Recent Work
2059 items
Kentucky Forward Press Conference – ITEP Statement on Progressive Tax Reform
May 28, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
As Kentucky grapples with the news of a potential $1 billion budget shortfall, there are good reasons for state lawmakers to turn to progressive tax reform instead of resorting to painful spending cuts. Kentucky’s overall tax structure is currently quite regressive, meaning that low-and middle-income families pay more as a share of their income in […]
ITEP Testimony on Corporate Tax Reform before the New York State Senate Select Committee on Budget and Tax Reform
May 21, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
The stated purpose of this hearing is to evaluate the impact of New York’s business taxes on equity and economic growth. These are laudable concerns: the most basic questions to ask about any corporate break are whether they are allocated fairly, and whether there’s any reason to think they will help create jobs in New […]
Ready, Set, Reform – How the Income Tax Can Help Make the Illinois Tax System Fairer and More Sustainable
May 15, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
The Illinois tax system faces a crisis of both adequacy and equity. The state must confront a projected $11.6 billion budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years that will likely require a variety of difficult spending and tax policy choices, and also faces a fundamental long-term mismatch between its spending needs and the revenues […]
Earlier this week, the Missouri Senate Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on House Joint Resolution 36, which would eliminate the state’s individual and corporate income taxes while increasing the state’s sales tax rate and applying the sales tax to all consumer spending. The bill would also introduce a sales tax rebate to offset […]
Missouri House Bill 64 would change the state’s personal income tax in three important ways: • Expand the starting point for the 6 percent top income tax bracket from $9,000 to $50,000 of taxable income.• Increase the deduction for federal income taxes paid from $10,000 for married couples($5,000 for single filers) to $15,000 for married […]
This policy brief examines the impact of the principal tax change in House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 71, which would decrease each of the state’s income tax rates by 0.5 percent. Missouri’s income tax rate structure currently starts at 1.5 percent for filers with taxable income below $1,000 and increases in thousand dollar increments […]
Budget Hikes Taxes on Low-Income Families to Pay for High-End Capital Gains Cuts
April 7, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
On Friday, April 3, the Georgia General Assembly passed a budget for fiscal year 2010 that includes a major new tax cut (an exclusion for long-term capital gains income) and a substantial tax increase (eliminating a state-funded property tax relief program). A new analysis by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) […]
A Capital Idea: Repealing State Tax Breaks for Capital Gains Would Ease Budget Woes and Improve Tax Fairness
March 15, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
This report explains what capital gains are, how they are treated for tax purposes, and who typically receives them. It also details the consequences of providing preferential tax treatment for capital gains income for states’ budgets, taxpayers, and economies in nine key states. Lastly, it responds to claims about both the relationship between capital gains […]
ITEP Testimony on HB 642 Tax Reform Proposal before the New Hampshire General Court House Committee on Ways & Means
March 5, 2009 • By ITEP Staff
I am here today to offer testimony on House Bill 642, which was introduced by Representative Jessie Osborne earlier this year and which would improve New Hampshire’s tax system, both by generating additional revenue and by shifting greater responsibility for such revenue onto those state residents with a greater ability to pay. In the time […]
My testimony today focuses on one bill introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives: HB 567, which concerns reforming the state’s individual income tax structure. In particular, my testimony will discuss the impact of this bill on the overall fairness of Missouri’s tax system. This bill would make the overall tax structure more equitable and […]
ITEP’s Public Comments to the Governor’s 21st Century Tax Reform Commission
September 15, 2008 • By ITEP Staff
We appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on ways to improve Minnesota’s business climate. Historically, Minnesota has ranked above the national average in terms of many economic and social indicators. These public services are what foster economic development and what businesses look for when making location decisions. In fact, “research shows an emerging consensus that […]
Data released late last week by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) indicate that 10 states have greater concentrations of reported income among their very wealthiest residents than the country as a whole. Unfortunately, the tax systems in those ten states generally ignore that very important reality. Of those ten states: • four lack a broad-based […]
Louisiana lawmakers are in what appears to be an enviable position. At a time when legislators in many other states face daunting budget shortfalls, Louisiana enjoys a projected short-term budget surplus for the upcoming fiscal year. But Louisiana’s tax system remains troubled in one important sense. It is profoundly unfair, imposing much higher effective tax […]
On Wednesday, May 14, 2008, the House Ways and Means Committee approved SB 87, a measure originally sponsored by Senator Buddy Shaw and now backed by Governor Bobby Jindal. The measure would reduce state income taxes by close to $300 million per year, but a new analysis by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and […]
ITEP Testimony on Combined Reporting, Before the Massachusetts General Court Joint Committee on Revenue
March 5, 2008 • By ITEP Staff
Over the past few months, a strong consensus appears to have developed here in Massachusetts, a consensus that the Commonwealth should put a stop to tax avoidance by large and profitable businesses and adopt a new approach to its corporate excise tax – a method of taxation commonly referred to as combined reporting. I want […]
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