New York

The Romney Child Tax Credit plan would leave a quarter of children worse off compared to current law and help half as many low-income children as the 2021 expansion of the credit.

Everyone loves a deal, so it’s no surprise why the appeal of the state sales tax holiday continues to persist. This year, 20 states will forgo more than $1 billion in combined revenue to enact a variety of sales tax holidays that—like most things that are too good to be true—will do little to provide meaningful benefits and instead undermine funding for public services.

While federal tax policy has dominated the headlines with the Senate’s recent approval of the Inflation Reduction Act, lawmakers in statehouses across the country...

Jon leads ITEP’s work to shape the public debate around tax policy and ensure that policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders are using ITEP’s data and analysis in order to make sound decisions.

It’s the holiday season – well, the sales tax holiday season, that is. But after taking a closer look, you may notice that there is little to celebrate...

State legislatures across the country made investments in their future, centering children, families, and workers by enacting and expanding state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), Child Tax Credits (CTCs), and other refundable credits this session. In total, seven states either expanded or created CTCs this session. Connecticut, New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont […]

The average person on the street would have no idea that many states experienced unprecedented budget surpluses this year. Iowa, for instance, has the most structurally deficient bridges of any state with nearly 1 in 5 falling apart. The Iowa Board of Regents proposed a 4.25 percent tuition increase for all three state universities and […]

Twenty states this year have decided to go so far as to forgo a combined $1 billion in vital tax revenue in favor of conveniently popular yet ultimately ineffective sales tax holidays. Whether it’s a state looking for a way to help families manage the rising cost of goods or to celebrate back-to-school shopping season, these policy options are poorly targeted and an inadequate use of state tax revenue that could be doing more to make childcare more affordable, health care more accessible and high-quality education available to everyone.

Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (20 states will hold them in 2022) to temporarily suspend the tax on purchases of clothing, school supplies, and other items. These holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, but their benefits are minimal while their downsides are significant—particularly as lawmakers have sought to apply the concept as a substitute for more meaningful, permanent reform or arbitrarily reward people with specific hobbies or in certain professions. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.

From the Bay State to the Golden State, lawmakers across the nation are making deals and negotiating budgets with major tax implications...

Although the sun is shining and Independence Day is right around the corner, many state lawmakers are still indoors hammering out the details of future budgets or still hard at work passing laws...

With many state legislative sessions wrapped or wrapping up, we at ITEP want to take a moment to direct your attention south, and specifically, to the American South...

The South's negative outcomes on measures of wellbeing are the result of a century and a half of policy choices. Lawmakers have many options available to make concrete improvements to tax policy that would raise more revenue, do so equitably, and generate resources that could improve schools, healthcare, social services, infrastructure, and other public resources.

With inflation dominating headlines both nationally and locally, state lawmakers around the U.S. are searching for ways to put their revenues to good use, and not surprisingly, some options are better than others...

As voters head to the polls to weigh in on their state’s primary elections and legislators convene to hash out budget deals, tax policy remains atop the agenda...

As 2022 inches closer to its midpoint, important tax policy decisions are being put in the hands of voters, as special elections and the primary season begin...

President Biden's latest budget plan includes proposals that would raise $2.5 trillion in new revenue. While many of these reforms appeared in his previous budget, some of them are brand new, such as his proposal to prevent basis-shifting in partnerships and his Billionaires Minimum Income Tax.

Billionaires can afford to pay a larger share of their income in taxes than teachers, nurses and firefighters. But our tax code often allows them to pay less, as demonstrated by the latest expose from reporters at ProPublica using IRS data.    According to their calculations, Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary under former President Donald Trump, […]

Eighteen states have legalized the sale of cannabis for general adult use and sales are already underway in 10 of those states. Every state allowing legal sales applies an excise tax to cannabis based on the product’s quantity, its price, or both. Quantity taxes are typically based on weight, though New York measures quantity by the amount of THC sold. ITEP research indicates that taxes based on quantity will be more sustainable over time because prices are widely expected to fall as the cannabis industry matures. Most states allowing for legal cannabis sales apply their general sales taxes to the…

Two prominent blue states made headlines this past week when they passed budget agreements that include relief for taxpayers, and fortunately, the budget plans don’t include costly tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy...

Last week we highlighted how several states were pushing through regressive tax cuts as their legislative sessions are coming to a close. Well, this week many of those same states took further actions on those bills and it’s safe to say we’re even less impressed than before...

The deck is stacked against those who have the least, and ongoing racism makes it even more difficult for people of color to avoid punitive systems that are intentionally structured to extract what, for poor people, can be usurious penalties. The nation collectively shrugs about such injustices because they are either invisible or we chalk up entanglements in any legal morass to personal behavior. But the truth is that, indirectly, we are all part of the fines-and-fees matrix that entraps poor people in debt or keeps them tethered to the criminal justice system. None of us should look away.