Worse

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. Yet a few states have made strides to buck that trend and have tax codes that are somewhat progressive and therefore do not worsen inequality.

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.

Louisiana: Who Pays? 7th Edition

January 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

Louisiana: Who Pays? 7th Edition

Louisiana Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Louisiana, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly 100 percent of state and local tax revenue collected in Louisiana. These figures depict Louisiana’s EITC at its 2024 level of 5 percent […]

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State Rundown 11/29: Thankful for Good Tax Policy

November 29, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 11/29: Thankful for Good Tax Policy

Though Turkey Day has passed, lawmakers in states across the U.S. have yet to get their fill of delicious tax policy goodness...

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Abortion-Restricting States Skimp on Funding for Children

November 9, 2023 • By Amy Hanauer

Abortion-Restricting States Skimp on Funding for Children

States differ dramatically in how much they allow families to make choices about whether and when to have children and how much support they provide when families do. But there is a clear pattern: the states that compel childbirth spend less to help children once they are born.

State Rundown 11/8: Election Results Bring Victories, Opportunities for More Common-Sense Tax Reform

Voters had the chance to impact tax policy across the country on election day, and some chose to enact common-sense reforms to raise revenue...

State Rundown 10/12: Tax Policy Debates Don’t Just Happen in the Statehouse

It may be the off-season for state legislatures, but tax policy changes could soon emerge from the ballot box or the courts. Advocates in Arkansas want voters to decide the future of taxing diapers and feminine hygiene products, and supporters of public education in Nebraska are working to make sure voters have a say on the state’s school choice tax credit. Meanwhile, cannabis firms in Missouri are suing the state over cities and counties stacking sales tax on marijuana.

The Campaign by Democratic Former Officials to Stop Taxes on the Wealthy

One of the most attention-grabbing anti-tax campaigns at work today is called SAFE, which stands for Saving America’s Family Enterprises. But it might as well mean Saving Aristocrats From Everything given the outfit’s knack for opposing any national proposal to limit special tax advantages that only the wealthy enjoy. The basic approach of SAFE is […]

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State Rundown 9/13: The (Policy) Choices We Make

September 13, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 9/13: The (Policy) Choices We Make

The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual assessment of poverty in America this week...

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Boosting Incomes, Improving Equity: State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2023

September 12, 2023 • By Aidan Davis, Neva Butkus

Boosting Incomes, Improving Equity: State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2023

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.