Personal Income Taxes
179 posts
New State Taxes on the Wealthy Raise Revenue and Rebalance Tax Codes, Advancing Racial Justice
• By Brakeyshia Samms
Taxing the rich is proven fiscal policy – it raises revenue for vital public services and makes tax codes fairer. But a part of the debate that rarely gets enough attention: taxing the rich is also one of the most effective tools available for advancing racial equity.
California’s Prop 40: Responses to Common Objections
• By Brian Galle, David Gamage, Darien Shankse
Proposition 40, California’s proposed billionaire tax, is a one-time 5 percent levy that addresses a significant one-time emergency, namely the cuts made to the healthcare system by the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
2026 State Tax Ballot Measures to Watch
• By Aidan Davis
This fall, voters across the country will consider a host of ballot measures that could reshape the fairness and adequacy of their states’ tax systems. Here’s some of what we’re following.
Relentless State Income Tax Cuts Add Up to Massive Giveaways for the Wealthy
• By Sarah Austin
Today's state income tax cutting is defined less by sweeping one-time reforms than by sustained campaigns to ratchet down income tax rates year after year. This approach enables lawmakers to enshrine significant long-term reductions into law, while obscuring the fiscal impact by spreading it across multiple state budgets and legislative cycles.
The Changing Landscape of State Tax Rates
• By Sarah Austin
Many states have repeatedly cut top personal and corporate income tax rates in recent years, sometimes while approving increased sales tax rates to push tax systems in a more regressive direction. Other states, however, have charted a very different course and have moved to increase taxes on higher income households to fund public services.
Missouri’s Amendment 5 Would Cut Taxes for the Rich and Raise Taxes on Seniors and the Middle Class
• By Eli Byerly-Duke
On August 4, Missouri voters will vote on whether to increase taxes on the middle class and seniors to fund tax cuts for the richest households in the state.
2026 Sessions in Review: States Move to Tax the Rich and Corporations
• By Aidan Davis
This year several states raised income tax rates on high-income people to fund crucial services and make progress toward remedying the regressive tilt of their tax codes.
A Year Later, Many States Have Decided Not to Double Down on Trump’s Tax Cuts
• By Nick Johnson
Nearly one year after the Trump tax law was signed, many of the 42 states with income taxes are declining to incorporate significant parts of the new law into their own tax codes.
Rhode Island Budget Bets on Tax Fairness with Millionaires’ Tax and New Child Tax Credit
• By Miles Trinidad
The spending plan, signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee today, features a new millionaires’ tax, the state’s first permanent child tax credit, expanded eligibility for its Social Security exemption , and strategic decoupling from federal business tax provisions.
As Inequality Grows, More States Look to Tax the Rich
• By Alex Welch
From surcharges on the income of high-earners to higher taxes on second homes, here are recent steps states have taken to tax the rich.
Maine Passes Millionaires’ Tax and Pushes Back on Federal Changes
• By Marco Guzman
Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Friday put her seal of approval on a supplemental budget bill that includes a “millionaires’ tax.”
State Tax Watch 2026
• By ITEP Staff
ITEP tracks tax discussions in legislatures across the country and uses our unique data capacity to analyze the revenue, distributional, and racial and ethnic impacts of many of these proposals. State Tax Watch offers the latest news and movement from each state.
South Carolina’s Expensive, Regressive Tax Law Will Eliminate State’s Income Tax
• By Neva Butkus, Dylan Grundman O'Neill
South Carolina signed into law a regressive tax cut that will disproportionately benefit the state’s highest-income residents while simultaneously jeopardizing the state’s ability to pay for basic public services in the years to come.
States Like Missouri Are Seeking to Raise Taxes on the Working Class to Cut Taxes for the Rich
• By Eli Byerly-Duke
A proposal to replace the Missouri personal income tax with a higher sales tax would increase costs for low- and middle-income households while giving the richest Missourians an average annual tax cut of almost $40,000.
Washington Millionaires’ Tax, Expanded Working Families Tax Credit Make Tax Code Fairer
• By Marco Guzman, Dylan Grundman O'Neill
The Washington legislature has approved a new "millionaires' tax," a 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million. The bill, which makes significant investments in public education and child care, will also expand the Working Families Tax Credit – the state’s EITC – to reach an additional 460,000 households.
An Anti-Affordability Agenda: Trump’s Advisors Call on States to Raise Taxes on the Working Class and Drastically Cut Taxes for the Rich
• By Carl Davis
The Trump administration’s Council of Economic Advisors suggests that states consider drastically raising sales taxes and using those new revenues to pay for repealing taxes on corporate and personal income. Working-class families would face dramatic tax increases while the nation’s wealthiest families would see their state tax bills plummet.
An Analysis of a Potential Reduction in Massachusetts’ Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Rate
• By Eli Byerly-Duke, Matthew Gardner
A ballot initiative in Massachusetts has proposed cutting the base rate for nearly all income sources from 5 to 4 percent. In 2026, this would cost the state about $5 billion per year of which $347 million would come from the reduced rate on long-term capital gains.
Historical State Tax Rate Data
• By ITEP Staff
Download the Data Overview This historical dataset of state tax rates includes data on statutory top personal income tax rates, top corporate income tax rates, and sales tax rates for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, back to the adoption of modern forms of state taxation at the start of the 20th century. […]
Show Me Where We’re Going: Missouri’s Fiscally Irresponsible Path Will Be Paid for by Everyday People
• By Logan Liguore
Missouri lawmakers have been pushing regressive and shortsighted tax policies that undermine everyday workers and sabotage the Show-Me State’s ability to raise revenue.
2025: The Year in Tax Policy
• By ITEP Staff
From Congressional discussions over the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to debates on property taxes, ITEP kept busy this year analyzing tax proposals and showing Americans across the country how tax decisions affect them.
Linking to Tipped and Overtime Income Deductions Would Worsen State Shortfalls, Do Little to Help Workers
• By Neva Butkus, Galen Hendricks
State deductions for tips and overtime are not only ineffective at supporting working-class people, it will come at a substantial cost to state budgets.
The Wealth Proceeds Tax: A Simple Way for States to Tax the Wealthy
• By Sarah Austin, Carl Davis
Taxing the proceeds generated by wealth through a new Wealth Proceeds Tax is a simple way for states to raise billions in new revenue and improve the fairness of their tax systems.
The 5 Biggest State Tax Cuts for Millionaires this Year
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill, Aidan Davis
Some states continue to hand out huge tax cuts to millionaires. The five largest tax cuts this year will cost states a total of $2.2 billion per year once fully implemented.
State Tax Action in 2025: Amid Uncertainty, Tax Cuts and New Revenue
• By Aidan Davis, Neva Butkus, Marco Guzman
Federal policy choices on tariffs, taxes, and spending cuts will be deeply felt by all states, which will have less money available to fund key priorities. This year some states raised revenue to ensure that their coffers were well-funded, some proceeded with warranted caution, and many others passed large regressive tax cuts that pile on to the massive tax cuts the wealthiest just received under the federal megabill.
Alabama Sunsets its Expensive ‘No Tax on Overtime’ Policy
• By Neva Butkus
The idea of exempting overtime pay from income tax has gained traction, but there's little evidence it's an effective policy. Alabama tried it in 2023 but ended the policy after just two years. Their reversal highlights how exempting overtime is an expensive gimmick and a distraction from real worker issues.
The personal income tax is typically the fairest revenue source relied on by federal and state governments. A properly structured personal income tax could offer an important boost in progressivity to what are otherwise overwhelmingly regressive state tax structures.
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia levy broad-based personal income taxes. ITEP’s personal income tax resources provide both general and state-specific information about the impact as well as the mechanics and merits of personal income taxes.
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.