Recent Work by ITEP

State Rundown 4/1: No Fooling Around Anymore in Washington, But Cruel Pranks in South Carolina

April 1, 2026 • By ITEP Staff

In Washington, Gov. Bob Ferguson and lawmakers decided to stop fooling around with one of the nation’s most upside-down tax codes and finally brought to life a new millionaires’ tax, the first new income tax created in a state since 1991.

Low Tax for Whom? California vs Texas

April 1, 2026 • By Cassidy Sheppard

California Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Texas recently and claimed: “Texas taxes poor folks more than we tax our richest." He’s right.

South Carolina’s Expensive, Regressive Tax Law Will Eliminate State’s Income Tax

March 31, 2026 • By Neva Butkus, Dylan Grundman O'Neill

South Carolina signed into law a regressive tax cut that will disproportionately benefit the state’s highest-income residents while simultaneously jeopardizing the state’s ability to pay for basic public services in the years to come.

Travelers’ Checks: How to Tax Tourists in States and Localities

March 30, 2026 • By Rita Jefferson

Taxing tourists is a relatively efficient way to ensure that visitors are paying a share of essential government services. Places with a modest number of tourists should limit general sales tax rates to minimize the effect on the full-time population. Places with higher proportions of tourists may have higher sales tax rates to better capture the economic behavior of tourists.

The Progress of Tax Policy: Q&A With Vanessa Williamson, Author of ‘The Price of Democracy’

March 30, 2026 • By Brakeyshia Samms

Williamson speaks about why tax politics has long been tied to questions of democratic inclusion, what history can teach us about today’s tax debates, and how tax policy shapes the future of American democracy.

State Rundown 3/26: Sobering Revenue Projections Keep States on Their Toes

March 26, 2026 • By ITEP Staff

This week, troubling revenue projections are making headlines, with many lawmakers scrambling to determine how the tax changes at the federal level, plus price hikes driven by national policy decisions, will impact their states.

How to Make the Rich and Corporations Pay for This Unpopular War

March 25, 2026 • By Michael Ettlinger

The war is widely unpopular. Whether the cost of the war ends up being $200 billion, more than that amount, or less, let’s at least have it paid for by those who can most afford it.

States Like Missouri Are Seeking to Raise Taxes on the Working Class to Cut Taxes for the Rich

March 25, 2026 • By Eli Byerly-Duke

A proposal to replace the Missouri personal income tax with a higher sales tax would increase costs for low- and middle-income households while giving the richest Missourians an average annual tax cut of almost $40,000.

These States Are Most Impacted by the Spike in Gas Prices

March 23, 2026 • By Carl Davis

The recent spike in gasoline prices is on pace to cost American drivers an extra $9.4 billion per month. Gas prices are up dramatically across the country, but the South has been hit hardest and is on pace to pay $4.2 billion more per month.

We Must Focus on Black Women to Reduce Inequity in the Tax Code

March 19, 2026 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Francine Lipman

As nice as it is to celebrate Women’s History Month, if we want a brighter future for women, we need to forge public policies that reduce inequity and include all of us.