Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

New York

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Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix

June 24, 2015 • By Carl Davis

Read this report in PDF form Introduction For years, academics and transportation experts have been discussing the possibility of taxing drivers for each mile they travel on the nation’s roads.  This “vehicle miles traveled tax” (VMT tax) could either supplement or replace the existing gas tax as the primary method of funding transportation infrastructure. To […]

Washington Post: States are Racing to See Who Can Give Rich People a Bigger Tax Break on Their Yachts

June 22, 2015

It’s true that lower taxes might bring new customers into the market, which would be great for the yacht industry. Yet every dollar spent on new boats is a dollar that a rich customer isn’t spending on something else. Favoritism for yacht manufacturers and dealers helps them only at the expense of all the other […]

This report lays out a set of policy and political interventions that cities, regions, and states can make to increase municipal revenue and to make their collections more progressive. Cities have historically suffered enormous budget shortfalls and after the Great Recession, available funds depleted even more drastically. Read the full report here.

New York Times: Kansas Tax Cutting Model Tarnished by Sales Tax Increase

June 15, 2015

Matthew Gardner, executive director of the left-leaning, Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said Kansas’ experience makes it more difficult for other states to pursue aggressive income tax cuts. In South Carolina, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley couldn’t pass income tax cuts even after declaring, “We are not doing what Kansas did.” “It’s clearly a […]

The News-Herald: Amazon’s Ohio Sales Tax Collection Seen As Way To ‘Level Playing Field,’ Close Tax Loophole

June 9, 2015

Some states, however, have decided not to wait for the federal government to make the change. So far, 10 states have taken their own limited steps to expand the number of retailers that must collect sales taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. New York was first, enacting legislation in 2008 requiring […]

Those making the least income relative to other New Yorkers would benefit more from the proposed circuit breaker than from a STAR rebate. Some 40 percent of taxpayers with incomes below $19,000 (the poorest fifth of New Yorkers) would receive a circuit breaker refund, according to an analysis of the governor’s proposal by the Institute […]

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Issues with Taxing Marijuana at the State Level

May 6, 2015 • By Carl Davis, Richard Phillips

Read as a PDF. Table of Contents Introduction Why Tax Marijuana? Designing a State Tax on Marijuana How Much Revenue Would Marijuana Legalization Generate for States Factors that Could Negatively Impact Marijuana Revenue Factors that Could Positively Impact Marijuana Revenue Conclusion Endnotes Charts and Text Boxes Current Approaches to Taxing Retail Marijuana Sales How Should […]

NY Daily News: Corporate giants often get huge tax breaks, while poor, undocumented immigrants have paid billions in state taxes

April 20, 2015

Yes, the unauthorized immigrant population, among the poorest and most vulnerable in New York State, does its part when it comes to taxes, according to a report by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (itepnet.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy issues. The report, that covers […]

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Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2015)

April 15, 2015 • By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe

This report was updated February 2016 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is often lacking. The reality is the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions […]

The Citizen: New York Taxes Tough for Rich and Poor Residents

March 26, 2015

WalletHub used data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy 2015 report to calculate the tax burdens — which included sales, property and income tax.  Read more  

Gotham Gazette: Separating Fact from Fiction on the Dream Act

March 16, 2015

According to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants contributed an estimated $744,276,000 New York State taxes in 2010. At the federal level, the Social Security Administration each year keeps $6 billion to $7 billion in social security contributions from W-2s that cannot be matched with a correct social security […]

The Albany Times Union: Bad But Could Be Worse

March 11, 2015

New York is regularly ranked as one of the worst states in the nation for taxes. But a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that New York’s tax policies are actually some of the best for average people. That’s because some tax structures grab a larger percentage of take-home pay of middle- […]

Those at the bottom of the income scale [in New York] would benefit most—62 percent of homeowners and 37 percent of renters with incomes below $19,000 would receive a circuit breaker refund according to an analysis of the governor’s proposal by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Some 27 percent of homeowners and renters […]

Marketwatch: 10 Biggest Financial-Market Events This Week

March 2, 2015

One of the most popular MarketWatch articles this week was 10 states with the worst taxes for average Americans, based on a report called “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States,” released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). According to ITEP’s data, as reviewed by 24/7 […]

New York Times: States Consider Increasing Taxes on the Poor, Raising Them on the Rich

February 13, 2015

While the bottom fifth of earners pay more than 10 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the top 1 percent pays closer to 5 percent, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates. Percentage of income is, of course, only one way to measure the tax burden — in sheer dollar terms, […]

Bloomberg: Will State Legislatures Pass Gas Tax Hikes This Year?

February 11, 2015

However, the kind of funding structure that Maryland put in place has been called good policy by organizations like the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization in Washington, D.C., because the inflation adjustment allows the revenue’s buying power to keep up with transportation expenses over time. Flat-rate taxes do […]

Who really pays a greater share of their income in taxes in Colorado? The rich or the poor? We answered this question by using the latest data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The New York Times featured ITEP’s latest data in a national story today as well. Read the full report  

New York Times: How Expensive It Is to Be Poor

January 20, 2015

And yet, whatever the poor earn is likely to be more heavily taxed than the earnings of wealthier citizens, according to a new analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As The New York Times put it last week: “According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on […]

State of Politics: Here and Now

January 16, 2015

“Taxes in New York may be the highest in the country, but at least they are reasonably equitable, according to the latest Who Pays study from the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.” Read more

The Economist Populist: The Poor Pay More in Taxes

January 16, 2015

“According to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in nearly every state, low- and middle-income families pay a bigger share of their income in state and local taxes than wealthy families. Patricia Cohen wrote in her very detailed and comprehensive article at the New York Times: “When it comes to […]

Newsmax: The Less You Earn, the More Your Taxes Are

January 15, 2015

“The more you earn, the less in local taxes you pay, a new analysis shows, and several states are considering policies to lighten wealthy residents’ tax burden even more. “Virtually every state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair,” the study, completed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says, according to The New York Times.” […]

Crain’s New York: New York’s high but equitable taxes

January 15, 2015

Taxes in New York may be the highest in the country, but at least they are reasonably equitable, according to the latest Who Pays study from the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The study gives kudos to states that rely on income taxes, because they tend to be more progressive, and downgrades states […]

The New York Times: Study Finds Local Taxes Hit Lower Wage Earners Harder

January 14, 2015

“When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit. That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them […]

The New York Times: Writing off the Warhol Next Door

January 12, 2015

And at a time when concerns about inequality have heightened criticism of government policies that favor the wealthiest sliver of society, these tax breaks have come under sharper scrutiny. “I think these types of deals do not follow the intent, even if they follow the letter, of the law,” said Rebecca Wilkins, senior counsel on […]

USA Today: New Year Brings Hundreds of New Laws

January 5, 2015

Drivers in five states could see gasoline prices rise with gas tax increases, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a tax watchdog group. The biggest increase is in Pennsylvania, 9.8 cents, followed by Virginia, 5.1 cents; Maryland, 2.9 cents; North Carolina, 1 cent; and Florida, 0.3 cents. New York, Nebraska, Vermont, West […]