Carl Davis
Carl Davis is the research director at ITEP, where he has worked since 2008. Carl works on a wide range of issues related to both state and federal tax policy. He has advised policymakers, researchers, and advocates on tax policy issues in nearly every state. Much of his work relates to the link between taxes and economic growth, and the shortcomings of dynamic scoring and supply-side economic theories.
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report March 6, 2012 Alaska Senate State Affairs Committee Regarding SB 29, The Alaska Tax Break Transparency Act
My testimony today deals with Senate Bill 29, which would take an important first step toward achieving these goals by requiring regular scrutiny of Alaska “tax expenditures”—that is, the various… -
report February 29, 2012 Testimony on Reinstating Maryland’s “Millionaires’ Tax”
SB 249 would permanently reinstate the “millionaires’ tax” that expired at the end of 2010. This testimony emphasizes that the “millionaires’ tax” makes Maryland’s tax system at least somewhat less… -
report February 15, 2012 Arthur Laffer Regression Analysis is Fundamentally Flawed, Offers No Support for Economic Growth Claims
A November 2011 report from the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs (OCPA) in partnership with Arduin, Laffer & Moore, a consulting group headed by Arthur Laffer, explains the method that… -
report February 8, 2012 “High Rate” Income Tax States Are Outperforming No-Tax States
Don’t Be Fooled by Junk Economics With the economy lagging, lawmakers seeking to reduce or eliminate state personal income taxes are touting their proposals as tools for boosting economic growth.… -
report December 14, 2011 Building a Better Gas Tax
State gas taxes are currently levied in every state, and are the most important source of transportation revenue under the control of state lawmakers. In recent years, however, state gas… -
brief October 1, 2011 Tax Expenditures: Spending By Another Name
Lawmakers often provide targeted tax cuts to groups of individuals or corporations in the form of special tax breaks–including exemptions, deductions, exclusions, credits, deferrals, and preferential tax rates. These tax breaks have long been called “tax expenditures” because they are essentially government spending programs that happen to be administered through the tax code. However, tax expenditures are usually less visible than other types of public spending and are therefore harder for policymakers and the public to evaluate. This policy brief surveys the difficulties created by tax expenditures, and describes options for better integrating them into the normal budget process.
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brief September 1, 2011 Split Roll Property Taxes
In the past half century, state lawmakers have explored a wide variety of approaches to scaling back property taxes. One such approach is the split roll property tax, also known as a classified property tax. Unlike a regular property tax system which taxes all types of real property at the same rate, a split roll property tax applies different tax rates to different types of property. This policy brief looks at the advantages and disadvantages of the split roll approach.
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brief September 1, 2011 Property Tax Homestead Exemptions
State lawmakers seeking to enact residential property tax relief have two broad options: across-the-board tax cuts for taxpayers at all income levels, and targeted tax breaks. More than 40 states have chosen to achieve across-the-board tax relief by providing a “homestead exemption.” This policy brief explains the workings of the homestead exemption and evaluates its strengths and weaknesses as a property tax relief strategy.
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report May 19, 2011 ITEP’s Testimony on Tax Expenditure Procedural Reform
My testimony today focuses on House Bill 5737, which would enact a variety of reforms designed to enhance the level of scrutiny applied to new tax credits, deductions, exemptions, and… -
report April 14, 2011 States Should Not Allow Amazon.com to Bully Them into Forgoing Sales Tax Reform
In just the last few weeks, Arkansas and Illinois joined New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island in enacting legislation requiring some online retailers, like Amazon.com, to collect sales taxes… -
report March 10, 2011 Topsy-Turvy: State Income Tax Deductions for Federal Income Taxes Turn Tax Fairness on its Head
The budget outlook for state governments is bleak. Despite evidence that revenues are rebounding, there is a general acknowledgement that ?broad fiscal conditions remain fragile. The need for public investments—particularly… -
report March 9, 2011 Five Reasons to Reinstate Maryland’s “Millionaires’ Tax”
In 2008, Maryland enacted a temporary change to its income tax in order to compensate for revenue lost from repealing a law subjecting computer services to the state’s sales tax.… -
report March 3, 2011 The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes
The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes, released in March of 2011, offers citizens, activists, journalists, and policymakers a detailed primer on state and local tax policy. The… -
report January 15, 2011 A Capital Idea
The budget outlook for the states is improving, but uncertain. In this context, states must find ways to generate additional revenue that create neither additional responsibilities for individuals and families… -
report December 22, 2010 Dear Wall Street Journal: No Need to File a Missing Persons Report, Oregon’s High-Income Taxpayers Have Not “Vanished”
The Wall Street Journal recently published an editorial suggesting that a 2 percentage point increase in Oregon’s top income tax rate caused up to 10,000 wealthy Oregonians to flee the… -
report December 15, 2010 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: 2010 State Tax Policy Changes
Compared to previous years, the budget outlook for the states improved only slightly in 2010 and virtually every state continued to face a budget shortfall. As a result, the overwhelming… -
report November 9, 2010 Testimony before the Maryland Business Tax Commission: Combined Reporting
I’m here to talk about combined reporting, which ITEP views as a vital step towards ensuring the vitality of the Maryland corporate income tax going forward. I’d like to use… -
report August 24, 2010 “Writing Off” Tax Giveaways: How States Can Help Balance Their Budgets by Reforming or Repealing Itemized Deductions
“Writing Off” Tax Giveaways examines options for reforming itemized deductions in the thirty-one states, plus DC, that offer such deductions. The study, released on August 24, 2010, focuses on five… -
report August 13, 2010 ITEP’s Testimony on TRAC Sales and Use Tax Proposal
My testimony today offers several broad thoughts on the implications of the proposals for sales and use tax reform laid out so far by the Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC). The… -
report November 18, 2009 Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States 3rd Edition
Who Pays? is a comprehensive analysis of state and local tax systems in all fifty states. The study, released on November 18, 2009, shows that on average, state and local…