Tax Credits for Workers and Families
State Rundown 10/22: Despite Obstacles, Progressive Taxes Define 2026
• By ITEP Staff
As more states move to raise revenue and tax the rich, anti-tax lobbyists and lawmakers are hard at work to undo that progress. Despite pushback, important conversations around needed revenue continue.
ITEP Comment on Tax Credit Restrictions for Immigrants
• By Carl Davis, Emma Sifre
This proposal would bar a variety of immigrant tax filers from receiving the refunded portion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), and Adoption Tax Credit.
State Earned Income Tax Credits Will Support Families and Workers in 2027
• By Neva Butkus
Nearly two-thirds of states (plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) have an Earned Income Tax Credit. These credits boost low-paid workers’ incomes and offset some of the taxes they pay, helping working class families achieve greater economic security.
State Child Tax Credits Will Boost Financial Security for Families and Children in 2027
• By Neva Butkus
Sixteen states provide Child Tax Credits to reduce poverty, boost economic security, and invest in children. State lawmakers have several options to maximize the impact of Child Tax Credits.
State Action on Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits Since 2021
• By Neva Butkus
Since 2021, there has been a flurry of new and expanded state Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits. This continued momentum speaks to the power and popularity of these credits and the need to boost the financial security of families and children across the country.
Five Things to Know About the Trump Administration’s New Effort to Deny Tax Credits to Lawfully Present Immigrants
• By Carl Davis
Today the Trump administration proposed new regulations seeking to drastically reduce the tax credits that certain immigrant tax filers can claim. The affected credits include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Additional Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Adoption Tax Credit.
2026 Sessions in Review: States Fund Tax Credits by Preserving, Raising Revenue
• By Aidan Davis
In a year of cautious uncertainty around current and ongoing revenues, many state lawmakers strengthened their tax credits for families and children.
State Rundown 6/25: Trending This Summer? New Revenue!
• By ITEP Staff
It's the first official week of summer, and while many of us are planning vacations, state lawmakers remain busy finalizing and debating tax proposals.
Rhode Island Budget Bets on Tax Fairness with Millionaires’ Tax and New Child Tax Credit
• By Miles Trinidad
The spending plan, signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee today, features a new millionaires’ tax, the state’s first permanent child tax credit, expanded eligibility for its Social Security exemption , and strategic decoupling from federal business tax provisions.
State Rundown 6/11: Taxing the Rich Heats Up
• By ITEP Staff
As we head into summer, many state legislatures are in the final stretches of their sessions. Rhode Island moved another step closer to joining the ranks of Washington, Maine, and Hawai’i in enacting a new high-income surcharge this year.
State Rundown 6/4: Fiscal Flowers and Weeds Bloom in June
• By ITEP Staff
A veritable superbloom of tax and budget policies occurred over these last few weeks, including both flowers worth admiring and weeds worth fighting back.
New EITC Proposal Would Help Families Dealing with Rising Costs
• By Joe Hughes
A new proposal in Congress to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would help families with the costs of raising children. The Working Parents Tax Relief Act is one of the latest approaches to help working-class families deal with an ongoing affordability crisis.
Analysis of Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Approach to Tax Policy
• By Steve Wamhoff
Sen. Chris Van Hollen has recently introduced the Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act, which offers a generous middle-class tax cut paid for with a new tax on millionaires.
Washington Millionaires’ Tax, Expanded Working Families Tax Credit Make Tax Code Fairer
• By Marco Guzman, Dylan Grundman O'Neill
The Washington legislature has approved a new "millionaires' tax," a 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million. The bill, which makes significant investments in public education and child care, will also expand the Working Families Tax Credit – the state’s EITC – to reach an additional 460,000 households.
The Child Tax Credit Leaves Out Millions of Children in 2026. There Are Better Alternatives.
• By Joe Hughes
The 2025 Trump tax law slightly increased the Child Tax Credit in a way that benefits virtually none of the children who most need help.
Governor Should Put New Mexico’s Tax Interests First
• By Amy Hanauer, Amber Wallin
By decoupling from three misguided federal corporate income tax cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill, plus taking steps to curb unfair corporate tax avoidance, SB 151 would raise and safeguard more than $120 million annually.
State Rundown 2/19: Necktie (NCTI) Offers a Way Out of a Knotty Situation
• By ITEP Staff
State lawmakers are grappling with a range of challenges as their fiscal outlooks deteriorate, federal tax enforcement wanes (after the Trump administration cut the IRS workforce by 25 percent), and a rewritten federal tax code sends states scrambling to decide what changes they might want to make in their own codes.
State Rundown 2/11: This Valentine’s Day, Conscious Decoupling Is Our Love Language
• By ITEP Staff
While some may be excited for a romantic Valentine’s Day this weekend, many state lawmakers are breaking up and decoupling from recent federal tax changes that are poised to leave states with revenue shortfalls – much like a bad date who forgets their wallet and asks you to pick up the tab.
What Did 2025 State Tax Changes Mean for Racial and Economic Equity?
• By Brakeyshia Samms
The results are a mixed bag, with some states enacting promising policies that will improve tax equity and others going in the opposite direction.
D.C.’s Fiscal Autonomy is at Stake, District’s Conformity Decisions Should Stand
• By Kamolika Das
Federal lawmakers passed a bill along party lines that would force the District of Columbia to override the decision of local elected officials and implement all of the costly and inequitable federal tax cuts passed under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA).
State Rundown 1/22: Cautious Tone Noticeable in Most Statehouses
• By ITEP Staff
Most states are adopting a very cautious approach so far this year as legislators begin their sessions and governors make their annual addresses, thanks to ongoing economic uncertainty and federal retrenchment.
Pennsylvania Just Gave Low-Income Workers a Tax Credit Boost. Now It’s Philadelphia’s Turn.
• By Kamolika Das
In the same way states are building upon federal tax credits, localities should consider building on state tax credits.
States Can Create or Expand Refundable Credits by Taxing Wealth, Addressing Federal Conformity
• By Zachary Sarver
Many states already recognize the potential of these credits to boost low- and moderate-income households. Other states should follow suit.
The Potential of Local Child Tax Credits to Reduce Child Poverty
• By Kamolika Das, Aidan Davis, Galen Hendricks, Rita Jefferson
Local governments have a critical role to play in reducing child poverty. Local Child Tax Credits could provide large tax cuts to families at the bottom of the income scale, lessening the overall regressivity of state and local tax systems.
State Earned Income Tax Credits Support Families and Workers in 2025
• By Neva Butkus
Nearly two-thirds of states now have an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Momentum continues to build on these credits that boost low-paid workers’ incomes and offset some of the taxes they pay, helping lower-income families achieve greater economic security.
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