Kansas
Tax Cuts 2.0 – Kansas
• By ITEP Staff
The $2 trillion 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes several provisions set to expire at the end of 2025. Now, GOP leaders have introduced a bill informally called “Tax Cuts 2.0” or “Tax Reform 2.0,” which would make the temporary provisions permanent. And they falsely claim that making these provisions permanent will benefit […]
State Rundown 9/26: States Cleaning Up from Florence, Gearing Up for November
• By ITEP Staff
Affordable housing efforts made news in Minnesota and Virginia this week, as tax breaks for homeowners and other victims of Hurricane Florence were made available in multiple states. Meanwhile, New Jersey is still looking into legalizing and taxing cannabis, and Wyoming continues to consider a corporate income tax. And gubernatorial candidates and ballot initiative efforts will give voters in many states much to consider in the November elections.
State Tax Codes as Poverty Fighting Tools: 2018 Update on Four Key Policies in All 50 States
• By Aidan Davis, Misha Hill
This report presents a comprehensive overview of anti-poverty tax policies, surveys tax policy decisions made in the states in 2018, and offers recommendations that every state should consider to help families rise out of poverty. States can jumpstart their anti-poverty efforts by enacting one or more of four proven and effective tax strategies to reduce the share of taxes paid by low- and moderate-income families: state Earned Income Tax Credits, property tax circuit breakers, targeted…
State Rundown 8/22: Wayfair Fallout Could Hit the Pavement Soon
• By ITEP Staff
Arizona voters learned this week that they will have an opportunity this fall to restore school funding through a progressive tax measure. The effects of the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision could soon be seen on Michigan and Mississippi roads, as leaders in both states have proposed devoting new online sales tax revenues to infrastructure needs. And new research highlighted in our “What We’re Reading” section discredits one-size-fits-all prescriptions for state economic growth such as supply-side…
State Rundown 8/8: States Setting Rules for Upcoming Tax Decisions
• By ITEP Staff
August is often a season for states to define the parameters of tax debates to come, and that is true this week in several states: a tax task force in Arkansas is nearing its final recommendations; residents of Missouri, Montana, and North Carolina await results of court challenges that will decide whether tax measures will show up on their ballots this fall; and Michigan and South Dakota are taking different approaches to making sure they’re…
State Rundown 8/1: States Stay Busy During Summer “Break”
• By ITEP Staff
Although most state legislatures are out of session during the summer, the pursuit of better fiscal policy has no "off-season." Here at ITEP, we've been revamping the State Rundown to bring you your favorite summary of state budget and tax news in the new-and-improved format you see here. Meanwhile, leaders in Massachusetts and New Jersey have been hard at work in recent weeks and are already looking ahead their next round of budget and tax…
State Rundown 7/19: Wayfair Fallout and Ballot Preparation Dominate State Tax Talk
• By ITEP Staff
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Wayfair decision authorizing states to collect taxes owed on online sales, Utah lawmakers held a one-day special session that included (among other tax topics) legislation to ensure the state will be ready to collect those taxes, and a Nebraska lawmaker began pushing for a special session for the same reason. Voters in Colorado and Montana got more clarity on tax-related items they'll see on the ballot…
An Update on State Responses to the Federal Tax Bill
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
With many state fiscal years beginning July 1, most states that will make decisions this year about federal tax conformity have now done so, so it is now time for an update on how well state policymakers have kept to, or veered from, the path we charted out earlier this year. Most states that have enacted laws in response to the federal changes have adhered to some but not all of the principles we laid…
State Rundown 6/28: Budget Deals Reached in Nick of Time
• By ITEP Staff
This week, lawmakers in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia wrapped up their budgets in time for the new fiscal year that starts July first in most states, with some of these resolutions coming after contentious debates and repeated special sessions. New Jersey's debate is not yet finished as leaders clash over spending priorities and the taxes on millionaires and corporations needed to fund them. Meanwhile, signature drives to put tax-related…
The Other SALT Cap Workaround: Accountants Steer Clients Toward Private K-12 Voucher Tax Credits
• By Carl Davis
On May 23, 2018, the IRS and Treasury Department announced that they “intend to propose regulations addressing the federal income tax treatment of certain payments made by taxpayers for which taxpayers receive a credit against their state and local taxes.” They made the announcement in response to new “workaround tax credits” enacted in New York […]
SALT/Charitable Workaround Credits Require a Broad Fix, Not a Narrow One
• By Carl Davis
The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) enacted last year temporarily capped deductions for state and local tax (SALT) payments at $10,000 per year. The cap, which expires at the end of 2025, disproportionately impacts taxpayers in higher-income states and in states and localities more reliant on income or property taxes, as opposed to sales taxes. Increasingly, lawmakers in those states who feel their residents were unfairly targeted by the federal law are debating…
State Rundown 5/9: Iowa Digs a New Hole as Other States Try to Avoid or Climb Out of Theirs
• By ITEP Staff
This week we have news of a destructive tax cut plan finally approved in Iowa just as one was narrowly avoided in Kansas. Tax debates in Minnesota and Missouri will go down to the wire. And residents of Arizona and Colorado are considering progressive revenue solutions to their states' education funding crises.
Washington Post: Iowa Republicans pitch ‘crisis-proof’ tax cuts. Democrats see another Kansas in the making.
May 8, 2018
"The trigger is a politically expedient way for lawmakers to claim they’ve cut your taxes without having to do anything immediately to make up for the consequences of reducing revenue," said Meg Wiehe, of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank.
State Rundown 5/3: Progressive Revenue Solutions to Fiscal Woes Gaining Traction
• By ITEP Staff
This week, Arizona teachers continued to strike over pay issues and advocates unveiled a progressive revenue solution they hope to put before voters, while a progressive income tax also gained support as part of a resolution to Illinois's budget troubles. Iowa and Missouri legislators continued to try to push through unsustainable tax cuts before their sessions end. And Minnesota and South Carolina focused on responding to the federal tax-cut bill.
No Need for the MythBusters, the Millionaire Tax Flight Myth is Busted Again
• By Dacey Anechiarico
One of the most repeated myths in state tax policy is called “millionaire tax flight,” where millionaires are allegedly fleeing states with high income tax rates for states with lower rates. This myth has been used as an argument in state tax debates for years but Cristobal Young argues in his book, “The Myth of the Millionaire Tax Flight,” that both Democrats and Republicans are “searching for a crisis that does not really exist,” and…
State Rundown 4/27: Arbor Day Brings Some Fruitful Tax Developments, Some Shady Proposals
• By ITEP Staff
This Arbor Day week, the seeds of discontent with underfunded school systems and underpaid teachers continued to spread, with walkouts occurring in both Arizona and Colorado. And recognizing the need to see the forest as well as the trees, the Arizona teachers have presented revenue solutions to get to the true root of the problem. In the plains states, tax cut proposals continue to pop up like weeds in Kansas and threaten to spread to…
State Rundown 12/31/9999: IRS Glitch and Legislative Impasses Extend Tax Season
• By ITEP Staff
This week the IRS website asked some would-be tax filers to return after December 31, 9999. State legislators don't have quite that much time, but are struggling to wrap up their tax debates on schedule as well. Iowa legislators, for example, are ironically still debating tax cuts despite having run out of money to cover their daily expenses for the year. Nebraska's session wrapped up, but its tax debate continues in the form of a…
State Rundown 4/13: Teacher Strikes, Special Sessions, Federal Cuts Haunting States
• By ITEP Staff
This Friday the 13th is a spooky one for many state lawmakers, as past bad fiscal decisions have been coming back to haunt them in the form of teacher strikes and walk-outs in Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, policymakers in Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, and Utah all attempted to exorcise negative consequences of the federal tax-cut bill from their tax codes. And our What We're Reading section includes yet another stake to the heart…
What to Expect if the Supreme Court Allows for Online Sales Tax Collection
• By Carl Davis
Online shopping is hardly a new phenomenon. And yet states and localities still lack the authority to require many Internet retailers to collect the sales taxes that their locally based, brick and mortar competitors have been collecting for decades.
State Rundown 4/5: Education Funding Issues Take Center Stage
• By ITEP Staff
This week, Kentucky legislators passed a bill shifting taxes onto low- and middle-income families, Oklahoma legislators reached a deal on education funding, and their counterparts in Kansas proffered multiple proposals for their education funding needs. Meanwhile, tax debates are coming down to the wire in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska, and responses to the federal tax-cut bill were settled on in Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin.
Teachers’ Strikes Are Emblematic of Larger Tax Challenges for States
• By Meg Wiehe
As other researchers as well as journalists have noted, teachers striking or threatening to strike over low wages and overall lack of investment isn’t simply a narrative about schools and public workers’ pay. It is illustrative of a broader conflict over tax laws and how states and local jurisdictions fund critical public services that range from K-12 education, public safety, roads and bridges, health care, parks, to higher education.
State Rundown 3/30: Several Major Tax Debates Will March on into April
• By ITEP Staff
This week, after the recent teacher strike in West Virginia, teacher pay crises brought on by years of irresponsible tax cuts also made headlines in Arizona and Oklahoma. Maine and New York lawmakers continue to hash out how they will respond to the federal tax bill. And their counterparts in Missouri and Nebraska attempt to push forward their tax cutting agendas.
State Rundown 3/14: States Turn Fiscal Focus Inward
• By ITEP Staff
With many state legislative sessions about halfway through, the ripple effects of the federal tax-cut bill took a back seat this week as states focused their energies on their own tax and budget issues. Major proposals were released in Nebraska and New Jersey, one advanced in Missouri, and debates wrapped up in Florida, Utah, and Washington. Oklahoma and Vermont are considering ways to improve education funding, while California, New York, and Vermont look to require…
Trends We’re Watching in 2018, Part 2: State Revenue Shortfalls and the Impact on Education and Other Services
• By Aidan Davis
Many states struggle with a need for revenue, yet their lawmakers show little will to raise taxes to fund public services. Revenue shortfalls can prove to be a moving target. Some states with expected shortfalls are now seeing rosier forecasts. But as estimates come in above or below projections, states continue to grapple with how and whether to raise the revenue necessary to adequately fund key programs. Here are a few trends that are leading to less than cushy…
State Rundown 3/8: March Tax Debates “In Like a Lion”
• By ITEP Staff
This week was very active for state tax debates. Georgia, Idaho, and Oregon passed bills reacting to the federal tax cut, as Maryland and other states made headway on their own responses. Florida lawmakers sent a harmful "supermajority" constitutional amendment to voters. New Jersey now has two progressive revenue raising proposals on the table (and a need for both). Louisiana ended one special session with talks of yet another. And online sales taxes continued to…
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