Delaware
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
• By Aidan Davis, Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
See the 2016 Updated Brief Here Read the brief in a PDF here. that time, the EITC has been improved to lift and keep more working families out of poverty. The most recent improvements enhanced the credit for families with three or more children and for married couples. First enacted temporarily as part of the […]
The News Journal: Are we really a xenophobic and racist country?
December 22, 2015
“The rhetoric from anti-immigrants is that they come here to usurp benefits they do not deserve. The reality is that many of these immigrants – both undocumented and documented – provide more than they actually receive. For example, out of any undocumented immigrant’s pay check there is a tax on social security and Medicaid – […]
Delaware: An Onshore Tax Haven
• By Richard Phillips
When thinking of tax havens, one generally pictures notorious zero-tax Caribbean islands like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. However, we can also find a tax haven a lot closer to home in the state of Delaware - a choice location for U.S. business formation. A loophole in Delaware's tax code is responsible for the loss of billions of dollars in revenue in other U.S. states, and its lack of incorporation transparency makes it a magnet…
Technical.ly Delaware: Delaware’s tax system was just named 4th most ‘fair’ in the country
October 5, 2015
The survey found that most Americans think “fair” tax systems are designed to impose higher taxes on higher-income households and lower taxes on lower-income households. WalletHub then compared that data directly to state tax burden data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy to determine their master rankings. Read more
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
• By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe
The U.S. Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2014, the national poverty rate was 14.8 percent - statistically unchanged from the previous year. However, the poverty rate remains 2.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2007, before the Great Recession, indicating that recent economic gains have not yet reached all households and that there is much room for improvement. The 2014 measure…
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
• By Aidan Davis, Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
Despite some economic gains in recent years, the number of Americans living in poverty has held steady over the past four years. At the same time, wages for working families have remained stagnant and more than half of the jobs created by the economic recovery since 2010 were low-paying, mostly in the food services, retail, and employment services industries. Our country's growing class of low-wage workers often faces a dual challenge as they struggle to…
Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix
• By Carl Davis
Read this report in PDF form Introduction For years, academics and transportation experts have been discussing the possibility of taxing drivers for each mile they travel on the nation’s roads. This “vehicle miles traveled tax” (VMT tax) could either supplement or replace the existing gas tax as the primary method of funding transportation infrastructure. To […]
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2015)
• By Matthew Gardner, Meg Wiehe
This report was updated February 2016 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is often lacking. The reality is the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions […]
The Daily Item: Tax the Rich More
March 16, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Pennsylvania at No. 6 in the Institute’s “Terrible 10” states that taxes low income earners up to seven times as much of their income in taxes as the top 1 percent are taxed on their income. Washington, Florida and Texas top the list of the “Terrible 10” […]
The Patriot News: There’s a Reason Pennsylvania Makes the Top 10 Terrible Tax States
March 11, 2015
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Pennsylvania at number six in the its “Terrible 10” states that tax low income earners up to seven times as much, as a percentage of income, as the top one percent are taxed. Washington, Florida and Texas top the list of the “Terrible 10” states, and Delaware, Montana […]
Wall Street Cheat Sheet: Here’s Proof You’re Getting Screwed on Your Taxes
January 21, 2015
Ever feel like you’re paying more than your fair share when it comes to taxes? If a new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) holds true, then it may be more than just a feeling. According to the ITEP’s study, individuals who earn lower incomes tend to get hit harder and […]
DC Fiscal Policy Institute: The Recommendations of the D.C. Tax Revision Commission Are Having a Favorable Impact on the District
• By ITEP Staff
The Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP) issued its 2015 report — Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States – today. The fifth edition of this report, which also includes findings for DC, shows the District of Columbia’s progress towards improving the fairness of the DC tax system. […]
The Oregonian: Oregon’s tax system one of fairest in nation for lower income
January 16, 2015
“A new study by a liberal think tank says Oregon’s tax system is one of the least regressive in the country as the result of the lack of a sales tax and its refundable income tax credit for lower-income citizens. The Washington, D.C. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that only two states — […]
Governing: Lower Wage Workers Pay More Than the 1% in State, Local Taxes
January 16, 2015
“When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit. That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them […]
The Washington Post: Best state: Delaware, for tax fairness
January 16, 2015
“Every state tax system soaks the poor proportionally more than it does the rich, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). On average, the report found, the bottom 20 percent of earners give up about twice as large a share of their incomes in state and local […]
Minnesota Post: In study on tax fairness, Minnesota looks … fair
January 15, 2015
“In The Washington Post, Niraj Shoshi reports, “State taxes favor those with the highest incomes. That’s according to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report, which finds that on average the bottom fifth of earners pay proportionally twice as much of their incomes in state and local taxes as the […]
The New York Times: Study Finds Local Taxes Hit Lower Wage Earners Harder
January 14, 2015
“When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit. That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them […]
NPR: Gas Tax Hike to Fuel Fixes to Roads and Bridges
December 9, 2014
“There’s kind of been a switch that’s been flipped,” says Carl Davis, a senior analyst with the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Davis says gas tax increases are now on the table in states across the country, from New Jersey to Utah to South Carolina to South Dakota. Democratic governors in Delaware, Vermont […]
State Tax Codes As Poverty Fighting Tools
• By Meg Wiehe
Read the Report in PDF Form The Census Bureau released data in September showing that the share of Americans living in poverty remains high. In 2013, the national poverty rate was 14.5 percent, a slight drop from last years’ rate of 15 percent and the first decline since 2006.1 However, the poverty rate remains 2.0 […]
State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
• By Meg Wiehe
For much of the last century, estate and inheritance taxes have played an important role in helping states to adequately fund public services in a way that improves the progressivity of state tax systems. 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. Recent changes in the federal estate tax, however, culminating in the "fiscal cliff " deal…
Pay-Per-Mile Tax is Only a Partial Fix
• By Carl Davis
The gasoline tax is the single largest source of funding for transportation infrastructure in the United States, but the tax is on an unsustainable course. Sluggish gas tax revenue growth has put strain on transportation budgets at the federal and state levels, and has led to countless debates around the country about how best to pay for America's infrastructure.
Deleware NewsZap: Gas Tax-Is it Still Happening?
May 27, 2014
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan think-tank, the challenge with state gas taxes is its unsustainability, as it relates to vehicle fuel efficiency and the rising cost of building infrastructure.
Bloomberg: How Gasoline-Use Drop May Raise Taxes in Deleware
May 27, 2014
Fuel-efficiency gains, inflation and higher construction costs have eroded the ability of state gasoline taxes to keep pace with needs, said Carl Davis, an analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based research group.
Transportation Topics: Gas Tax Buying Power at All-Time Low in Some States
May 19, 2014
By Michael Fuetsch, May 19, 2014 The gasoline tax is so low and has not been raised for so long in 10 states, that the levy’s purchasing power has fallen to historic lows, a new study said. States where this has occurred are Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah, and […]
Gas Tax Hits Rock Bottom in Ten States
• By Carl Davis
In most states, the gasoline tax is set at a fixed number of cents per gallon of gas. South Carolina drivers, for example, have been paying 16 cents per gallon in state tax for more than a quarter century.1 But while this type of fixed-rate gas tax may appear to be flat over time, its lack of change in the face of inflation means that its "real" value, or purchasing power, is steadily declining. In…
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