Massachusetts

Fourteen states now provide Child Tax Credits to reduce poverty, boost economic security, and invest in children. This year alone, lawmakers in three states created new Child Tax Credits while lawmakers in seven states expanded existing credits. To maximize impact, lawmakers should consider making their credits fully refundable, not including an earnings requirement, setting a maximum amount per child instead of per household, setting state-specific phase-out ranges that target low- and middle-income families, indexing to inflation, and offering the option of advanced payments.

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.

While a number of state tax laws are debated, approved, and vetoed in any given year, many go unnoticed...

Sales tax holidays are bad policies that have too often been used as a substitute for more meaningful, permanent reform.

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.

The Dog Days of summer are upon us, and with most states out of session and extreme heat waves making their way across the country, it’s a perfect time to sit back and catch up on all your favorite state tax happenings (ideally with a cool drink in hand)...

State lawmakers continue to make groundbreaking progress on state tax credits, with 17 states creating or enhancing Child Tax Credits or Earned Income Tax Credits so far this year. These policies have the potential to boost family economic security and dramatically reduce the number of children living below the poverty line.

Summer is here and many states nearing the end of their legislative sessions. Temperatures are rising in more ways than one in some state legislatures while others seem to be cooling off.

Across the country, the marathon budget season has held pace, with a steady stream of bills continuing to cross the finish line...

This op-ed was originally published by Route Fifty and co-written by ITEP State Director Aidan Davis and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senior Advisor for State Tax Policy Wesley Tharpe. There’s a troubling trend in state capitols across the country: Some lawmakers are pushing big, permanent tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy and […]

This past week, in statehouses around the country, tax policy decisions are moving fast as budgets were signed and budget plans were released and passed...

Lawmakers have proposed a variety of tax cuts, some of which would provide outsize benefits to the most affluent households and widen existing racial and economic disparities. Other proposed tax changes would make the Commonwealth more equitable by targeting benefits to lower-income households who need them the most. Read more.

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.

ITEP’s analytical approach, our comprehensive microsimulation model, and our unique state-level capacities enable us to do pioneering analyses that enrich the debate on racial justice in tax policy that no other entity can do.

Everything! Taxing wealthy people and corporations and using the revenue for paid leave, child care, education, health care and college would transform America for girls and women of every race and family type, in every corner of this country.

With Tax Day quickly approaching it’s worth taking some time to reflect not just on tax forms (though those are important!), but also on the current state of state tax policy...

For a video of Marco’s testimony, click here. Thank you, Assemblywoman Anderson, and thank you chairman and members of the Assembly for the opportunity to speak on the topic of Nevada’s state tax system. My name is Marco Guzman, and I am a Senior State Policy Analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy […]

Over the past week Washington state saw a major victory for tax fairness after the state Supreme Court held the state’s capital gains tax—passed in 2021—constitutional...

Governor Healey’s tax relief proposal would reduce state revenue available for future investments by $986 million annually. Three proposed tax credits would be progressive, meaning the benefits for lower-income households would be a larger percent of their income than the benefits for higher-income houseolds..1 The Governor also proposes two highly regressive tax cuts, meaning richer, higher-income households would receive […]

This week, several big tax proposals took strides on the march toward becoming law...

The word “tax” appears 97 times and counting in one recent summary of governors’ addresses to state legislators so far this year. The policy visions that governors are bringing, however, vary enormously. While there's good reason to worry about tax cuts for wealthy families and the flattening or elimination of income taxes, there are at least five great tax ideas coming directly out of governors’ offices this year.

With fears of gridlock in a divided Washington, tax justice champions are building momentum in other places where there's dire need for better tax policy: the states. We can upgrade communities across the country by making 2023 a year to win tax improvements in statehouses.

Tax season has officially kicked off and with Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day right around the corner, it serves as another reminder for how important the EITC is...

Two-thirds of states with broad-based personal income tax structures have a graduated rate, while one-third have flat taxes.