Recent Work by ITEP
The Rise Credit would replace the existing EITC. In most cases, the Rise Credit would be $4,000 for single people and $8,000 for married couples. Eligible taxpayers would be allowed a credit equal to the maximum amount or their earnings, whichever is less.
Gas Taxes Have Gone Up in Most States, but Decades-Long Procrastinators Remain
May 21, 2019 • By Carl Davis
The upcoming Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the traditional summer driving season. In most states, summer road-trippers are paying more gas tax than they did a few years ago and are benefiting from smoother and safer roads as a result. In total, 30 states have raised or reformed their gas taxes in the last six years.
These States Abandoned Old Gas Tax Structures in Favor of More Sustainable Variable-Rate Gas Taxes
May 20, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
Because of these reforms, more than 193 million people (or 59 percent of the U.S. population) now live in places where the state gas tax rate automatically varies over time.
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia tax these two fuel types at the same rate or very similar rates, as of April 2019, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.
Consumption taxes (including general sales taxes, excise taxes on specific products, and gross receipts taxes) are an important revenue source for state and local governments. While five states lack state-level general sales taxes (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon), every state levies taxes on some types of consumption.
The property tax is the oldest major revenue source for state and local governments and remains an important mechanism for funding education and other local services. This map shows the share of state and local general revenue in each state that is raised through property taxes.
The tax rates identified in this map include state and local excise and sales taxes on diesel fuel, as well as various fees, as calculated by the American Petroleum Institute (API). These taxes are levied in addition to the federal government’s 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel tax.
Income taxes vary considerably in their structure across states, though the best taxes are fine-tuned to taxpayers’ ability-to-pay.
Policymakers and the public widely agree that economic inequality is the social policy problem of our age. It threatens the livelihoods of millions of children and adults, and it even threatens our democracy. Although some say Americans could fix it themselves by simply rolling up their sleeves, as a sub-headline in a March U.S. News and World Report column implied, the reality is different.
State Rundown 5/16: Tensions Remain High Over Budgets and School Finances in Several States
May 16, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
Tax and budget negotiations remain at standstills in Louisiana and Minnesota, as school funding debates and teacher protests again captured headlines in several states. Oregon lawmakers, for example, finally passed a mixed-bag tax package that won’t improve tax equity but will raise much-needed revenue for education. Meanwhile their counterparts in Nebraska continue to debate highly […]
ITEP in the News
Audio: ITEP's Kamolika Das on the Need for States to Raise Revenue in the Wake of 2025 Trump Tax Law
Business Insider: Mamdani Says if the State Won’t Tax the Wealthiest New Yorkers, He’d Have To Tax the Middle Class as a ‘Last Resort’
KCUR: Eliminating Missouri’s Income Tax Could Actually Cost You More — Unless You’re Rich
Thomson Reuters: OBBB Put Pressure on States to Raise Revenues, Analysts Say
The Hill: Want ‘Affordability?’ Start by Retooling Your State’s Regressive Tax System.
ITEP Work in Action
Policy Matters Ohio: The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2026
Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center: Testimony Regarding an Act To Manage Federal Tax Changes in Massachusetts
Economic Policy Institute: Everything You Need To Know About “No Tax on Overtime”
The Cascadia Advocate: Five More Claims Against the Million-Dollar Earners’ Tax That Don’t Check Out: Debunking Republicans’ Opposition to SB 6346
Mackinac Center: Lawmakers Should Reject Sales Tax Holidays
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