Pennsylvania
ITEP’s Kamolika Das Testifies on Pennsylvania’s Upside-Down Tax Code
March 4, 2024 • By Kamolika Das
Below is written testimony delivered by ITEP Local Policy Director Kamolika Das before the Pennsylvania House Finance Subcommittee on Tax Modernization & Reform on March 1, 2024. Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Kamolika Das, I live in South Philly, and I’m the Local Tax Policy Director at […]
Pennsylvania: Who Pays? 7th Edition
January 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
Pennsylvania Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Pennsylvania, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.6 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Pennsylvania. State and local tax shares of family income Top 20% Income Group […]
Keystone Research Center: Fair Taxation Can Help Achieve a More Just Pittsburgh
December 13, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
Over the past several years, federal funding via the American Rescue Plan (ARP) has temporarily boosted City of Pittsburgh revenues and allowed increased investment in affordable housing, workforce training, healthy and accessible food programs, public safety, and public transportation. ARP funds, however, will expire in 2024, leaving a $30.6 million shortfall in the city budget. This […]
Keystone Research Center: REPORT: Why Pennsylvania Needs a State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
August 25, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
If one thing has become clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that workers who do essential things like providing care for the sick, stocking shelves at grocery stores, and cleaning facilities to keep our buildings clean and safe are undervalued in our society. Despite their hard work, many Pennsylvanians earn such low wages that […]
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: A Fair Share Tax Plan for Pennsylvania — 2019 Update
April 15, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
This paper puts forward the Fair Share Tax plan, a major step toward fixing Pennsylvania’s broken tax system and raising the revenues we need to invest in the public goods that are critical to creating thriving communities and individual opportunity in our state: education, infrastructure, protection for our air and water, and human services. The […]
Third and State: Pennsylvania’s Terrible Tax Code Asks More of You as You Make Less: Hitting Community’s of Color Especially Hard
October 23, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The Commonwealth once again claims its spot in the “Terrible 10” most unfair tax structures in the nation. The lowest 20% of income earners in the state pays more than double (2.3 times) their share of family income on state and local taxes than the top 1%.
Pennsylvania: Who Pays? 6th Edition
October 17, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
PENNSYLVANIA Read as PDF PENNSYLVANIA STATE AND LOCAL TAXES Taxes as Share of Family Income Top 20% Income Group Lowest 20% Second 20% Middle 20% Fourth 20% Next 15% Next 4% Top 1% Income Range Less than $19,100 $19,100 to $38,100 $38,100 to $62,200 $62,200 to $102,700 $102,700 to $228,700 $228,700 to $511,000 over $511,000 […]
Twelve States Offer Profitable Tax Shelter to Private School Voucher Donors; IRS Proposal Could Fix This
October 2, 2018 • By Carl Davis
A proposed IRS regulation would eliminate a tax shelter for private school donors in twelve states by making a commonsense improvement to the federal tax deduction for charitable gifts. For years, some affluent taxpayers who donate to private K-12 school voucher programs have managed to turn a profit by claiming state tax credits and federal tax deductions that, taken together, are worth more than the amount donated. This practice could soon come to an end under the IRS’s broader goal of ending misuse of the charitable deduction by people seeking to dodge the federal SALT deduction cap.
Tax Cuts 2.0 – Pennsylvania
September 26, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The $2 trillion 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes several provisions set to expire at the end of 2025. Now, GOP leaders have introduced a bill informally called “Tax Cuts 2.0” or “Tax Reform 2.0,” which would make the temporary provisions permanent. And they falsely claim that making these provisions permanent will benefit […]
Keystone Research: The State of Working Pennsylvania 2018
August 30, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
“The State of Working Pennsylvania 2018,” Keystone Research Center’s 23rd annual review of the Pennsylvania economy and labor market finds that, nearly a decade into the current national economic expansion, many Pennsylvania workers are still waiting for a raise. The report points to three factors that help explain this.
The Other SALT Cap Workaround: Accountants Steer Clients Toward Private K-12 Voucher Tax Credits
June 27, 2018 • By Carl Davis
On May 23, 2018, the IRS and Treasury Department announced that they “intend to propose regulations addressing the federal income tax treatment of certain payments made by taxpayers for which taxpayers receive a credit against their state and local taxes.” They made the announcement in response to new “workaround tax credits” enacted in New York […]
Most States Have Raised Gas Taxes in Recent Years
May 22, 2018 • By Carl Davis
An updated version of this blog was published in April 2019. State tax policy can be a contentious topic, but in recent years there has been a remarkable level of agreement on one tax in particular: the gasoline tax. Increasingly, state lawmakers are deciding that outdated gas taxes need to be raised and reformed to fund infrastructure projects that are vital to their economies.
Third and State: Fact Check: Undocumented Immigrants like the Dreamers are not a Drag on State and Local Governments
January 27, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
A recent study by the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the estimated 137,000 undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania pay our state and local governments almost $135 million in taxes each year. (They pay $11.7 billion in state and local taxes nationwide.) Read more here
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: The Pennsylvania Promise: Making College Affordable and Securing Pennsylvania’s Economic Future
January 22, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
Three recent briefs by the Keystone Research Center laid out the case for more affordable access to post-secondary education in Pennsylvania. The global race for raising incomes and increasing opportunity hinges critically on access to post-secondary education and training. If Pennsylvania does not expand access to higher education to more of its citizens, the Commonwealth’s economy will suffer and living standards will lag behind growth elsewhere. With a modest and smart investment, Pennsylvania can build a more prosperous future for its citizens and reinvigorate the American Dream in every corner of the keystone state. “The Pennsylvania Promise,” outlined below, shows…
How the Final GOP-Trump Tax Bill Would Affect Pennsylvania Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 16, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The final tax bill that Republicans in Congress are poised to approve would provide most of its benefits to high-income households and foreign investors while raising taxes on many low- and middle-income Americans. The bill would go into effect in 2018 but the provisions directly affecting families and individuals would all expire after 2025, with […]
Private Schools Donors Likely to Win Big from Expanded Loophole in Tax Bill
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
For years, private schools around the country have been making an unusual pitch to prospective donors: give us your money, and you’ll get so many state and federal tax breaks in return that you may end up turning a profit. Under tax legislation being considered in Congress right now, that pitch is about to become even more persuasive.
Tax Bill Would Increase Abuse of Charitable Giving Deduction, with Private K-12 Schools as the Biggest Winners
December 14, 2017 • By Carl Davis
In its rush to pass a major rewrite of the tax code before year’s end, Congress appears likely to enact a “tax reform” that creates, or expands, a significant number of tax loopholes.[1] One such loophole would reward some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals with a strategy for padding their own bank accounts by “donating” to support private K-12 schools. While a similar loophole exists under current law, its size and scope would be dramatically expanded by the legislation working its way through Congress.[2]
How the House and Senate Tax Bills Would Affect Pennsylvania Residents’ Federal Taxes
December 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The House passed its “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” November 16th and the Senate passed its version December 2nd. Both bills would raise taxes on many low- and middle-income families in every state and provide the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors substantial tax cuts, while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The graph below shows that both bills are skewed to the richest 1 percent of Pennsylvania residents.
How the Revised Senate Tax Bill Would Affect Pennsylvania Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 14, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Senate tax bill released last week would raise taxes on some families while bestowing immense benefits on wealthy Americans and foreign investors. In Pennsylvania, 50 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents, and 12 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.
How the House Tax Proposal Would Affect Pennsylvania Residents’ Federal Taxes
November 6, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on November 2 in the House of Representatives, includes some provisions that raise taxes and some that cut taxes, so the net effect for any particular family’s federal tax bill depends on their situation. Some of the provisions that benefit the middle class — like lower tax rates, an increased standard deduction, and a $300 tax credit for each adult in a household — are designed to expire or become less generous over time. Some of the provisions that benefit the wealthy, such as the reduction and eventual repeal of the estate…
GOP-Trump Tax Framework Would Provide Richest One Percent in Pennsylvania with 61.5 Percent of the State’s Tax Cuts
October 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Pennsylvania equally. The richest one percent of Pennsylvania residents would receive 61.5 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $550,200 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $67,970 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 3.8 percent.
State Rundown 9/13: The Year of Unprecedented State Budget Impasses Continues
September 13, 2017 • By .ITEP Staff
This week, Pennsylvania lawmakers risk defaulting on payments due to their extremely overdue budget and Illinois legislators will borrow billions to start paying their backlog of unpaid bills. Governing delves into why there were more such budget impasses this year than in any year in recent memory. And Oklahoma got closure from its Supreme Court on whether closing special tax exemptions counts as "raising taxes" (it doesn't).
State Rundown 9/6: Most Statehouses Quiet, Many Pondering Harvey’s Impacts
September 7, 2017 • By .ITEP Staff
It's been a quiet week for tax policy in most states, though lawmakers are still making noise in Pennsylvania, where a budget agreement is still needed, and in Wisconsin, where legislators are searching for the will to raise revenue for the state's ailing transportation infrastructure. In our "What We're Reading" section you'll find interesting reading on the fiscal fallout of Hurricane Harvey, as well as an in-depth series on how states' disaster response needs are likely to continue to increase.
State Rundown 8/23: Few Lingering Budget Debates Cannot Linger Much Longer
August 23, 2017 • By .ITEP Staff
This week, Oklahoma lawmakers learned they'll need to enter a special session to balance their budget and that they'll likely face a lawsuit over their low funding of public education. Pennsylvania's budget stalemate is also coming to a head as the state literally runs out of funds to pay its bills. And Amazon's tax practices are in the news again as the company has been sued in South Carolina.
In Pennsylvania 43.5 Percent of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million
August 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A tiny fraction of the Pennsylvania population (0.5 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 43.5 percent of the tax cuts that go to Pennsylvania residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 44.9 percent of the state, earns less than $45,000, but would receive just 5.7 percent of the tax cuts.
