A requirement in some states that tax-raising legislation pass only with supermajorities in each house can limit the ability of state lawmakers to promote broad-based prosperity. Oklahoma’s supermajority requirement, among the nation’s strictest, caused the defeat earlier this year of much-needed tax reforms that would have begun to address...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
New Federal Tax Law Reduces Value of State EITCs
February 28, 2018
The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) helps working families making low wages meet basic needs, but the new federal tax law will erode the credit’s value over time. Since all but one of the 29 states (and the District of Columbia) with state-level EITCs...
North Carolina Tax Cuts Have Worsened Racial Wealth Inequities
February 27, 2018
Tax cut proponents claim that North Carolina’s tax cutting is a model for other states that want to boost their economies, but the tax cuts not only produced no economic surge and set the stage for ...
TABOR: Holding Colorado Back, 25 Years Later
November 3, 2017
Twenty-five years ago today, Colorado voters approved the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), a constitutional amendment limiting annual state and local spending and revenue growth to a rigid, arbitrary formula and mandating voter approval of all tax increases, among other restrictions. TABOR proceeded to undermine Colorado’s ability to pay for the building blocks of thriving communities and a...
State EITC Wins Help Spread Prosperity
August 10, 2017
This has been a blockbuster year for state earned income tax credits (EITCs) — one of the most common-sense tools we have for helping low-income workers make ends meet. Three state legislatures adopted new EITCs in 2017, three expanded existing credits, and two took...
