• report  February 24, 2021

    Comparing Flat-Rate Income Tax Options for Alaska

    Alaska lawmakers are facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis. The state is more dependent than any other on oil tax and royalty revenues but declines in oil prices and production levels have sapped much of the vitality of these revenue sources. One way of diversifying the state’s revenue stream and narrowing the yawning gap between state revenues and expenses would be to reinstitute a statewide personal income tax. Alaska previously levied such a tax until 1980. This report contains ITEP’s analysis of the distributional impact and revenue potential of a variety of flat-rate income tax options for Alaska, based on draft legislation provided by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.

  • blog  February 19, 2021

    Enforcing Current Tax Law Makes Financial Sense

    While lawmakers disagree sharply over what our tax law should look like, there should be no argument that we must enforce tax laws currently on the books. Yet, Republican Congresses systematically weakened the IRS’s ability to enforce tax laws by defunding the agency, resulting in hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue every year. Two bills introduced in the U.S. House would address this by increasing tax audits of big corporations and high-income individuals and by providing more resources to the IRS.

  • blog  February 18, 2021

    Enacting a Federal Wealth Tax Is Playing the Long Game

    Should lawmakers enact laws that they believe are sensible and constitutional, or should they shape their legislative agenda around what they believe ideological Supreme Court justices will allow? This is a dilemma facing Americans who support a federal wealth tax.

  • blog  February 17, 2021

    State Rundown 2/17: Friction Over Tax Policy Still Generating Heat in Some Statehouses

    Cold-hearted regressive tax proposals were pushed this week to cut income taxes on high-income households in states including Idaho, Montana, and West Virginia, while advocates for fair taxes and well-funded services continue to turn up the heat on taxing the richest residents in states like Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

  • blog  February 16, 2021

    EITC Enhancements for States to Consider in 2021

    While the federal EITC provides a great deal of support for families with children, its impact is limited for those without children or who are not raising children in their homes. Childless workers under 25 and over 64 have for far too long received no benefit from the federal credit. And workers aged 25 to 64 have received very little value from the existing credit (the maximum credit is much smaller and the income limits more restrictive). The federal EITC’s meager benefits for just some childless adults lead to an inequitable outcome: the federal income tax system—which is ostensibly based on ability-to-pay—taxes some impoverished, childless adults deeper into poverty.

  • ITEP Work in Action  February 12, 2021

    Washington State Budget & Policy Center: Washington State’s Upside-down Tax Code is Even More Racist than You Think

    Lawmakers in Olympia are finally listening to communities and rightly focusing on addressing racial disparities that have permeated our state economy and institutions for far…
  • blog  February 12, 2021

    CARES Act Helps Create $4.6 Billion Tax Cut for Health Care Companies Paying Opioid Settlements

    Talk about a one-two punch. A new report from the Washington Post reveals that the U.S. public is set to pay for the opioid crisis again. Already, communities across the country have paid a heavy price via the devastating public health toll. Now, it appears taxpayers will be on the hook for billions in corporate tax breaks as four pharmaceutical companies exploit a loophole in the Trump-GOP tax law and a CARES Act tax provision meant for companies facing pandemic-related profit losses.

  • blog  February 12, 2021

    It’s Been 10,000 Days Since the Federal Government Raised the Gas Tax 

    10,000 days. More than 27 years. By next Tuesday that’s how long it will have been since the federal government last raised the gas tax. Over that time, vehicle fuel efficiency has improved by 25 percent and construction costs have grown 185 percent. And yet the federal gas tax has remained frozen at 18.3 cents per gallon, with its purchasing power shrinking by the day. The federal government has never gone this long without updating the nation’s gas tax rate.

  • blog  February 11, 2021

    State Rundown 2/11: Legalizing and Taxing Cannabis Becoming Increasingly Mainstream

    This week, the governors of New Hampshire and West Virginia proposed to eliminate their states’ most progressive revenue sources and shift taxes even more heavily onto the middle- and low-income families who already pay the highest rates in both states. It was also a big week for proponents of legalizing recreational cannabis, as that movement made progress in Hawaii, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

  •  February 11, 2021

    Testimony to Washington State Legislature House Finance Committee on HB 1496

    Read as PDF Following is testimony of ITEP Senior State Tax Policy Analyst Dylan Grundman O’Neill submitted to Washington State Legislature House Finance Committee in…