ITEP – Page 85 – Informing tax policy debate nationwide

blog July 10, 2019
Missouri’s Creative Approach to Ending the “Race to the Bottom” in State Business Taxes

Each year, state and local governments spend billions of dollars on targeted tax incentives—special tax breaks ostensibly designed to encourage businesses to relocate, expand or simply stay where they are. A law enacted by the Missouri legislature creates a template for states to work bilaterally to put the brakes on the “race to the bottom” in state business taxes.
map July 3, 2019
Which States Have the Highest Tax Rates for Low-income People?

No two state tax systems are the same, but 45 states have one thing in common: Low-income residents are taxed at a higher rate than the top 1 percent. This map shows the effective tax rates for the lowest-income 20 percent in each state–ranging from a high of 17.8 percent in Washington to a low of 5.5 percent in Delaware.
blog July 1, 2019
ITEP Summer Reading (and Watching) List

Mercury is rising, presidential primary debates are underway and most state legislative sessions have adjourned for summer. Whether you’re curling up with a good book (or your favorite e-Reader) or looking for a new television show to binge-watch, check out these recommendations on ITEP’s Summer Reading (and Watching) List.
blog July 1, 2019
Gaps in Sales Tax Collection Linger at Amazon.com and Among Other E-Retailers

The last few years have brought big changes to sales tax collection for purchases made at Amazon.com and other e-retail websites. As recently as 2011, Amazon was only collecting sales tax on its direct sales in five states – a fact that gave the company a competitive edge over brick and mortar stores during a critical time in its growth. Today, Amazon is collecting state-level sales taxes on all its direct sales, but it still usually fails to collect sales tax on the large volume of sales it makes through the “Amazon Marketplace.” This points to a broader problem in state tax enforcement that lawmakers should move quickly to address.
blog June 28, 2019
Why Trump Administration’s Plan to Index Capital Gains to Inflation Is Just Another Giveaway to the Wealthy

The White House is reported to be planning to unilaterally adjust the way capital gains are assessed to benefit the wealthiest Americans. The proposal would adjust capital gains for inflation, reducing taxes disproportionately for the wealthiest households who own most assets by limiting their taxable gains to those above and beyond the inflation rate.
blog June 27, 2019
State Rundown 6/27: States Look at Raising Incomes at the Bottom, Taxes at the Top

Low-income working families got good news and bad news this week, as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) enhancements passed in California and advanced in Oregon, while minimum wage increases failed in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, the momentum for taxing wealth and the very rich continued to grow, as more one-percenters called for enacting progressive taxes, and Inequality.org held a star-studded conference on why and how to do so.
blog June 27, 2019
ICYMI: A Brief Summary of Our June Blogs and Reports

A summary of ITEP reports, analyses and blogs this month.
blog June 27, 2019
Wealth Tax Is Supported by Basically Everyone Who Is Not a Politician

A February survey found that 61 percent of registered voters supported a wealth tax proposal, including 51 percent of Republican voters. And it’s not just the non-rich wanting to tax the very rich. A June survey found that 60 percent of millionaires support the idea.
blog June 27, 2019
Gas Taxes Rise in a Dozen States, Including an Historic Increase in Illinois

On July 1, 12 states will boost their gasoline taxes and 11 will boost their diesel taxes. The reasons for these increases vary, but they’re generally intended to fund maintenance and improvement of our nation’s transportation infrastructure–a job at which Congress has not excelled in recent years.
map June 27, 2019
Has Your State Enacted Gas Tax Reform Recently?

Gas taxes are the most important revenue source that states have available to pay for transportation infrastructure. In recent years, state lawmakers across the country have increasingly agreed that gas taxes must be increased to fund the maintenance and improvement of their infrastructure networks.