Select Media Mentions
LA Times: How States Suck the Fairness out of the Tax System
April 14, 2015
A look at the data used by CTJ shows why this happens. It’s compiled annually by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which issues its own report, “Who Pays,” every few years. The main culprits are sales and excise taxes, which disproportionately hammer lower-income taxpayers. In every state and the District of Columbia, the wealthy pay […]
The Atlantic: What Undocumented Students Bring to the Classroom
April 14, 2015
The parents of undocumented students pay nearly $11 billion total a year in taxes, according to a 2013 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study, though, fearing deportation, many undocumented immigrants tend to avoid accessing many of the government services supported by those taxes. Meanwhile, many newly arrived students learn English shockingly fast. They often […]
The Toledo Blade: Lawmakers Should Expand the State EITC
April 14, 2015
Ohio has pursued an increasingly regressive tax system in recent years, and Governor Kasich’s proposed new tax plan would continue that trend. Through a combination of income tax cuts and increases in the state sales tax and other taxes, the plan would increase the tax liability of Ohio households in the bottom 60 percent of […]
The Oregonian: Oregon Lags on Transportation Investment
April 13, 2015
Explaining to The Atlantic last week why Republican state legislatures were so much readier to raise the gas tax than Republican congressmen, Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy pointed out that they didn’t have much choice: Legislatures had to balance state budgets, and they “can raise the gas tax, they can […]
Nashville Post: Possible Hall Tax Cut Among Road Blocks to the Budget
April 13, 2015
“Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers-funded advocacy group, have pushed hard for the state to do away with the tax, calling it punitive for those who save for retirement. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s March 2014 report, the tax largely affects the state’s top 5 percent of earners who collectively pay approximately […]
Crain’s Detroit Business: Households Would Pay $474 More in Tax Under Prop 1
April 13, 2015
The average tax hike for the middle fifth of Michigan households — those making $40,000 to $64,000 a year — would be $267, or $22 a month, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the Michigan League for Public Policy, an advocacy group in Lansing focused on poverty. […]
Reuters: Why Are States Leaving Billions in Retiree Income on the Table?
April 13, 2015
Illinois exempts all retirement income from state taxes – Social Security, private and public pensions, and annuities. We’re leaving $2 billion on the table annually, according to the state’s estimates. And we’re hardly alone: 36 states that have an income tax allow some exemption for private or public pension benefits, and 32 exempt all Social […]
The Seattle Times: Reform Our Tax System with a Flat Tax
April 13, 2015
airness: The Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee found that in 1999 the state’s lowest-income households paid 15.7 percent of their income on state and local taxes, while the highest-income households paid just 4.4 percent. This meant that the lowest-income households had to work 8.2 weeks out of the year to pay their tax bill, […]
Union Bulletin: State Needs Flat Rate Income Tax
April 13, 2015
“Fairness: The Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee found that in 1999 the state’s lowest-income households paid 15.7 percent of their income on state and local taxes, while the highest-income households paid just 4.4 percent. This meant the lowest-income households had to work 8.2 weeks out of the year to pay their tax bill, while […]
The Advocate: With future of Louisiana higher education threatened, lawmakers sift through filed bills seeking deficit plug
April 13, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal nonprofit in Washington, D.C., reported in January that the poorest 20 percent of households in Louisiana pay an average of 10 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the wealthiest 1 percent pay an average of 4.2 percent of their income in those […]
Lansing Journal: Working Poor May See Modest Tax Break Under Prop 1
April 13, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in an analysis conducted for the Michigan League for Public Policy, estimates a small net tax break of $24 for the average Michigan EITC recipient who earns less than $20,000. Read more
The Detroit News: Prop 1 Would Cost Households Hundreds More in Taxes
April 13, 2015
The average tax hike for the middle fifth of Michigan households — those making $40,000 to $64,000 a year — would be $267, or $22 a month, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the Michigan League for Public Policy, an advocacy group in Lansing focused on poverty. […]
USA Today: The Tax Even Republicans Like
April 13, 2015
And one state can start a wave. For example, Virginia reformed its gas tax in 2013, making it easier for neighbors like Maryland and Pennsylvania to follow, says Carl Davis, senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “States notice what other states are doing.” Iowa’s new law will help Smith’s case […]
Mother Jones: Why Do Progressive States Have Regressive Tax Codes?
April 13, 2015
This problem isn’t limited to conservative states: According to a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), every state places a higher effective tax rate on the poor than it does on the rich. In fact, several of the nation’s most politically progressive states count among the worst when it comes […]
Meet the Press: #Nerdscreen, It’s Tax Time
April 12, 2015
Common sense would suggest that the more money you make, the higher tax rate you pay, but that’s not exactly right. Read More
Pacific Business News: Hawaii Community Foundation Launches Fund to Support Immigrants
April 3, 2015
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy found that in 2010, unauthorized immigrants in Hawaii paid more than $60.3 million in state and local taxes. If granted legal status, they would pay $79.6 million in state and local taxes. Read more
Boston Globe: Baker’s Position on Taxes Is Great for the Wealthy, and Not Many Others
April 3, 2015
In fact, many in Massachusetts have been taxed more than enough. Those in the lowest 20 percent of personal income pay more than twice as high a share to state and local taxes than those in the top 1 percent, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Add in the state’s growing reliance […]
The Bond Buyer: States Raising Gas Taxes for Road Revenue
April 3, 2015
“Gasoline tax hikes are one of the biggest trends we’re seeing this year,” said Carl Davis, a senior analyst at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy. “That’s not surprising because revenues are falling short, and states are trying to catch up.” Gasoline tax proposals are on a three-year roll, Davis said, after no state […]
Fast Company: Taxes Could Help Reduce Inequality
April 2, 2015
According to the latest Who Pays? report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which documents the shares of income paid in taxes to state and local governments for all 50 states, “virtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair, taking a much greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy […]
San Jose Mercury News: Sales taxes hit 10 percent in Hayward, San Leandro, Union City, Albany and El Cerrito
April 2, 2015
When it comes to tax fairness, California gets high marks for its income tax, which targets the wealthy, but a demerit for its sales tax, which ranks among the highest in the nation, according to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, based in Washington, D.C. “Any tax that is based on what you consume […]
The Tucson Weekly: A Rich Switch
April 2, 2015
The first study came from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which regularly gathers data to show how the tax burden is spread across a state’s population. ITEP’s most recent report, released in January, showed that Arizona was eighth worst state in terms of pushing the tax burden on lower earners because it relies […]
The Atlantic: How Red States Learned to Love the Gas Tax
March 31, 2015
If nothing has changed in Washington, why are Republicans so tax-happy on the state level—at least when it comes to fuel? “The difference is states have to balance their budgets,” said Carl Davis, a senior analyst at ITEP. Unlike Congress, state lawmakers can’t simply borrow money and accumulate debt when the coffers run dry, and […]
Phoenix Business: Arizona Misses List of Top 10 Tax Shift States
March 31, 2015
Turns out, Arizona missed a new list that looks at the supply-side tax cut to shift income equality. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found ten states passed laws this session that effectively shift tax burdens to the poor and middle class. Each of the identified states (listed below) passed trickle-down tax cuts, according […]
C-SPAN Washington Journal: State and Local Tax Systems
March 30, 2015
Matthew Gardner, executive director of ITEP, talked about the fairness of state and local tax systems in each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia and what this means as people file their income taxes. He talked about how the 2015 edition of the report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), […]
Idaho Press Tribune: Tax Plan Gives Big Cut to Top 1 Percent
March 30, 2015
The analysis is provided by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a national nonpartisan think tank that works on state and federal tax policy issues. The three pieces of the bill combined result in a tax increase between $68 for the lowest earners to $192 for those making between $38,000 and $61,000 per year. […]
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