University of Wisconsin–Madison
Progressive Local Government
For the 21st Century

ProGov21 Policy Library

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Year
The Case for Extending State-Level Child Tax Credits to Those Left Out: A 50-State Analysis
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
The current federal Child Tax Credit (CTC), which provides up to $2,000 per child, is designed to provide an income boost to parents or guardians of children and other dependents. However, many low-income families do not receive the full benefit of the federal credit due to an earnings...
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Illinois’s Flat Tax Exacerbates Income Inequality and Racial Wealth Gaps
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) Illinois
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Flat or graduated personal income taxes drive income inequality and racial wealth gaps. This brief compares Illinois’s flat income tax structure to the proposed Fair Tax amendment through a retrospective analysis. It shows that Illinois’s historic flat income tax in lieu of a graduated...
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Who Pays Taxes in America in 2020?
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2020
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
Progressive taxation requires the rich to pay a higher share of their income in taxes than poor people. This infographic shows that America’s tax system is only moderately progressive through a series of charts depicting the share of total taxes paid across income groups and tax rates...
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State Itemized Deductions: Surveying the Landscape, Exploring Reforms
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Thirty states and the District of Columbia (D.C.) allow a broad category of tax subsidies known as itemized deductions, used to reduce taxpayers’ taxable income. Itemized deductions are regressive, offering the largest benefits to higher-income taxpayers and little or no benefits...
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Moving Toward More Equitable State Tax Systems: A “Who Pays?” Follow-Up Report on Tax Policy Options for Advancing Equity and Addressing Income Inequality
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Public policies are contributing to the widening income and wealth gap. This report provides recommendations that policymakers can take to improve their constituents’ lives and their states’ economies through tax policy. It explains the importance of favoring taxes on income and wealth...
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The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes: Property Taxes
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2011
Level City or Town, County
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Housing, Public Safety, Education, Democracy & Governance
The property tax is the oldest major revenue source for state and local governments. At the beginning of the twentieth century, property taxes represented more than eighty percent of state and local tax revenue. While this share has diminished over time as states have introduced sales...
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How Congress Can Stop Corporations from Using Stock Options to Dodge Taxes
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Corporations often compensate their CEOs and other top employees with stock options, which are contracts allowing the option holder to purchase the company’s stock at a set price for a fixed period. This is a problem because they allow corporations to report a much larger expense...
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Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
No two state tax systems are the same. This report provides detailed analyses of the features of every state tax code and assesses their fairness by measuring effective state and local tax rates paid by all income groups. The report concludes the following findings: the majority of...
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Child Tax Credit Enhancements Under the American Rescue Plan
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The proposal provides a $125 billion boost in funding for the program, which would double the size of the existing federal credit for households...
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Fifteen (of Many) Reasons We Need Real Corporate Tax Reform: Companies From Various Sectors Use Legal Maneuvers to Avoid Taxes
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level County
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
For decades, companies in a range of economic sectors have manipulated the tax system to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in U.S. profits. The major tax cut recently enacted by Congress will likely allow for this tax avoidance to continue. This report examines 15 corporations’...
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Property Tax Circuit Breakers in 2019
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Residential property taxes are regressive, requiring low-income taxpayers to pay more of their income in tax than wealthier taxpayers. In order to make residential property taxes more affordable, state lawmakers can pursue a “circuit breaker” approach, in which taxpayers earning below...
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Tax Justice Is...
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Racial justice, economic justice, climate justice, and health justice all require tax justice. The United States does not raise enough tax revenue to fund the basic needs of its people or environment, leading to income inequality, racial wealth gaps, and negative health and climate...
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The ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes: Sales and Excise Taxes
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2011
Level County, City or Town
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Finance & Procurement, Democracy & Governance
Sales and excise taxes, or consumption taxes, are an important revenue source, comprising close to half of all state tax revenues in 2010. But these taxes are inevitably regressive, falling far more heavily on low- and middle income taxpayers than on the wealthy. Consumption taxes...
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The Illusion of Race-Neutral Tax Policy
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Examining tax laws only in the context of class is a “colorblind” approach to tax and economic policy that ignores how tax policies affect communities based on race. Historical instances of explicitly racist tax policies, such as the slave tax, continue to impact state and local...
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State Options to Shore up Revenues and Improve Tax Codes amid Pandemic
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
The devastating effect of COVID-19 on state and local budgets is exposing state and local tax structures as inadequate, inequitable, and outdated. In response, states should focus first on generating needed revenue through tax increases on households, businesses, and sectors of the...
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Expanding State EITCs: Age Enhancements and a Credit Increase for Workers without Children in the Home
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
In offsetting federal income and payroll taxes and supplementing the earnings of low-wage workers across the country, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the most effective anti-poverty programs in the U.S. However, the EITC provides little or no benefits to workers without...
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Racial Equity and Taxes in Southern States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Generally, southern states levy taxes in a way that worsens racial and economic equity. Most southern states raise less revenue than states in other regions, leading to underinvestment in people and places. This lack of revenue contributes to staggering levels of poverty, particularly...
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The U.S. Needs a Federal Wealth Tax
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
A federal wealth tax on the richest 0.1 percent of Americans is a viable approach for Congress to raise revenue and address rising inequality. This report outlines reasons why the United States needs a federal wealth tax to achieve these goals, as opposed to federal tax policies that...
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The Case for Progressive Revenue Policies
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2019
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
The United States needs to address growing inequality and raise more revenue to fund critical public investment. One way to accomplish both goals is to enact legislation that raises taxes for high-income or high-wealth households. This infographic includes figures that demonstrate...
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