Recent Work by ITEP

New ITEP Brief Shows How State Sales Tax Holidays Fail to Live Up to the Hype

July 20, 2022 • By Marco Guzman

Twenty states this year have decided to go so far as to forgo a combined $1 billion in vital tax revenue in favor of conveniently popular yet ultimately ineffective sales tax holidays. Whether it’s a state looking for a way to help families manage the rising cost of goods or to celebrate back-to-school shopping season, these policy options are poorly targeted and an inadequate use of state tax revenue that could be doing more to make childcare more affordable, health care more accessible and high-quality education available to everyone.

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

July 20, 2022 • By Marco Guzman

Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (20 states will hold them in 2022) to temporarily suspend the tax on purchases of clothing, school supplies, and other items. These holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, but their benefits are minimal while their downsides are significant—particularly as lawmakers have sought to apply the concept as a substitute for more meaningful, permanent reform or arbitrarily reward people with specific hobbies or in certain professions. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.

The Tax Legislation Debated in Congress Would Reduce Inflation and Help Americans Deal with Rising Costs

July 19, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

Opposing a fully paid-for spending bill because of inflation concerns does not make any sense. Opposing a deficit-reducing bill because of inflation is absurd.

State Rundown 7/13: Let’s Make a Deal

July 13, 2022 • By ITEP Staff

From the Bay State to the Golden State, lawmakers across the nation are making deals and negotiating budgets with major tax implications...

Abortion-Restricting States Do Least for Children

July 13, 2022 • By Amy Hanauer

Lawmakers have passed laws in 22 states that either immediately or soon will greatly restrict women’s rights to decide whether and when to have children. These states have some of the worst tax, spending and labor market policies for families in the U.S.

No Reason to Water Down the Tax Reforms in the Build Back Better Act

June 30, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

There is no justification for recently reported efforts to scale back the tax reforms in the Build Back Better Act, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in November that would raise significant revenue and make our tax code more progressive by enacting widely popular proposals. (See ITEP’s report on the BBBA.) Of course, […]

State Rundown 6/29: Sun’s Out, Session’s (Still) In

June 29, 2022 • By ITEP Staff

Although the sun is shining and Independence Day is right around the corner, many state lawmakers are still indoors hammering out the details of future budgets or still hard at work passing laws...

State Rundown 6/22: Southern States Edition

June 22, 2022 • By ITEP Staff

With many state legislative sessions wrapped or wrapping up, we at ITEP want to take a moment to direct your attention south, and specifically, to the American South...

New ITEP Report Examines the Path to Equitable Tax Policy in the South

June 22, 2022 • By Kamolika Das

“From the inception of the emerging American nation, the South is a central battleground in the struggles for freedom, justice, and equality. It is the location of the most intense repression, exploitation, and reaction directed toward Africans Americans, as well as Native Americans and working people generally. At the same time the South is the […]

Creating Racially and Economically Equitable Tax Policy in the South

June 21, 2022 • By Kamolika Das

The South's negative outcomes on measures of wellbeing are the result of a century and a half of policy choices. Lawmakers have many options available to make concrete improvements to tax policy that would raise more revenue, do so equitably, and generate resources that could improve schools, healthcare, social services, infrastructure, and other public resources.