Meg Wiehe

media mention July 16, 2017
Bloomberg BNA: Low Tax Revenue Fuels State Deficits, Budget Battles

In more than a dozen other states, legislators fought down to the wire. Maine and New Jersey were forced into brief government shutdowns. Much press was given to New Jersey…
media mention July 14, 2017
MarketWatch: Why Back to School Sales Could Actually Cost You Money

Currently 16 states have back-to-school sales tax holidays planned for 2017, with most located in the Southeast. Some states also have sales tax holidays for other products, such as guns…
media mention June 29, 2017
Huffpost: Why States Are Struggling To Tax Services

Another challenge is that taxes on services are regressive, with a disproportionate impact on low-income residents, and are sometimes seen as an unfair way to plug a budget hole or…
blog June 21, 2017
State Rundown 6/21: Crunch Time for Many States with New Fiscal Year on Horizon

This week several states rush to finalize their budget and tax debates before the start of most state fiscal years on July 1. West Virginia lawmakers considered tax increases as…
blog May 18, 2017
State Rundown 5/18: Tax Debate Heat Wave Hitting States

This week saw tax debates heat up in many states. Late-session discovered revenue shortfalls, for example, are creating friction in Delaware, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, while special sessions featuring tax debates continue in Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Meanwhile the effort to revive Alaska’s personal income tax has cooled off.
media mention May 14, 2017
West Virginia Metro News: West Virginia Has Miserable Company When It Comes to Budget Troubles

If there’s a bright side to West Virginia’s state budget troubles — in a misery-loves-company kind of way — it’s that plenty of other states have been having trouble too.…
blog May 10, 2017
State Rundown 5/10: Spring Tax Debates at Different Stages in Different States

This week saw a springtime mix of state tax debates in all stages of life. In West Virginia and Louisiana, debates over income tax reductions and comprehensive tax reform are…
media mention May 10, 2017
Bloomberg BNA: Q and A with ITEP’s Meg Wiehe

Bloomberg BNA: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)? Wiehe: I am ITEP Deputy Director, my primary responsibility…
media mention May 4, 2017
San Diego Union Tribune: Report Tallies Taxes from Unauthorized Immigrants

Unauthorized immigrants in San Diego County pay an estimated $218.5 million in state and local taxes annually, according to a report from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.…
media mention April 26, 2017
Center for Public Integrity: Big Tax Cuts for the Rich, Less for the Poor

Others see it differently. The Tax Foundation is one of the leading proponents of tax cuts that disproportionately favor the wealthy over low-income families, said Meg Wiehe, director of programs…
report April 25, 2017
State & Local Tax Contributions of Young Undocumented Immigrants (2017)

This report specifically examines the state and local tax contributions of undocumented immigrants who are currently enrolled or immediately eligible for DACA and the fiscal implications of various policy changes. The report includes information on the national impact (Table 1) and provides a state-by-state breakdown (Appendix 1).
news release April 24, 2017
New Report: DACA-Eligible Immigrants Annually Pay $2 billion in State and Local Taxes

Young undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions would drop by nearly half if DACA protections were rescinded A new Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report examined the state and local tax…
media mention April 18, 2017
On the Economy Podcast: Inclusive immigration policies

Episode #7 of the On the Economy podcast, on the fiscal and economic impacts of immigration, is yours for the clicking. Our guests–Erica Williams and Meg Wiehe, take us through…
media mention March 8, 2017
Univision: La millonaria contribución que hacen los indocumentados a la economía de Nueva York

“De la misma manera que el impacto horrendo de separar a familias bajo una política de deportación mavisa no debe ser ignorado, tampoco se deben pasar por alto las contribuciones…
media mention March 2, 2017
The San Jose Mercury News: Undocumented Immigrants Contributed Billions in State and Local Taxes

Trump, like many of his supporters, has said undocumented residents hurt the economy by taking jobs from U.S. citizens while using up public services and other resources. Taxpayers, he argues, front…
report March 1, 2017
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions

Public debates over federal immigration reform, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants, particularly at the state level. The truth is that undocumented immigrants living in the United States paybillions of dollars each year in state and local taxes. Further, these tax contributions would increase significantly if all undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States were granted a pathway to citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform. Or put in the reverse, if undocumented immigrants are deported in high numbers, state and local revenues could take a substantial hit.
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.
media mention February 6, 2017
ABC News: Without Immigrants, the U.S. Economy Would Be a Disaster

According to Meg Wiehe, the director of programs for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “Undocumented immigrants contributed more than $11.6 billion in state and local taxes each year.…
blog January 26, 2017
A Visual Tour of Who Pays State & Local Taxes

While it can be hard to look away from the important federal policy debates occurring right now in Washington D.C., state lawmakers across the country will also be debating consequential…
blog January 26, 2017
An Overview of State Tax Trends in 2017

Since the 2007-2009 economic crisis, rising income inequality and the role our public policies play in aiding or easing this trend have been an ongoing part of the public discourse.…
media mention January 26, 2017
Governing: Despite Budget Shortfalls, Some Governors Call for Tax Cuts

In both Colorado and Kansas, the tax increases would help cover projected budget deficits. That can be a dangerous habit, said Meg Wiehe of the progressive-leaning Institute on Taxation and…
report January 26, 2017
Fairness Matters: A Chart Book on Who Pays State and Local Taxes

When states shy away from personal income taxes in favor of higher sales and excise taxes, high-income taxpayers benefit at the expense of low- and moderate-income families who often face above-average tax rates to pick up the slack. This chart book demonstrates this basic reality by examining the distribution of taxes in states that have pursued these types of policies. Given the detrimental impact that regressive tax policies have on economic opportunity, income inequality, revenue adequacy, and long-run revenue sustainability, tax reform proponents should look to the least regressive, rather than most regressive, states in crafting their proposals.
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.
brief November 28, 2016
State Tax Preferences for Elderly Taxpayers

State governments provide a wide array of tax breaks for their elderly residents. Almost every state that levies an income tax allows some form of income tax exemption or credit for citizens over age 65 that is unavailable to non-elderly taxpayers. Most states also provide special property tax breaks to the elderly. Unfortunately, too many of these breaks are poorly-targeted, unsustainable, and unfair. This policy brief surveys federal and state approaches to reducing taxes for older adults and suggests options for designing less costly and better targeted tax breaks.
media mention November 16, 2016
Chicago Herald: New Chicago bag tax will boost revenue, but will it cut waste?

“Meg Wiehe, state tax policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group based in Washington, D.C., said these one-off taxes on goods exacerbate income inequality.…