The State & Local Finance Initiative’s State Economic Monitor tracks economic-performance data across the states and the District of Columbia, highlighting differences in key indicators including employment, wages, housing, and taxes. This quarter’s report finds the unemployment rate fell in...
The federal government and most states have per-unit gas taxes. Because they tax gallons purchased, and not a percentage of purchase price, revenues are falling across the country as Americans buy less gas. If states do not want to cut transportation projects they now have to increase tax rates...
This paper examines the incidence of the federal income tax exemption of interest on state and local bonds, applying a fixed-savings, simplified general equilibrium approach to estimate incidence effects on both the sources and uses of income. In contrast to traditional empirical work that...
Most states ended the summer of 2014 on a positive economic note. Up from 14 states a year earlier, 25 states reported August unemployment rates below 6 percent. Every state but Alaska added jobs within the last year. But some troubling signs remain. Inflation-adjusted average weekly wages...
The latest edition of the Tax Policy Center's State and Local Finance Initiative's State Economic Monitor reports that states are still struggling to emerge from the lingering recession. The good news is that nearly all states experienced economic growth in 2013, and only one state has an...
Uber and Lyft are threating to shut down operations in California because the state considers their drivers employees rather than independent contractors. The distinction might...
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently said he is “in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route,” instead of Congress providing them...
The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law last week will allocate roughly $200 billion in fiscal relief to...
States often fail at tax reform. But few efforts flop as spectacularly as Utah’s did. Utah passed sweeping tax reform legislation in December 2019. Utah...
Like most states, Colorado and Texas do not have legislative or gubernatorial elections in 2019. Still, their voters are facing tricky, and potentially far-reaching, tax...
Bloomberg recently reported that Sony sent Chicago a $1.2 million check , ending its legal challenge to the city’s so-called “Netflix tax.” That everyone called...
Three Tax Lessons from the First Year of Widespread Legal Sports Betting A year ago, the Supreme Court legalized one of America’s favorite illegal pastimes:...
Federal lawmakers ranging from Sherrod Brown to Paul Ryan have proposed expanding the earned income tax credit (EITC) for childless workers for years without enacting...
The earned income tax credit (EITC) is a highly effective policy for fighting poverty that has garnered widespread praise from both Democrats and Republicans. In...
Some low- and middle-income families in Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Dakota are facing state income tax hikes. And the larger the family, generally...
Election Day 2018 has a bumper crop of voter initiatives on state taxes, ranging from new levies on carbon, payroll, motor fuels, marijuana, soda, and...
Seattle is currently having a contentious debate over a proposed "head tax" to fund more affordable housing and services for its large and growing homeless...
Philadelphia’s tax on drinks with a sugar-based sweetener or artificial sugar substitute is not bringing in as much revenue as originally projected. As a result,...
