Recent Work
2048 items
Circuit Breakers and Other Income-Based Property Tax Programs in 2023
May 19, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
No tax cut offers a more targeted solution to property tax affordability problems than circuit breaker credits. This is because circuit breakers are the only tools for reducing property taxes that measure the affordability of property taxes relative to families’ ability to pay. Circuit breakers protect families from property tax “overload” much like how traditional […]
This past week, in statehouses around the country, tax policy decisions are moving fast as budgets were signed and budget plans were released and passed...
States are Talking About the Wrong Kind of Property Tax Cuts
May 11, 2023 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Carl Davis
Concerns over property tax affordability have been at the forefront this year as housing prices have climbed and property tax bills have often increased along with them. As lawmakers mull a range of property tax cuts, circuit breakers are the best possible approach—and these policies are receiving far too little attention in the states.
Preventing an Overload: How Property Tax Circuit Breakers Promote Housing Affordability
May 11, 2023 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Carl Davis
Circuit breaker credits are the most effective tool available to promote property tax affordability. These policies prevent a property tax “overload” by crediting back property taxes that go beyond a certain share of income. Circuit breakers intervene to ensure that property taxes do not swallow up an unreasonable portion of qualifying households’ budgets.
State Rundown 5/10: Momentum on State Tax Credits Continues to Build
May 10, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
This week, in states across the country the momentum to center improvements to family economic security remains strong...
At nearly every turn, Oregon’s tax policies widen inequality; as a result, the top 1 percent pay less state and local taxes as a share of income than the poorest residents. Taxing capital gains at the local level is an important and exciting move in the other direction – to tax income from wealth and use it to address crucial needs.
The House’s Debt Ceiling Smoke Screen: The GOP Budget Plan Gives Cover for Tax Cuts for the Rich
May 9, 2023 • By Joe Hughes
While it isn’t reasonable in the first place for Congress to debate whether it will pay the bills it has already incurred, some of the same lawmakers who are holding the economy hostage to exact budget cuts have decided to make the conversation even more irrational by proposing to increase deficits with tax cuts that enrich the already rich.
Congress Should Raise Taxes on the Rich, But That’s a Totally Separate Issue from the Debt Ceiling
May 9, 2023 • By Steve Wamhoff
Congress absolutely should raise taxes on the rich and on corporations to generate revenue and improve the fairness of our tax code. President Biden has several proposals to do exactly that. But this is an entirely separate question from whether we should raise the debt ceiling to honor the debts the nation has already incurred and avoid an economic apocalypse.
Minnesota Poised to Enact Landmark Loophole-Closing Corporate Tax Reforms
May 7, 2023 • By Matthew Gardner
With Minnesota poised to enact worldwide combined reporting of corporate income taxes, business lobbyists are pulling out all the stops to make state lawmakers believe the apocalypse is upon them.
Extending Temporary Provisions of the 2017 Trump Tax Law: National and State-by-State Estimates
May 4, 2023 • By Joe Hughes, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
The push by Congressional Republicans to make the provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent would cost nearly $300 billion in the first year and deliver the bulk of the tax benefits to the wealthiest Americans.
While the conversations on the debt ceiling heat up in the nation's capital, debates on state tax policy also continue to unfold in capitol buildings across the nation...
The GOP is Finally Ready to Raise Taxes. (Or, When a Tax Hike is Not a Tax Hike.)
May 3, 2023 • By Joe Hughes
House Republicans recently voted to rescind the green energy and electric vehicle tax credits that were enacted last Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This newfound willingness to raise taxes stands in contrast to the recent position of almost the entire House Republican Caucus.
Minnesota’s House, Senate and Governor’s office have each proposed their own vision as to how the state should maximize its $17.5 billion surplus and raise new revenue, and these tax plans make one thing clear: Minnesota lawmakers are serious about using tax policy to advance tax equity and improve the lives of Minnesotans.
A compelling new examination over multiple years and multiple states found that infants are more likely to survive to age one in states that raise more revenue and raise it from those most able to pay. Generating taxes from rich people and corporations can help babies make it to their first birthday.
Kansas Avoids Flat Tax Proposal: Narrow Victory a Cautionary Tale for Other States
April 27, 2023 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Kansas lawmakers failed to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a damaging flat tax package. In doing so, the state narrowly avoided traveling again down the same disastrous yet well-worn path of deep income tax cuts. States across the country can learn from Kansas’s experience by rethinking tax policy decisions and broader statewide priorities.
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.