Alaska

The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and Congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would affect states differently, but every state would see its richest residents grow richer if it is enacted. In all but a handful of states, at least half of the tax cuts would flow to the richest one percent of residents if the framework took effect.

The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would not benefit everyone in Alaska equally. The richest one percent of Alaska residents would receive 51.8 percent of the tax cuts within the state under the framework in 2018. These households are projected to have an income of at least $615,800 next year. The framework would provide them an average tax cut of $77,880 in 2018, which would increase their income by an average of 5.5 percent.

Tax and budget debates are progressing at different paces in different parts of the country this week. In Connecticut and Wisconsin, lawmakers hope to finally settle their budget and tax differences soon. In South Dakota, a court case that could finally enable states to enforce their sales taxes on online retailers inches slowly closer to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Click here for a pdf of this page A tiny fraction of the Alaska population (0.4 percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But this elite group would receive 31.6 percent of the tax cuts that go to Alaska residents under the tax proposals from the Trump administration. A much larger group, 44.8 percent of […]

A tiny fraction of the U.S. population (one-half of one percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But in 2018 this elite group would receive 48.8 percent of the tax cuts proposed by the Trump administration. A much larger group, 44.6 percent of Americans, earn less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.4 percent of the tax cuts.

Budget deliberations continue in earnest this week in Alaska, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In South Dakota and Utah, the focus is on gearing up for ballot initiative efforts to raise needed revenue, though be sure to read about legislators nullifying voter-approved initiatives in Maine and elsewhere in our "what we're reading" section.

While only a few states still remain mired in overtime budget debates, there is plenty of budget and tax news from around the country this week. Efforts are underway to repeal gas tax increases in California and challenge a local income tax in Seattle, Washington. And New Jersey legislators' law to modernize its tax code to tax Airbnb rentals has been vetoed for now.

2017 marked a sea change in state tax policy and a stark departure from the current federal tax debate as dubious supply-side economic theories began to lose their grip on statehouses. Compared to the predominant trend in recent years of emphasizing top-heavy income tax cuts and shifting to more regressive consumption taxes in the hopes […]

Not only would President Trump’s proposed tax plan fail to deliver on its promise of largely helping middle-class taxpayers, it also would shower a disproportionate share of the total tax cut on taxpayers in some of the richest states while southern and a few other states would receive a smaller share of the tax cut […]

Earlier this year, the Trump administration released some broadly outlined proposals to overhaul the federal tax code. Households in Alaska would not benefit equally from these proposals. The richest one percent of the state’s taxpayers are projected to make an average income of $1,400,500 in 2018. They would receive 45.9 percent of the tax cuts that go to Alaska’s residents and would enjoy an average cut of $134,060 in 2018 alone.

The broadly outlined tax proposals released by the Trump administration would not benefit all taxpayers equally and they would not benefit all states equally either. Several states would receive a share of the total resulting tax cuts that is less than their share of the U.S. population. Of the dozen states receiving the least by this measure, seven are in the South. The others are New Mexico, Oregon, Maine, Idaho and Hawaii.

Tax and budget debates drag on in several states this week, as lawmakers continue to work in Alaska, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. And a showdown is brewing in Kentucky between a regressive tax shift effort and a progressive tax reform plan. Be sure to also check out our "What We're Reading" section for a historical perspective on federal tax reform, a podcast on lessons learned from Kansas and California, and more!

Illinois and New Jersey made national news earlier this month after resolving their contentious budget stalemates. But they weren’t the only states working through (and in some cases after) the holiday weekend to resolve budget issues.

This week, several states attempt to wrap up their budget debates before new fiscal years (and holiday vacations) begin in July. Lawmakers reached at least short-term agreement on budgets in Alaska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, but such resolution remains elusive in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Summer gas prices are at their lowest level in twelve years, which makes right now a sensible time to ask drivers to pay a little more toward improving the transportation infrastructure they use every day. Seven states will be doing this on Saturday, July 1 when they raise their gasoline tax rates. At the same time, two states will be implementing small gas tax rate cuts.

Many state governments are struggling to repair and expand their transportation infrastructure because they are attempting to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with fixed-rate gasoline taxes that are rarely increased.

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 part of a balanced approach to closing the state’s budget gap but took a funding-cuts-only approach in the end. Delaware legislators face a similar choice, […]

This week lawmakers in California and Nevada resolved significant tax debates, while budget and tax wrangling continued in West Virginia, and structural revenue shortfalls were revealed in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Airbnb increased the number of states in which it collects state-level taxes to 21. We also share interesting reads on state fiscal uncertainty, the tax experiences of Alaska and Wyoming, the future of taxing robots, and more!

Alaska stopped collecting income taxes 35 years ago, and Wyoming has never remotely considered implementing one in the 82 years since it decided instead to charge state and local sales taxes. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) discovered recently that nearly 82 percent of Alaskans could expect to pay less under a progressive income tax than they would under a sales tax designed to generate an identical level of revenue.

This week, we celebrate a victory in Kansas where lawmakers rolled back Brownback's tax cuts for the richest taxpayers. Governors in West Virginia and Alaska promote compromise tax plans. Texas heads into special session and Vermont faces another budget veto, while Louisiana and New Mexico are on the verge of wrapping up. Voters in Massachusetts may soon be able to weigh in on a millionaire's tax, the California Senate passed single-payer health care, and more!

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.

In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, blog posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been working on lately. Here we go again The Trump Administration on Wednesday released a tax sketch that is a roadmap for […]

Earlier this month the Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-17 in favor of implementing a personal income tax for the first time in over 35 years. Gov. Bill Walker praised the bill shortly after passage, citing its ability to “provide a steady source of funding for essential services like public education and state troopers,” and […]

Alaska is facing a significant budget gap because of a sharp decline in the oil tax and royalty revenue that has traditionally been relied upon to fund government. This report examines five approaches for replacing some of the oil revenue that is no longer available: enacting a broad personal income tax, state sales tax, payroll tax, investment income tax, or cutting the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). Any of the options examined in this report could make a meaningful contribution toward closing Alaska’s budget gap. To allow for comparisons across options, this report examines policy changes designed to generate $500 million…

Cutting the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) or Implementing a Sales Tax Would Be Costlier than Income Tax for Most Alaskans A new analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds that for most Alaskans, a state income tax would capture less of their income than other revenue-raising alternatives such as cutting the […]