The poorest fifth of Americans would receive 1 percent of the House reconciliation bill’s net tax cuts in 2026 while the richest fifth of Americans would receive two-thirds of the tax cuts. The richest 5 percent alone would receive a little less than half of the net tax cuts that year.
Income Taxes
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report May 22, 2025 Analysis of Tax Provisions in the House Reconciliation Bill: National and State Level Estimates
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blog May 16, 2025 The House Tax Plan, By the Numbers
The House of Representatives unveiled a sprawling piece of tax legislation earlier this week that would extend temporary tax changes enacted in 2017 and layer various kinds of tax cuts and increases on top. The JCT analysis makes clear that the House tax plan would be regressive, meaning it would offer larger tax cuts as a share of income to high-income taxpayers than to either middle-class or working-class families. It also makes clear that most of the tax cuts would go to families with above-average incomes.
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blog May 10, 2025 Trump’s Proposed Higher Tax Rate on the Richest Taxpayers Would Affect Very Little of Their Income
President Donald Trump has proposed allowing the top rate to revert from 37 percent to 39.6 percent for taxable income greater than $5 million for married couples and $2.5 million for unmarried taxpayers. But many other special breaks in the tax code would ensure that most income of very well-off people would never be subject to Trump’s 39.6 percent tax rate.
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brief May 6, 2025 Maryland’s New Budget Boosts Tax Revenue and Equity
The final budget adopted by the Maryland General Assembly shows progress in advancing tax equity in the state while boosting state revenues to address the state’s budget deficit. To help… -
blog April 17, 2025 Ending Direct File Program is a Gift to the Tax-Prep Industry That Will Cost Taxpayers Time and Money
The Trump administration reportedly plans to shutter the IRS Direct File program before it has a chance to get fully off the ground, taking away a free option for people to file their tax returns directly to the agency. Ending Direct File is another gift from this administration to large corporations, this time to the multibillion-dollar tax prep industry that profits from you filing your taxes.
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brief April 8, 2025 A Windfall for the Wealthy: A Distributional Analysis of Mississippi HB 1
Mississippi lawmakers have approved the most radical and costly change to the state’s personal income tax system to date. House Bill 1 ultimately eliminates the state’s personal income tax and cuts state revenues by nearly $2.7 billion a year when fully implemented. This deeply regressive legislation will create a windfall for the wealthiest residents of the poorest state in the nation while simultaneously jeopardizing the state’s ability to fund public services that support Mississippians and the state’s economy.
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brief March 28, 2025 Advantaging Affluence: A Distributional Analysis of Missouri HB 798’s Uneven Tax Cuts for Wealth and Work
Missouri House Bill 798 would reduce personal and corporate income tax rates, fully eliminate taxes on capital gains income from sale of assets, and eliminates the state’s modest Earned Income Tax Credit that assists many working people in lower-paid jobs. HB 798 would radically transform Missouri’s income tax code into a system that privileges income from wealth over income from work, leaving many middle-income families to pay a higher income tax rate than wealthy people living off their investments.
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blog March 25, 2025 Tip Exemptions Have No Place in State Income Tax
Creating a special tax break for tipped income – as at least 20 states are considering this spring – would harm state budgets, encourage tax avoidance, and fail to reach the vast majority of low- and middle-income workers.
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brief March 6, 2025 Proposed Missouri Tax Shelter Would Aid the Wealthy, Anti-Abortion Centers Alike
In Missouri, donations to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers come with state tax credits valued at 70 cents on the dollar. One bill currently being debated in the state would increase that matching rate to 100 percent—that is a full, state-funded reimbursement of gifts to anti-abortion groups.
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blog March 5, 2025 Trump’s Address to Congress Obscures His Actual Tax Agenda
In last night’s address to Congress, President Trump spent more time insulting Americans, lying, and bragging than he did talking about taxes. But regardless of what President Trump and Elon… -
blog February 26, 2025 Mississippi Considers Deep Tax Cuts Amidst Budget and Economic Uncertainty
At a time when states across the country are forecasting deficits or anticipating slowing revenue growth, Mississippi lawmakers are debating deeply regressive and expensive tax cuts that would overwhelmingly benefit their state’s richest residents.
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blog February 20, 2025 Wide-Ranging 2025 State Tax Debates Come into Focus
In the face of immense uncertainty around looming federal tax and budget decisions, many of which could threaten state budgets, state lawmakers have an opportunity to show up for their constituents by raising and protecting the revenue needed to fund shared priorities. Lawmakers have a choice: advance tax policies that improve equity and help communities thrive, or push tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, drain funding for critical public services, and make it harder for most families to get ahead.
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blog February 11, 2025 Turning IRS Agents to Deportation Will Reduce Public Revenues
The Trump Administration’s plan to turn IRS agents into deportation agents will result in lower tax collections in addition to the harm done to the families and communities directly affected by deportations.
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brief February 5, 2025 The (Mostly Untapped) Power of Local Income Taxes
Local income taxes can be an important progressive revenue raiser, as they ask more of higher-income households and are connected to ability to pay. They can raise substantial revenue to fund key public services to make cities and regions better off.
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blog January 30, 2025 Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s Tax Plan Boosts Revenue, Increases Fairness
Maryland’s Gov. Wes Moore put forward a tax reform plan that would make the tax system fairer, simpler, and better able to meet the state’s needs. The proposed changes to the income tax ask more of those at the top and provide an average tax cut for those earning less.
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blog January 30, 2025 Maryland’s Tax Reform Likely Won’t Cause Millionaire Migration
The moment Gov. Wes Moore announced his proposal to reform Maryland’s tax system, in part, by raising income tax rates on high-income households, opponents began predicting that wealthy people would respond by leaving. Experience from other states says that’s not the case.
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blog January 17, 2025 Congress Could — But Won’t — Pass a Tax Package That Pays for Itself
If Republican lawmakers were serious about deficit-neutral tax reform, they would focus on increasing taxes for the ultra-wealthy and large corporations. The absence of such proposals in their plan reveals their true priority: delivering enormous tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans while average working families receive crumbs.
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brief January 8, 2025 Trump’s Plan to Extend His 2017 Tax Provisions: Updated National and State-by-State Estimates
Trump’s plan to make most of the temporary provisions of his 2017 tax law permanent would disproportionately benefit the richest Americans. This includes all major provisions except the $10,000 cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) paid.
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brief January 6, 2025 The Pitfalls of Flat Income Taxes
While most states have a graduated rate income tax, some state lawmakers have recently become enamored with the idea of moving toward flat rate taxes instead. What’s the difference? And… -
brief December 12, 2024 Federal Tax Debate 2025
Congress will soon debate provisions from the Trump tax law that are set to expire at the end of 2025, as well as other tax policies that Trump proposed on the campaign trail. Here we examine what’s at stake as lawmakers consider significant changes to our tax system.
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brief December 5, 2024 How Local Governments Raise Revenue — and What it Means for Tax Equity
Local taxes are key to thriving communities. One in seven tax dollars in the U.S.—about $886 billion annually—is levied by local governments in support of education, infrastructure, public health, and other priorities. Three fourths of this funding comes from property taxes, 18 percent comes from sales and excise taxes, and six percent comes from income taxes.
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blog November 26, 2024 Louisiana Lawmakers Pass Deeply Regressive Tax Plan
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called the legislature back to the capitol the day after the national election to take up his plan to overhaul the state’s tax system during a 20-day special session. Our analysis shows the tax overhaul would worsen the inequity already rampant in Louisiana’s tax system while potentially shortchanging essential services for families across the state.
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blog November 26, 2024 Average Louisianans Will Pay for Gov. Landry’s Tax Break for the Rich
Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will not make Louisiana more competitive. Rather, they will blow a hole in the state budget while asking low- and middle-income working families to make up the difference. Gov. Landry and the Louisiana legislature would make much better use of their time looking for ways to make Louisiana’s tax structure fairer and more capable of adequately funding important priorities.
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blog November 8, 2024 Tax Justice in the Crosshairs
Billionaires and businesses have too much power in Washington. Tax revenue is needed to pay for things we all need. If we want economic justice, racial justice and climate justice, we must have tax justice.
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report October 23, 2024 A Distributional Analysis of Kamala Harris’ Tax Plan
The tax proposals from Vice President Kamala Harris would, on average, lead to a tax increase for the richest 1 percent of Americans and a tax cut for all other income groups.