Dylan Grundman O’Neill

Senior State Policy Analyst

Dylan Grundman O’Neill


Dylan is the “coach on the floor” of the ITEP state policy team. He provides hands-on analysis and support on tax policy issues to advocates and lawmakers in several states. He also supports and vets the work of ITEP’s other state policy analysts as they do the same in their states, and he liaises between the state team and the data and model team to ensure quality and consistency in how ITEP models policies and presents data. Dylan also serves on ITEP’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Prior to joining ITEP in 2016, he worked as a Fiscal Policy Analyst at OpenSky Policy Institute, which provides research, analysis, education, and leadership around budget and tax policy debates in his home state of Nebraska. Before OpenSky, he worked as a Research Associate at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., focusing on a range of state fiscal policy issues. He holds a BA in Political Science from Arizona State University and an MA in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. He lives and works in beautiful Vacaville, California.

dylan at itep.org

Recent Publications and Posts   view more

  • State Experimentation with Sales Tax Holidays Magnifies Their Flaws

    It’s back-to-school shopping season, so…everyone who buys a cell phone in Arkansas this weekend will do so sales-tax-free. For this whole week in Connecticut, and for the entire spring in New Mexico, the corporate owners of highly profitable multinational restaurant chains had the option to pocket their customers’ taxes rather than remit them to the state to fund vital public services, pass along those savings to their customers, or give a much-needed boost to their employees. And all told, about $550 million of state and local revenue will be forgone in 17 states this year through wasteful and poorly targeted sales tax holidays.

  • Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform

    Policymakers tout sales tax holidays as a way for families to save money while shopping for “essential” goods. On the surface, this sounds good. However, a two- to three-day sales tax holiday for selected items does nothing to reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income taxpayers during the other 362 days of the year. Sales taxes are inherently regressive. In the long run, sales tax holidays leave a regressive tax system unchanged, and the benefits of these holidays for working families are minimal. Sales tax holidays also fall short because they are poorly targeted, cost revenue, can easily be exploited, and create administrative difficulties.

Media Mentions  view more



ITEP

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