The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 increased the federal earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC). In turn, 28 states and the District of Columbia will see increases in their state EITCs because of existing linkages between federal and state tax codes. We estimate that...
This chartbook compares the breadth of general sales and excise tax bases across the states. It categorizes detailed personal consumption expenditures (as measured in the Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Products Accounts) by their tax treatment in each state and the District of...
States reported robust revenue growth in the third quarter of 2020, a reversal of steep declines in the second quarter that mostly reflects shifting income tax filing deadlines. Over a six-month period (April through September 2020), state revenues declined 2.0...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession, as well as racial injustices and protest responses throughout 2020, have highlighted that public policies can have very different impacts on populations by race or ethnicity. Tax policies, in particular, are commonly perceived as “race neutral,”...
Postsecondary education can be a critical step toward financial independence. Total college costs in California may present an extraordinary financial burden. For students with incomes under $30,000 in California, the cost of attendance at public universities (after accounting for existing grant...
States saw steep declines in revenues in the second quarter of 2020, though some of this was caused by shifting revenues into the next quarter and next fiscal year. Consequently, most states ended fiscal year 2020 uncertain about their fiscal bottom line. Many states cut...
A taxpayer’s decision to itemize deductions or to claim the standard deduction on their income tax return is often framed as a simple calculation: Claim the greater of the two so as to minimize tax liability. But in states that require taxpayers to use the same status on their state income tax...
Fiscal policy was of primary importance to the white supremacist governments that came to power on a wave of electoral fraud, intimidation, and violence at the end of the Reconstruction. By the end of the 19th Century, the fiscal system, like the larger legal framework of the Jim Crow South, had...
This paper examines the fiscal system put in place in the former Confederacy in the decades after Reconstruction. Overturning Reconstruction-era policies that taxed wealth and invested in public services, the white supremacist governments that came to power in the later 19th Century slashed...
State government tax revenues showed year-over-year growth at 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020. However, preliminary data indicate double-digit declines in state government tax revenues in the second quarter of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and...
How Increasing the Federal EITC and CTC Could Affect State Taxes
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 increased the federal earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC). In turn, 28 states and the District of Columbia will see increases in their state EITCs because of existing linkages between federal and state tax codes. We estimate that...
How Broad Are State Sales Tax Bases?
This chartbook compares the breadth of general sales and excise tax bases across the states. It categorizes detailed personal consumption expenditures (as measured in the Bureau of Economic Analysis National Income and Products Accounts) by their tax treatment in each state and the District of...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2020 Quarter 3
States reported robust revenue growth in the third quarter of 2020, a reversal of steep declines in the second quarter that mostly reflects shifting income tax filing deadlines. Over a six-month period (April through September 2020), state revenues declined 2.0...
State and Local Government Revenues and Racial Disparities
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession, as well as racial injustices and protest responses throughout 2020, have highlighted that public policies can have very different impacts on populations by race or ethnicity. Tax policies, in particular, are commonly perceived as “race neutral,”...
Extending the California Earned Income Tax Credit to Postsecondary Students
Postsecondary education can be a critical step toward financial independence. Total college costs in California may present an extraordinary financial burden. For students with incomes under $30,000 in California, the cost of attendance at public universities (after accounting for existing grant...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2020 Quarter 2
States saw steep declines in revenues in the second quarter of 2020, though some of this was caused by shifting revenues into the next quarter and next fiscal year. Consequently, most states ended fiscal year 2020 uncertain about their fiscal bottom line. Many states cut...
Itemizing on State and Federal Income Tax Returns: It's (Now More) Complicated
A taxpayer’s decision to itemize deductions or to claim the standard deduction on their income tax return is often framed as a simple calculation: Claim the greater of the two so as to minimize tax liability. But in states that require taxpayers to use the same status on their state income tax...
The Long Shadow of White Supremacist Fiscal Policy
Fiscal policy was of primary importance to the white supremacist governments that came to power on a wave of electoral fraud, intimidation, and violence at the end of the Reconstruction. By the end of the 19th Century, the fiscal system, like the larger legal framework of the Jim Crow South, had...
The Long Shadow of White Supremacist Fiscal Policy
This paper examines the fiscal system put in place in the former Confederacy in the decades after Reconstruction. Overturning Reconstruction-era policies that taxed wealth and invested in public services, the white supremacist governments that came to power in the later 19th Century slashed...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2020 Quarter 1
State government tax revenues showed year-over-year growth at 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020. However, preliminary data indicate double-digit declines in state government tax revenues in the second quarter of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and...