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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media mention May 20, 2017 NPR: Leaked Education Budget Has Big Cuts
A bill now in Congress would expand tax-credit scholarships nationwide, creating a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for individuals and corporations. That could “undermine public education,” according to a new report… -
media mention May 17, 2017 New York Times: In Some States, Donating to Private Schools Can Earn You a Profit
AASA and the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined programs in 17 states that send more than $1 billion a year to private schools via tuition tax credits,… -
blog May 17, 2017 Investors and Corporations Would Profit from a Federal Private School Voucher Tax Credit
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being… -
report May 17, 2017 Public Loss Private Gain: How School Voucher Tax Shelters Undermine Public Education
One of the most important functions of government is to maintain a high-quality public education system. In many states, however, this objective is being undermined by tax policies that redirect public dollars for K-12 education toward private schools.
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blog May 10, 2017 Gas Taxes Increases Continue to Advance in the States
This post was updated July 12, 2017 to reflect recent gas tax increases in Oregon and West Virginia.
As expected, 2017 has brought a flurry of action relating to state gasoline taxes. As of this writing, eight states (California, Indiana, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia) have enacted gas tax increases this year, bringing the total number of states that have raised or reformed their gas taxes to 26 since 2013. -
media mention May 7, 2017 Governing: Raising the Gas Tax Is No Longer Taboo in Many States
Already this year, governors in California, Indiana and Tennessee signed laws to raise fuel taxes, meaning a total of 22 states have passed laws imposing higher gas taxes in the… -
media mention May 1, 2017 Bloomberg: Trump Study of Gas Tax Could Run Afoul of GOP, Rural Voters
Voters in rural areas overwhelmingly chose Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, and a higher gas tax also may indeed affect those areas disproportionately, said Carl… -
blog April 25, 2017 Income Tax Offers Best Bang for the Buck in Alaska
Earlier this month the Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-17 in favor of implementing a personal income tax for the first time in over 35 years. Gov. Bill Walker praised… -
report April 24, 2017 Comparing the Distributional Impact of Revenue Options in Alaska
Alaska is facing a significant budget gap because of a sharp decline in the oil tax and royalty revenue that has traditionally been relied upon to fund government. This report examines five approaches for replacing some of the oil revenue that is no longer available: enacting a broad personal income tax, state sales tax, payroll tax, investment income tax, or cutting the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). Any of the options examined in this report could make a meaningful contribution toward closing Alaska’s budget gap. To allow for comparisons across options, this report examines policy changes designed to generate $500 million annually. This amount would be insufficient to close Alaska’s $3 billion budget gap, but any of these options could be modified to raise additional revenue, or could be incorporated into a larger package of changes designed to close the gap.
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media mention April 11, 2017 The Fiscal Times: Tax-Free Shopping on Amazon Is Over
As recently as 2011, Amazon was collecting sales tax in just five states, home to 11 percent of the country’s population, according to Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic… -
media mention March 31, 2017 Christian Science Monitor: After years of fighting states, Amazon makes sales tax standard
Regardless of the motivation for the move, tax experts applaud the decision to make state sales tax collection standard. “This expansion in Amazon’s tax collection practices represents a step forward… -
blog March 29, 2017 Seeking the Right Balance in Alaska
It’s been a little over a year since Alaska Gov. Bill Walker proposed implementing a state personal income tax for the first time in 35 years, and the idea is now… -
blog March 29, 2017 The April Fool’s Joke Is on Consumers: April 1 Marks Record-Breaking Procrastination on Federal Gas Tax Policy
It’s only appropriate that April 1 will mark a new milestone in foolish federal transportation infrastructure policy. On Saturday, the nation’s federal gasoline tax rate will have been stuck at… -
report March 28, 2017 Assessing the Distributional Consequences of Alaska’s House Bill 115 (Version L)
This report contains ITEP’s analysis of the distributional and revenue consequences of the revised version of House Bill 115 (Version L) as proposed on March 23, 2017. This proposal would reduce Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) payout and implement a personal income tax based on a modified version of Federal Adjusted Gross Income, with rates ranging from 0 to 7 percent. The analysis was produced using ITEP’s Microsimulation Tax Model.
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blog March 23, 2017 Taxing the Gig Economy
Our ever-changing economy demands that lawmakers update our tax laws to keep pace. Take, for example, the growth of online sales. As recently as six years ago, Amazon, the nation’s… -
media mention March 22, 2017 Gas 2.0: Fuel Taxes Likely to Increase in 2017 in States without Elections
According to information supplied by Carl Davis, research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Washington, D.C., states were more active in changing their rates in the odd-numbered… -
media mention March 22, 2017 CSP Magazine: Why 2017 Looks Bullish for State Gas-Tax Increases
“If you go back to 2013, we’ve seen a significant group of states—19—enact gas-tax increases or reforms of some type. In many cases, these are states that have gone years… -
blog March 21, 2017 Amazon Will Collect Every State Sales Tax by April 1
For decades, Amazon.com helped its customers dodge the sales taxes they owed to gain an advantage over its competitors. But as the company’s business strategy has changed, so has its… -
report March 15, 2017 Taxes and the On-Demand Economy
A growing number of Americans are getting rides or booking short-term accommodations through online platforms such as Uber and Airbnb. This is nothing new in concept; brokers have operated for hundreds of years as go-betweens for producers and consumers. The ease with which this can be done through the Internet, however, has led to millions of people using these services, and to some of the nation’s fastest-growing, high-profile businesses.
The rise of this on-demand sector, sometimes referred to as the “gig economy” or, by its promoters, the “sharing economy,” has raised a host of questions. For state and local governments, one of them is: How do the services provided by these companies fit into the current tax system? All three of the major categories of revenue sources relied upon by state and local governments, including consumption taxes, income taxes, and property taxes, are impacted to some extent by the on-demand economy. While Uber, Airbnb, and similar on-demand companies are still relatively small in relation to the overall U.S. economy (accounting for 0.5 percent of the U.S. workforce), they are large enough to have a meaningful impact on state tax collections, and their explosive growth and entry into new lines of business will amplify their importance in the years ahead.
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media mention March 3, 2017 American Prospect: How States Turn K-12 Scholarships Into Money-Laundering Schemes
This article was originally published in The American Prospect. By Carl Davis Politicians have long had a knack for framing policy proposals, however controversial, in terms that make them more… -
media mention February 22, 2017 Reuters: U.S. States See Favorable Conditions for Gas Tax Hikes
Low gas prices, a desperate need for revenue to fix crumbling roads, and a post-election period that gives politicians the space to tackle controversial issues have breathed life into efforts… -
report February 9, 2017 State Gasoline Taxes: Built to Fail, But Fixable
Every state levies taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, usually just called “gas taxes.” These taxes are an important source of state revenue–particularly for transportation–but their poor design has resulted in sluggish revenue growth that fails to keep pace with state infrastructure needs. This ITEP Policy Brief explains how state gas taxes work, their importance as a transportation revenue source, the problems confronting gas taxes, and the types of gas tax reforms that are needed to overcome these problems.
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media mention February 8, 2017 The Denver Post: 19 states have raised gas taxes since 2013. In Colorado, Republicans want to cut them
“This is highly unusual, what’s being talked about in Colorado right now,” said Carl Davis, research director with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. And it can largely be… -
blog February 6, 2017 Dodging Tough Fiscal Decisions with State Tax Cut Triggers and Phase-Ins
The most challenging problem that tax-cutting state lawmakers face is dealing with the budgetary tradeoffs that tax cuts require. Should education spending be reduced? Should investments in infrastructure be halted?… -
blog February 2, 2017 What to Watch in the States: Gas Tax Hikes and Swaps
This is the second installment of our six part series on 2017 state tax trends. The introduction to this series is available here. State tax policy can be a divisive…