Over the next few weeks we will be blogging about what we’re watching in state tax policy during 2018 legislative sessions. And there is no trend more pervasive in states this year than the need to sort through and react to the state-level impact of federal tax changes enacted late last year.
Dylan Grundman O'Neill
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blog March 5, 2018 Trends We’re Watching in 2018, Part 1: State Responses to Federal Tax Cut Bill
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blog July 21, 2017 States May Be Finally Learning Their Lesson on Back-To-School Sales Tax Holidays
State lawmakers face a dilemma when it comes to sales tax holidays, an attractive and popular policy that nonetheless proves to be a poor choice compared to developing thoughtful, targeted tax policies or investing in well-executed public services. Luckily, word seems to be getting out that the costs associated with these holidays far outweigh their purported benefits.
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blog May 12, 2017 South Carolina’s Gas Tax Deal: Could Have Been Worse, Could Have Been Better
South Carolina lawmakers this week raised the state’s gas tax for the first time in 28 years, a time period that tied for the third-longest in the nation. While the… -
blog May 4, 2017 Nebraska Vote Is Latest Defeat for Tax-Cut “Trigger” Gimmick
Nebraska lawmakers had a long and contentious tax-cut debate this session but ultimately chose the wise path and rejected attempts to give a massive tax cut to the wealthy at… -
blog May 1, 2017 Time to Repeal State Deductions for Federal Income Taxes
Three of the biggest needs facing state policymakers right now are new revenues to fund their priorities in the face of budget shortfalls and federal funding cuts, ways to insulate… -
brief May 1, 2017 Why States That Offer the Deduction for Federal Income Taxes Paid Get It Wrong
With many states currently facing budget shortfalls—whether due to weak economic recovery after the Great Recession, struggling commodity prices, or self-inflicted tax cuts—and all states bracing for possible federal budget cuts in areas from education to health care to infrastructure, states are unlikely to be able to continue providing high-quality services to their residents without raising new revenue. In this context, states must find ways to generate additional revenue without increasing taxes on individuals and families who are already struggling to make ends meet and may bear the biggest brunt of federal funding cuts.
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blog March 31, 2017 All Is Peachy in Georgia, for Now
Georgia lawmakers ended their legislative session Thursday by enacting a few tax credits and smartly choosing not to pass a major income tax cut that had been working its way… -
blog February 28, 2017 What to Watch in the States: State-Federal Relationship Shifting
So far in this series on tax policy topics to watch in 2017, we’ve covered important state debates in areas such as attempts to weaken or eliminate progressive taxes and… -
blog February 27, 2017 States Should Require Combined Reporting of Corporate Income
An important aspect of a 21st century tax code is ensuring that corporate income taxes are easy for corporations to follow, but not easy for them to avoid. As our… -
brief February 24, 2017 Combined Reporting of State Corporate Income Taxes: A Primer
Over the past several decades, state corporate income taxes have declined markedly. One of the factors contributing to this decline has been aggressive tax avoidance on the part of large, multi-state corporations, costing states billions of dollars. The most effective approach to combating corporate tax avoidance is combined reporting, a method of taxation currently employed in more than half of the states that tax corporate income. The two most recent states to enact combined reporting are Rhode Island in 2014 and Connecticut in 2015.
In several states, including Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, lawmakers adopted the policy after first carrying out in-depth studies of its potential effects. This policy brief explains how combined reporting works.
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blog February 13, 2017 ‘IMPROVE’ Act Fails to Improve Tennessee’s Regressive Tax Code
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposal (dubbed the IMPROVE Act) to raise the state’s gas tax while cutting three other taxes would essentially be a tax cut for the state’s wealthiest… -
brief December 21, 2016 State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in fostering strong communities by promoting equality of opportunity and helping states adequately fund public services. While many of the taxes levied by state and local governments fall most heavily on low-income families, only the very wealthy pay estate and inheritance taxes.
Changes in the federal estate tax in recent years, however, caused states to reevaluate the structure of their estate and inheritance taxes. Unfortunately, the trend of late among states has tended toward weakening or completely eliminating them. But this need not be so; states can restore or improve their estate and inheritance taxes as a vital progressive revenue source to support services and communities while also protecting the source from the whims of federal lawmakers. This policy brief explains state inheritance and estate taxes, discusses recent state trends and policy decisions that have impacted the taxes, and explores how states can adopt or strengthen these important components of a progressive tax structure.
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brief August 22, 2016 How State Tax Changes Affect Your Federal Taxes: A Primer on the “Federal Offset”
Read this brief in PDF here. State lawmakers frequently make claims about how proposed tax changes would affect taxpayers at different income levels. Yet too many lawmakers routinely ignore one… -
brief August 22, 2016 Indexing Income Taxes for Inflation: Why It Matters
Read brief in PDF here. All of us experience the effects of inflation as the price of the goods and services we buy gradually goes up over time. Fortunately, as… -
brief August 17, 2016 The Folly of State Capital Gains Tax Cuts
Read the brief in a PDF here. The federal tax system treats income from capital gains more favorably than income from work. A number of state tax systems do as… -
blog June 24, 2016 Weird New Jersey Tax Debates Continue
The New Jersey Legislature is considering a proposal to increase the state’s gas tax but at the same time some lawmakers are insisting that that tax increase be paired with tax cuts for the wealthiest New Jerseyans. Perhaps most bizarre is that the state is considering providing a tax cut for retirement and pension income (a move that would benefit the best-off state residents) while also weighing cuts to the revenue that funds state pensions.
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brief June 2, 2016 State Treatment of Itemized Deductions
Read this Policy Brief in PDF Form Map of State Treatment of Itemized Deductions Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia allow a group of income tax breaks known as… -
report February 23, 2016 Tennessee Hall Tax Repeal Would Overwhelmingly Benefit the Wealthy, Raise Tennesseans’ Federal Tax Bills by $85 Million
Read PDF of report. Tennessee lawmakers are giving serious consideration to repealing their state’s “Hall Tax” on investment income (so named for the state senator who sponsored the legislation creating…