Category: State Policy
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The rampant uncertainty this year extends far beyond the national economy and federal policy, as many state legislatures are declaring their tax and budget debates finished, and just getting started, sometimes in the same breath. -
Dylan Grundman O'Neill
Senior AnalystWashington state came into the year with strong tax justice momentum. Lawmakers’ innovative Capital Gains Excise Tax on the state’s highest-income households was upheld by the state and federal Supreme Courts and was overwhelmingly affirmed by voters despite a well-funded repeal effort. The new tax is bringing in much-needed revenue for schools, child care, and […] -
While some states are preparing for uncertainty – slowing revenue growth, chaos from unpredictable tariffs, cuts to federal programs, etc. – others continue to move forward with plans for deep tax cuts. For instance, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation accelerating the cut to the personal income tax rate, which is currently phasing down. […]
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Emma Sifre
Senior Data AnalystCongressional Republicans have floated a proposal to strip the Child Tax Credit from millions of children who are U.S. citizens and legal residents in situations where their parents do not have Social Security numbers. Approximately 4.5 million citizen children with Social Security numbers would lose access to the credit under this proposal. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorMissouri lawmakers are debating a tax cut that will mostly benefit the wealthiest in the state, while relying on an unrealistic estimate of what it will cost. -
Neva Butkus
Senior AnalystMarch 28, 2025
Celebrating 50 Years of the Earned Income Tax Credit
This week, we celebrate 50 years of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the impact it's had on millions of workers and families. In 2023 alone, the latest year of available data, the federal EITC alongside the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit lifted 6.4 million people and 3.4 million children out of poverty. -
Eli Byerly-Duke
State AnalystMarch 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. -
Brakeyshia Samms
Senior AnalystMarch 13, 2025
Circuit Breakers Are a Better Option for Property Tax Relief
To curb the impact of property taxes on working families, lawmakers should improve or implement a property tax circuit breaker program. The program works like this: when families are overloaded with their property taxes, the circuit breaker kicks in and helps alleviate the pressure these taxes put on family budgets. -
Amy Hanauer
Executive DirectorIn 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 Musk talk about most loudly and angrily, there is one clear policy that they and the corporations and billionaires that support them will try hardest […] -
Neva Butkus
Senior AnalystAt 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. -
Rita Jefferson
Local AnalystFebruary 26, 2025
Learn from Prop 13 History to Avoid Repeating Past Mistakes
Worries about housing costs and property tax bills are leading people to check the history books for solutions, but there’s a danger that they’ll repeat past mistakes. If anti-tax lawmakers carelessly weaken property taxes as they did in the 1970s, as they did with California’s Proposition 13, they will undercut public finances, making municipalities, school districts, and other special districts worse off. -
Aidan Davis
State Policy DirectorFebruary 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. -
Carl Davis
Research DirectorFebruary 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. -
Brakeyshia Samms
Senior AnalystAs we show in our recent study, this is, in part, due to longstanding discrimination shaping racial differences in economic wellbeing in the U.S. Moreover, aspects of federal and state tax policies have helped create the vast racial retirement wealth gap in place today. For this reason, we evaluate how tax and transfer policy reforms could help shrink racial retirement wealth inequality. To inform lawmakers as they approach the 2025 debates, below we offer several guiding principles. -
Miles Trinidad
State AnalystMaryland’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. -
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. -
ITEP Staff
January 15, 2025
State Rundown 1/15: Tax Debates Heat Up Despite Winter Weather
While frigid temperatures expected across a large swath of the country, major tax proposals are heating up in the states. Governors are giving their State of the State addresses and state lawmakers have begun to convene for 2025. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans to expand the state’s Child Tax Credit earlier this year and has since announced nearly $1 billion in income tax cuts. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore unveiled a new tax proposal aimed at helping close the state’s looming revenue shortfall. The plan would increase taxes on the wealthy and cut taxes for many low- and middle-income households. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Mississippi introduced misguided legislation that would phase out their personal income tax over time and reduce the state sales tax rate on groceries. -
Rita Jefferson
Local AnalystLawmakers across the country are taking aim at property taxes with a new strategy: raising sales taxes instead. Doing so would create a regressive tax shift that puts unfair burdens on renters and reduces the strength of local government revenues. -
ITEP Staff
January 9, 2025
State Rundown 1/9: New Year, New Pushes for Tax Policy Changes
It’s a new year, and state legislatures across the country are resolved to write new tax policy. Tax debates are heating up nearly everywhere in the early days of 2025, but states’ fiscal situations vary dramatically. New York is considering expanding the state’s Child Tax Credit following Gov. Hochul’s proposed expansion. On the other side […] -
Marco Guzman
Senior AnalystJanuary 6, 2025
Undocumented Immigrants Pay More Than Their Fair Share of Taxes
Undocumented immigrants help fund teacher salaries, road and bridge repairs and other local quality-of-life improvements. They also pay into vital programs that make up our social safety net (including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance) even though they will likely never see any benefits from these programs — because, in most circumstances, they are legally prohibited from accessing them. -
Alex Welch
Assistant Communications DirectorDecember 17, 2024
ITEP’s Top Charts of 2024
As we close out 2024, we want to lift up the tax charts we published this year that received the most engagement from readers. Covering federal, state, and local tax work, here are our top charts of 2024. -
The 2025 legislative season will be here before we know it, and state lawmakers have begun unveiling their priorities and proposals. Unfortunately, despite stagnating revenue growth, many lawmakers continue to push for deep, regressive tax cuts - often before the full impact of previous tax cuts is felt.
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Neva Butkus
Senior AnalystNovember 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. -
Neva Butkus
Senior AnalystNovember 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. -
This week, there are high-profile budget and tax debates at both the state and local levels. The Louisiana legislature continues to debate Gov. Jeff Landry’s deeply regressive tax package in a special session focused on replacing corporate and personal income tax revenue with additional sales taxes, but some efforts to find offsets for the cuts […]
Blog Categories
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