Montana
National and 50-State Impacts of House and Senate Tax Bills in 2019 and 2027
• By ITEP Staff
The House passed its “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” November 16th and the Senate passed its version December 2nd. Both bills would raise taxes on many low- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. National and 50-State data available to download.
Republican Senators Debate Size of “Pass-Through” Break, But Proposed Compromises Will Make No Difference to Anyone Who Is Not Well-Off
• By Steve Wamhoff
Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Steve Daines of Montana want the tax bill on the Senate floor to be amended to offer a more generous tax break for “pass-through” businesses. We have estimated how all the provisions in the tax bill would impact each income group under three possible scenarios. The only thing different in each scenario is the size of the deduction for pass-through income: 17.4 percent (the deduction in the bill as…
State Rundown 11/29: Thanksgiving Leftovers Edition
• By ITEP Staff
The State Rundown is back from Thanksgiving break with a heaping helping of leftover state tax news, but beware, some of it may be rotten.
Revised Senate Plan Would Raise Taxes on at Least 29% of Americans and Cause 19 States to Pay More Overall
• By ITEP Staff
The tax bill reported out of the Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 16 would raise taxes on at least 29 percent of Americans and cause the populations of 19 states to pay more in federal taxes in 2027 than they do today.
How the Revised Senate Tax Bill Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
• By ITEP Staff
The Senate tax bill released last week would raise taxes on some families while bestowing immense benefits on wealthy Americans and foreign investors. In Montana, 52 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents, and 9 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.
State Rundown 11/8: Online Sales Tax Fight and Tax Subsidy Absurdity Go National
• By ITEP Staff
Internet sales tax fairness efforts gained momentum this week as most states joined together to encourage the US Supreme Court to allow them to collect taxes on online sales. Meanwhile, Montana lawmakers will enter special session next week to plug their revenue shortfall, Mississippi's (self-inflicted) revenue crunch is reaching unprecedented severity, and misguided corporate tax subsidies got mainstream attention from HBO's John Oliver and Rolling Stone.
How the House Tax Proposal Would Affect Montana Residents’ Federal Taxes
• By ITEP Staff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on November 2 in the House of Representatives, includes some provisions that raise taxes and some that cut taxes, so the net effect for any particular family’s federal tax bill depends on their situation. Some of the provisions that benefit the middle class — like lower tax rates, an increased standard deduction, and a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household — are designed to…
Analysis of the House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
• By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe, Steve Wamhoff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on Nov. 2 in the House of Representatives, would raise taxes on some Americans and cut taxes on others while also providing significant savings to foreign investors.
State Rundown 10/25: Marijuana Taxes a Bright Spot amid Underperforming State Revenues
• By ITEP Staff
This week in state tax news saw Alaska begin yet another special session, Louisiana lawmakers holding meetings to begin preparing for the state’s looming (self-imposed) fiscal cliff, and Alabama policymakers beginning a study of school finance (in)adequacy and (in)equity. Meanwhile, state revenue performance is poor well into 2017 in many states, though Montana, Nevada, and Oregon are all enjoying modest but welcome revenue bumps from legalized marijuana.
State Rundown 10/13: Soda Taxes, Business Subsidies, and Gas Taxes Considered in Several States
• By ITEP Staff
A comprehensive tax study is underway in Arkansas this week as other states hone in on more specific issues. Soda taxes hit setbacks in Illinois and Michigan, business tax subsidies faced scrutiny in Iowa and Missouri, and gas tax update efforts are underway in Mississippi and North Dakota.
State Rundown 10/4: Wildfires in Montana and Tax Cuts in Kansas Wreak Budget Havoc
• By ITEP Staff
This week, Kansas's school funding was again ruled unconstitutionally low and unfair, while Montana lawmakers indicated they'd rather let historic wildfires burn a hole through their budget than raise revenues to meet their funding needs. Meanwhile, a struggling agricultural sector continues to cause problems for Iowa and Nebraska, but legalized recreational marijuana is bringing good economic news to both California and Nevada.
Benefits of GOP-Trump Framework Tilted Toward the Richest Taxpayers in Each State
• By Steve Wamhoff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and Congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would affect states differently, but every state would see its richest residents grow richer if it is enacted. In all but a handful of states, at least half of the tax cuts would flow to the richest one percent of residents if the framework took effect.
GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Montana with 56.9 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
• By ITEP Staff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Montana equally. The richest one percent of Montana residents would receive 56.9 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $535,400 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $68,950 in 2018, which would…
Poverty is Down, But State Tax Codes Could Bring It Even Lower
• By Misha Hill
The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual data on income, poverty and health insurance coverage this week. For the second consecutive year, the national poverty rate declined and the well-being of America’s most economically vulnerable has generally improved. In 2016, the year of the latest available data, 40.6 million (or nearly 1 in 8) Americans were living in poverty.
State Tax Codes as Poverty Fighting Tools
• By ITEP Staff
Astonishingly, tax policies in virtually every state make it harder for those living in poverty to make ends meet. When all the taxes imposed by state and local governments are taken into account, every state imposes higher effective tax rates on poor families than on the richest taxpayers.
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2017
• By ITEP Staff
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for struggling families to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the EITC has been magnified as many states…
In Montana 44.5 Percent of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million
• By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the Montana population (0.4 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 44.5 percent of the tax cuts that go to Montana residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 48.5 percent of the state, earns less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.1 percent of the tax cuts.
Nearly Half of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million Annually
• By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the U.S. population (one-half of one percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But in 2018 this elite group would receive 48.8 percent of the tax cuts proposed by the Trump administration. A much larger group, 44.6 percent of Americans, earn less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.4 percent of the tax cuts.
State Rundown 8/9: And Then There Were Three
• By ITEP Staff
This week, Rhode Island lawmakers agreed on a budget, leaving only three states – Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – without complete budgets. Texas, however, remains in special session and West Virginia could go back into another special session over tax issues. And in New York City, the mayor proposes a tax on the wealthy to […]
It’s a Fact: Voucher Tax Credits Offer Profits for Some “Donors”
• By Carl Davis
In nine states, tax rewards gained by donating to fund private K-12 vouchers are so oversized that “donors” can turn a profit. This is the shocking but true finding of a pair of studies released by ITEP over the last year.
State Rundown 7/27: State Legislative Debates Winding Down but Tax Talk Continues
• By ITEP Staff
While only a few states still remain mired in overtime budget debates, there is plenty of budget and tax news from around the country this week. Efforts are underway to repeal gas tax increases in California and challenge a local income tax in Seattle, Washington. And New Jersey legislators' law to modernize its tax code to tax Airbnb rentals has been vetoed for now.
Sound Tax Policy Made a Comeback in 2017
• By ITEP Staff
2017 marked a sea change in state tax policy and a stark departure from the current federal tax debate as dubious supply-side economic theories began to lose their grip on statehouses. Compared to the predominant trend in recent years of emphasizing top-heavy income tax cuts and shifting to more regressive consumption taxes in the hopes […]
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
• By Aidan Davis
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for struggling families to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the EITC has been magnified as many states…
Trump Tax Proposals Would Provide Richest One Percent in Montana with 51 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
• By ITEP Staff
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in Montana would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $1,819,000 in 2018. They would receive 51 percent of the tax cuts that go to Montana’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $113,270 in 2018 alone.
Trump’s $4.8 Trillion Tax Proposals Would Not Benefit All States or Taxpayers Equally
• By Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
The broadly outlined tax proposals released by the Trump administration would not benefit all taxpayers equally and they would not benefit all states equally either. Several states would receive a share of the total resulting tax cuts that is less than their share of the U.S. population. Of the dozen states receiving the least by this measure, seven are in the South. The others are New Mexico, Oregon, Maine, Idaho and Hawaii.
