Virginia ended its 2019 legislative session after enacting a new tax law that failed to expand the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-wage workers. An EITC expansion would have reduced racial inequities in income since the state’s low-wage workers are disproportionately African American, in part due to historical racism and...
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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Bright Prospects for State EITC Expansions in 2019
March 7, 2019
2019 could be a banner year for state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), as governors and lawmakers have introduced proposals to create and expand the credits in at least 26 states this year. Such proposals would supplement the federal EITC’s well-documented, long...
State EITCs Make Work Pay for People of Color and Women
August 31, 2018
Labor Day celebrates workers’ contributions to America’s prosperity. But even as our economy is growing, many people of color and women are struggling to get by on low wages. States can help make work pay by creating or...
States Can Help Ensure a Complete 2020 Census Count
August 27, 2018
The federal government is responsible for conducting a fair and accurate census every ten years, but that’s in jeopardy for 2020: inadequate and delayed funding and the Commerce Secretary’s last-minute decision to add an untested citizenship question will both likely reduce participation. Therefore, states can and should take steps now to help ensure a successful count — that is, one...
State EITC Expansions Will Help Millions of Workers and Their Families
July 27, 2018
Update, July 31: We’ve clarified the description of Maryland’s EITC expansion.
Seven states boosted — or will soon boost — their Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs) this year to help low-wage working families meet basic needs. These state EITC expansions will supplement the federal EITC’s...
Florida’s Supermajority Proposal Would Deepen K-12 Funding Crisis
June 20, 2018
Florida has cut K-12 education funding significantly since 2008, making it harder for the state's communities to thrive and for its economy to offer broadly shared opportunity. A ballot measure this fall requiring a supermajority vote in the legislature to raise revenues risks making those deep cuts permanent.
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Supermajority Requirement Stymied Sensible Tax Reforms in Oklahoma
March 26, 2018
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...
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...
