While record state revenue surpluses have led to big pushes in red states to make unnecessary permanent income and corporate tax cuts, Democrats are also getting in on the tax-cut mania…
.ITEP Staff
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blog February 10, 2022 State Rundown 2/10: Dems Also Set Sights on Tax Cuts
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blog February 2, 2022 State Rundown 2/2: The First Tax Cut Domino Falls…
One-time payments have become a common theme around the country, as Idaho is one of roughly eleven states with plans to provide tax relief in a similar fashion…
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blog January 26, 2022 State Rundown 1/26: States Offering Preview of Tax Themes and Trends for 2022
Governors and legislators are beginning to settle on and advance tax bills that could drastically shape the future of their states and several trends and themes are beginning to emerge…
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blog January 20, 2022 State Rundown 1/20: Governors Eyeing Tax Cuts in Yearly Addresses
A common theme is emerging out of states, as governors around the U.S. begin the year with their annual state speeches, and the news does not bode well for long-term growth and sustainable budgets…
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blog January 14, 2022 The Compelling Data and Moral Case for Continuing the Child Tax Credit Expansion
In just six short months, the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), decreased the number of children living in poverty by 40 percent. ITEP estimated that the lowest-income 20 percent of households with children would receive a 35 percent income boost from this policy alone in 2021. This is a meaningful, life-changing sum.
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blog January 13, 2022 State Rundown 1/13: The Tax Cuts Cometh, But There Is a Better Way
As expected, with the start of many new legislative sessions around the country, lawmakers have introduced a slew of tax cut plans following better-than-expected budget outlooks that have, so far, weathered the impact of the pandemic…
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blog January 5, 2022 The Pendulum Is Swinging Toward Tax Justice
Tax justice is deeply connected to the movements for equality and racial justice. Progressive tax policy can ensure more of us share in the prosperous economy that our collective tax dollars make possible. It can mitigate economic disparities by class and race. And it can make sure the government has the resources it needs to function for all of us.
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blog January 5, 2022 State Rundown 1/5: New Year, Same Old Playbook
The new year often brings with it a reinvigorated commitment to new goals and a fresh perspective on how to accomplish them, but it seems like lawmakers in states around the country are giving up already…
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blog December 17, 2021 Pandemic Policies Demonstrate Government Can Address Widening Economic Inequality If Policymakers So Choose
We are surrounded by evidence that economic inequality is spinning out of control, yet we also see straightforward examples of how government can stop the downward spiral should it choose to do so. The Build Back Better Act, which invests in communities and ensures the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, is one such example. Congress should pass it.
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blog December 15, 2021 State Rundown 12/15: Making Our State Tax Naughty or Nice List & Checking it Twice
As the holiday season kicks into full gear, we’re putting the finishing touches on our State Tax Naughty or Nice list, and it looks like some late entrants are making a good case to be included…
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blog November 23, 2021 State Rundown 11/23: Thankful for Tax Advocates Like You!
Here at ITEP we want to give thanks and say we’re grateful for all of the hard work that advocates in states across the country are doing to secure progressive tax policy victories…
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blog November 10, 2021 State Rundown 11/10: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Election Season?!
If the leaves are turning colors and you find yourself walking out of the office into pitch-black darkness, it only means that time of the year is upon us—and no, I’m not talking about the holiday season. Before that, it’s the equally important election season…
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blog October 27, 2021 State Rundown 10/27: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice
The end of Spooky Season is near but that hasn’t stopped state lawmakers from adding their frightening plans into the bubbling cauldron of bad tax policy ideas…
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brief October 14, 2021 Investment Income and Racial Inequality
Congress has a historic opportunity to fix the way the preferential treatment of investment income widens the racial wealth gap and to strive toward a racially equitable tax code.
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blog October 13, 2021 State Rundown 10/13: Haven Sent Edition
The release of the ‘Pandora Papers’ showed once again that states and their tax systems play an important role in wealth inequality, and in this case, worsening it…
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blog October 4, 2021 State Income Tax Reform Can Bring Us Closer to Racial Equity
To pave the way for a more racially equitable future, states must move away from poorly designed, regressive policies that solidify the vast inequalities that exist today.
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blog September 29, 2021 State Rundown 9/29: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Revenue?
One of the few industries to excel during the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic has been the marijuana business, and lawmakers around the country are taking notice as they try to ensure that sales in their state are both legal and subject to tax…
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report September 21, 2021 Tax Changes in the House Ways and Means Committee Build Back Better Bill
This report finds that the vast majority of these tax increases would be paid by the richest 1 percent of Americans and foreign investors. The bill’s most significant tax cuts — expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — would more than offset the tax increases for the average taxpayer in all income groups except for the richest 5 percent.
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blog September 15, 2021 State Rundown 9/15: It’s a Little Too Quiet…
Though we can’t fault anyone for being distracted by the major stories of the day, we at ITEP remain committed to keeping you up to date on what’s happening in the tax world around you…
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blog September 3, 2021 Frequently Asked Questions about Proposals to Repeal the Cap on Federal Tax Deductions for State and Local Taxes (SALT)
Even though Democrats in Congress uniformly opposed the TCJA because its benefits went predominately to the rich, many Democratic lawmakers now want to give a tax cut to the rich by repealing the cap on SALT deductions.
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blog September 1, 2021 State Rundown 9/1: Labor Day Edition
Labor Day is around the corner and in the spirit of celebrating the achievements of workers around the country, we here at ITEP want to call attention to the states (and territories) that are using tax policy to support workers and residents alike…
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report August 26, 2021 Options to Reduce the Revenue Loss from Adjusting the SALT Cap
If lawmakers are unwilling to replace the SALT cap with a new limit on tax breaks that raises revenue, then any modification they make to the cap in the current environment will lose revenue and make the federal tax code less progressive. Given this, lawmakers should choose a policy option that loses as little revenue as possible and that does the smallest amount of damage possible to the progressivity of the federal tax code.
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blog August 18, 2021 State Rundown 8/18: End of Summer Tax Update
Summer is quickly (and sadly) coming to an end and if you’ve been away enjoying the great outdoors or off the grid, we’re here to help keep you up to date on what’s been happening on the tax front around the country…
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blog August 4, 2021 State Rundown 8/4: Tis the Season…for Unnecessary Sales Tax Holidays
It’s beginning to look a lot like that time of year again. That’s right, it’s sales tax holiday season and states across the country are doing their best to induce spending that would probably occur regardless…
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report July 29, 2021 Corporate Tax Avoidance Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Thirty-nine profitable corporations in the S&P 500 or Fortune 500 paid no federal income tax from 2018 through 2020, the first three years that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was in effect. Besides the 39 companies that paid nothing over three years, an additional 73 profitable corporations paid less than half the statutory corporate income tax rate of 21 percent established under TCJA. As a group, these 73 corporations paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 5.3 percent during these three years.