North Carolina
State Rundown 2/16: Spending Priorities Emerge as the Votes Are Counted
• By ITEP Staff
State lawmakers have been busy working out deals and negotiating how best to use excess revenues, and as the votes are beginning to come in, spending priorities are becoming clearer...
State Rundown 1/13: The Tax Cuts Cometh, But There Is a Better Way
• By ITEP Staff
As expected, with the start of many new legislative sessions around the country, lawmakers have introduced a slew of tax cut plans following better-than-expected budget outlooks that have, so far, weathered the impact of the pandemic...
The New Trend: Short-Sighted Tax Cuts for the Rich Will Not Grow State Economies
• By Neva Butkus
The same legislators who touted tax cuts for the rich as solution to our problems before the pandemic are also saying tax cuts for the rich are a solution during the pandemic. Tax cuts cannot be a solution to everything, especially at a time when the richest Americans are amassing more wealth than ever.
Investing in a Joint Future: Harnessing State Tax Codes
• By Aidan Davis
Rather than resorting to tax cuts, which can eventually create revenue shortfalls, lawmakers should determine whether they have adequately invested in people and communities. There are better ways to leverage tax systems to help those who need it most.
Bloomberg: SALT Debate Forces Rich Americans to Confront Widening Tax Gap
December 10, 2021
Lawmakers in Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma have also approved cuts to their top personal income tax going into effect either this year or in future years. “There are states moving in different directions,” said Carl Davis, research director at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. […]
State Rundown 11/10: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Election Season?!
• By ITEP Staff
If the leaves are turning colors and you find yourself walking out of the office into pitch-black darkness, it only means that time of the year is upon us—and no, I'm not talking about the holiday season. Before that, it’s the equally important election season...
State Income Taxes and Racial Equity: Narrowing Racial Income and Wealth Gaps with State Personal Income Taxes
• By Carl Davis, Jessica Schieder, Marco Guzman
10 state personal income tax reforms that offer the most promising routes toward narrowing racial income and wealth gaps through the tax code.
State Rundown 8/18: End of Summer Tax Update
• By ITEP Staff
Summer is quickly (and sadly) coming to an end and if you’ve been away enjoying the great outdoors or off the grid, we’re here to help keep you up to date on what’s been happening on the tax front around the country...
North Carolina Policy Watch: NC House Tax Plan Isn’t Good for Our State (And These Graphs Explain Why This Is the Case)
• By ITEP Staff
The House tax plan would deliver the greatest share of the net tax cut to the richest North Carolinians. Fifty-six percent of the net tax cut would go to the richest 20 percent in North Carolina. During the House Finance debate, proponents of the tax plan suggested that North Carolinians with poverty-level incomes would see […]
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
Policymakers tout sales tax holidays as a way for families to save money while shopping for “essential” goods. On the surface, this sounds good. However, a two- to three-day sales tax holiday for selected items does nothing to reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income taxpayers during the other 362 days of the year. Sales taxes are inherently regressive. In the long run, sales tax holidays leave a regressive tax system unchanged, and the benefits of…
State Rundown 8/4: Tis the Season…for Unnecessary Sales Tax Holidays
• By ITEP Staff
It’s beginning to look a lot like that time of year again. That’s right, it’s sales tax holiday season and states across the country are doing their best to induce spending that would probably occur regardless...
North Carolina Policy Watch: NC’s Tax Code Reinforces Racial Exclusion; Senate’s Proposed Budget Would Make Matters Worse
• By ITEP Staff
When one applies a unique tool developed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy to assess the racial and ethnic impact of the budget proposal approved by the state Senate in June (SB 105), it becomes clear that the proposed income tax reductions will worsen the state’s exclusionary tax code. This analysis should serve […]
State Rundown 7/21: States Go for Tax Policy Gold This Olympics Season
• By ITEP Staff
It’s Olympics season! As countries around the globe battle for first place in a plethora of sports and contests it’s as good a time as any to look around America to see which states deserve a gold medal in the ‘Equitable Tax Policy’ event...
State Rundown 7/7: The New Fiscal Year Starts off With a Bang, And Not Just Fireworks
• By ITEP Staff
States were busy over the past week despite the Fourth of July holiday. Many are gearing up for upcoming tax and budget clashes that could shape their futures for some time...
In Drive to Cut Taxes, States Blow an Opportunity to Invest in Underfunded Services
• By Marco Guzman
Many states find themselves in a peculiar fiscal situation right now: federal pandemic relief money has been dispersed to states and revenue projections have exceeded expectations set during the pandemic. Meanwhile, more and more workers are returning to jobs as vaccines roll out and typical economic activity resumes. Some states, however, have decided to squander their unexpected fiscal strength on tax cuts.
State Rundown 6/30: Resolutions Are in Order for the New Fiscal Year
• By ITEP Staff
Today is the last day of the fiscal year in many states, and some lawmakers might want to take the opportunity to make some new fiscal year resolutions. Legislators in Arizona, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, for example, should really cut back on the trickle-down tax-cut Kool-Aid, which may make parties with rich donors more fun but tends to be both harmful and habit-forming...
State Rundown 6/24: Late June State Fiscal Debates Unusually Active
• By ITEP Staff
Delayed legislative sessions and protracted federal aid debates have made for a busier June than normal for state fiscal debates. Arizona, New Hampshire, and North Carolina legislators, for example, are still pushing for expensive and regressive tax cuts in their states while they remain in session...
North Carolina Justice Center: Five Takeaways from the Senate’s Budget Proposal
• By ITEP Staff
The Senate’s budget plan would bring the state’s investments to a new low while committing the state to untold losses in the form of revenue reductions by eliminating income taxes for profitable corporations by 2028 and lowering the already flat (read: regressive) personal income tax rate. Read more
State Rundown 6/16: Progressive Tax Policy Keeps Racking Up Wins
• By ITEP Staff
Taxing rich households and large corporations to fund vital investments in education and other shared priorities has long been a winner in the eyes of the American public, and more recently has also enjoyed a string of victories in state legislatures and at the ballot box. That win streak continued this week as Arizona’s voter-approved tax surcharge on the rich and Seattle, Washington’s payroll tax on high-profit, high-salary businesses both survived court challenges, and Massachusetts…
State Rundown 6/7: Remaining State Legislative Sessions Are Heating up as Budget Deadlines Loom
• By ITEP Staff
Just as an early summer heatwave brought soaring temperatures this past weekend through much of the lower 48 states, several state legislative sessions are heating up as legislators scramble to make tough budget decisions. Massachusetts lawmakers are voting on a fiery new "millionaires' tax" that would support transportation and education revenue needs, and Connecticut will likely restore its state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) back to 30 percent. Illinois’s decision to cut back corporate tax…
State Rundown 5/27: State Legislatures Step Back, Advocates Push Forward
• By ITEP Staff
As more and more state legislatures wrap up their sessions and we reflect on the whirlwind that is this past year, it’s easy to focus on the steps back that states like Oklahoma have taken and Nebraska, North Carolina, and Arizona are trying to take. We have had some significant wins in states over the course of the year, but not every development will be a good one. However, we know advocates are on the…
State Rundown 4/29: How You Like Them Washington Apples?
• By ITEP Staff
North Carolina lawmakers may have approved a massive tax subsidy giveaway to Apple, but we won’t let that news spoil our barrel this week. Nor will we be discouraged by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s threats to upset the apple cart full of positive progressive tax reforms state lawmakers recently came together to approve...Why all the optimism? Because the apple of our eye this week is Washington State, where advocates and lawmakers succeeded in a decade-long…
Gentrification and the Property Tax: How Circuit Breakers Can Help
• By David Crawford
Property tax circuit breakers are effective because they provide property tax relief to families whose property taxes surpass a certain percentage of their income. If a family in a gentrifying area sees their property tax bill (or their rent) surge to an unaffordable level, a circuit breaker credit kicks in to offer relief. This targeted approach assists low- and middle-income families without significantly reducing overall tax revenue.
NC Policy Watch: NC needs to fix its tax code to secure a just recovery — for everyone
• By ITEP Staff
North Carolina’s current tax code asks the top to pay less as a share of their income than taxpayers with poverty-level incomes. By putting in place tax policies that would ask just 1 percent of North Carolinians to pay slightly more, North Carolina can invest in a more equitable, just recovery for everyone. Read more
State Rundown 4/21: Spring Has Sprung, or Has It?
• By ITEP Staff
Just as a recent cold snap reminded us that spring has not fully sprung yet, this week’s news has been full of reminders that state fiscal debates aren’t quite finished either...
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