• blog  January 12, 2021

    New Jersey Leads by Example with Its New Cannabis Tax

    New Jersey lawmakers passed an innovative tax design that other states debating cannabis legalization should look to for inspiration. The state officially legalized cannabis in November when voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. The amendment applied the state’s general sales tax to cannabis and allowed local governments to create their own taxes on the industry. The legislature added the most notable part of the tax structure last month with a Social Equity Excise Fee.

  • blog  January 8, 2021

    New Leadership Should Seize Tax Justice Mandate; Cash Payments Offer On-ramp

    With the victory of Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Democrats now control all three branches of government. New leaders should seize this moment to create a tax code that does much more to reduce inequality and to resource long-overdue investments in climate, health, education and other essentials. Most immediately, the historic election shifts power, making it easier to deliver on the promise to increase the recently enacted $600 cash payments to $2,000 per person.

  • blog  January 7, 2021

    State Rundown 1/7: State Work Continues in Shadow of National Events

    Though most people’s attention is rightly focused on events unfolding in the nation’s capital this week, state legislative debates are also underway or soon to begin in many states, including proposals to tax the rich in New York and Rhode Island, provide a boost to low-income families in California, and legalize and tax cannabis in Missouri and Rhode Island.

  • news release  January 7, 2021

    Dems Promised $2,000 Payments. Here’s What that Would Mean for Taxpayers Across the Income Spectrum.

    New estimates from ITEP show how taxpayers across the income spectrum would fare should Democrats enact the $2,000 payments they promised would happen if they gained control of the Senate.

  • blog  January 6, 2021

    How the Proposed $2,000 Cash Payments Compare to the $600 Already Provided by Congress  

    On Dec. 28, the House of Representatives passed the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help (CASH) Act of 2020, which would increase the cash payment recently provided by Congress from $600 per person to $2,000 per person, among other changes. New estimates from ITEP compare the impacts of $2,000 payments to $600 payments.

  • blog  December 21, 2020

    Ghosts of Fiscal Crunches Past, Present, Future Have Advice for State Lawmakers

    State policymakers and advocates may face some long sleepless nights as they close the book on 2020 and prepare for the important decisions they’ll be making in 2021 and beyond. So we at ITEP have consulted with ghosts of fiscal crunches past, present, and future, and distilled their lessons into seven key things to keep in mind for 2021 tax and budget debates:

  • news release  December 21, 2020

    COVID Relief Bill Will Help Families Now; Bigger, Bolder Package Needed in 2021

    Following is a statement from Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding the COVID-19 relief deal reached Sunday night.

  • report  December 21, 2020

    National and State-by-State Estimates of New $600 Cash Payments

    The House and Senate are about to pass the first COVID-19 relief legislation since the CARES Act was enacted in March. The new relief package includes, among other provisions, cash payments of $600 per person, which is half as large as the payments provided under the CARES Act, but also extends payments to spouses and children of certain undocumented immigrants who were left out of the previous payments.

  • blog  December 17, 2020

    State Rundown 12/17: New and Old State Tax Debates Await in 2021

    Our last Rundown of 2020 includes news of yet another misguided proposal to eliminate a state income tax, this time in Arkansas. Florida and Missouri, on the other hand, are looking to modernize their tax codes by becoming the last two states to enforce their own sales taxes on online retailers. Leaders in Maryland and Oregon, meanwhile, are working to decouple the state from unnecessary and regressive tax cuts included in the federal CARES Act. And Missouri and Nevada lawmakers both got updated estimates of the revenue shortfalls they will need to resolve when they convene in 2021. The Rundown will be signing off for the rest of the year and will return to bring you the latest in state fiscal debates in January!

  • ITEP Work in Action  December 10, 2020

    Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Improved State Taxes on Wealth, High Incomes Can Help Fuel an Equitable Recovery

    Families’ access to wealth has played a large role in determining how the pandemic has affected them. The worst of the economic and health effects…