Recent Work by ITEP

State Rundown 3/6: In the Shadow of Chaotic Federal Policymaking States Seek to Tax the Top, Cut Taxes

March 6, 2025 • By ITEP Staff

Proposals from governors in both New Jersey and Wisconsin include provisions to tax high-income earners. Meanwhile, several major tax proposals are advancing in the great plains, with Iowa considering a major cut to unemployment taxes, North Dakota advancing new benefits for private schools, and Wyoming cutting property taxes. The District of Columbia is facing a more than a $1 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years, compared to previous estimates, and a mild recession due in large part to the layoffs of federal workers. 

Proposed Missouri Tax Shelter Would Aid the Wealthy, Anti-Abortion Centers Alike

March 6, 2025 • By Carl Davis

In Missouri, donations to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers come with state tax credits valued at 70 cents on the dollar. One bill currently being debated in the state would increase that matching rate to 100 percent—that is a full, state-funded reimbursement of gifts to anti-abortion groups.

Trump’s Address to Congress Obscures His Actual Tax Agenda

March 5, 2025 • By Amy Hanauer

In last night’s address to Congress, President Trump spent more time insulting Americans, lying, and bragging than he did talking about taxes. But regardless of what President Trump and Elon Musk talk about most loudly and angrily, there is one clear policy that they and the corporations and billionaires that support them will try hardest […]

A Well Targeted Federal Renter Credit Could Help Reduce Wealth Gaps

March 3, 2025 • By Brakeyshia Samms

While lawmakers often speak about income inequality, less attention is paid to wealth inequality. Wealth is distributed even more unequally than income in the U.S. in ways that reinforce racial divides, leave some households with too little to handle unexpected expenses, and enable some households to pass down enormous intergenerational wealth. A renter tax credit is one tool lawmakers can use to reduce wealth inequalities both within racial and ethnic groups and between these groups. As we show in our new analysis, Black and Hispanic households are more likely to be renters and hold less wealth than white households.

High-Rent, Low-Wealth: Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap through a Federal Renter Credit

March 3, 2025 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Emma Sifre, Joe Hughes

While the federal tax code has some policies focused on raising income of low earners, it contains fewer provisions designed specifically to address wealth inequality. A renter tax credit offers a simple, administratively practical means of reaching low-wealth populations through the federal tax code without requiring a comprehensive measurement of every household’s wealth.

State-by-State Tax Expenditure Reports

March 1, 2025 • By ITEP Staff

Below is a list of tax expenditure reports published in the states.

Mississippi Considers Deep Tax Cuts Amidst Budget and Economic Uncertainty

February 26, 2025 • By Neva Butkus

At a time when states across the country are forecasting deficits or anticipating slowing revenue growth, Mississippi lawmakers are debating deeply regressive and expensive tax cuts that would overwhelmingly benefit their state’s richest residents.

State Rundown 2/26: House Budget Plan Could Further Strain State Budgets

February 26, 2025 • By ITEP Staff

States would be wise to keep a close eye on happenings in Washington, D.C. Republicans in the House of Representatives recently passed their budget resolution, which could spell trouble for state budgets. The plan tees up major cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and college tuition assistance—all likely to allow for tax cuts that will overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. If approved, trillions of dollars would be cut from programs supported by federal dollars and states and localities could bear the brunt of those shifting costs. Many states are already facing delicate fiscal outlooks and those considering cutting taxes further should seriously reconsider.…

House Budget Resolution Tees Up Damaging Trump Tax Agenda

February 26, 2025 • By Steve Wamhoff

The budget resolution passed by House Republicans will enrich the richest, blow up the deficit, and decimate vital public services. The budget resolution allows Congress to pass reconciliation legislation with $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that would mostly flow to the wealthiest families in the country. Congressional Republicans have no way to pay for the massive tax cuts promised by President Trump during his campaign other than to dismantle fundamental parts of the government and increase the federal budget deficit.

Learn from Prop 13 History to Avoid Repeating Past Mistakes

February 26, 2025 • By Rita Jefferson

Worries about housing costs and property tax bills are leading people to check the history books for solutions, but there’s a danger that they’ll repeat past mistakes. If anti-tax lawmakers carelessly weaken property taxes as they did in the 1970s, as they did with California’s Proposition 13, they will undercut public finances, making municipalities, school districts, and other special districts worse off.