Stay informed with quick and accessible analysis of today's top tax policy topics. Read Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Blog for insight from our experts on tax policies across the US and abroad.
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A well-designed tax trigger can be a highly valuable tool for lawmakers seeking both tax reform and revenue stability. States should embrace established baselines adjusted for inflation, use collections instead of projections as benchmarks, and prioritize contributions to their rainy day funds.
7 min read
During a recent special session called by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), Arkansas policymakers cut the state’s top individual and corporate income tax rates, continuing Arkansas’s years-long tax reform streak and making the Razorback State one of five states to cut income taxes so far in 2026.
5 min read
In response to surging gas prices, President Trump and several lawmakers have proposed suspending the federal gas tax via a gas tax holiday. Gas tax holidays have appeal across the political aisle, but suspending the federal gas tax is a uniquely ill-suited policy for addressing rising prices.
3 min read
Academic research has continually found that making alternative nicotine products to cigarettes more expensive results in fewer smokers switching to less harmful products.
7 min read
Rental cars are some of the most heavily taxed transactions in the US. Rather than levying additional taxes on rental cars by trying to export the tax burden to nonresidents, municipalities should enact principled, neutral transportation tax policy that is unlikely to discourage visitors, tourists, and other economic activity.
5 min read
Two bills in Oklahoma and Louisiana shift towards a weight-based system for taxing moist snuff tobacco (MST), a policy that ensures neutral taxation across products and less revenue volatility.
4 min read
A new bill introduced in the Minnesota House seeks to tax non-real assets, imposing an annual tax of 1 percent on “taxable wealth” exceeding $10 million for individuals and trusts from tax year 2026 onward.
6 min read
Shifting Germany’s tax mix away from labor to consumption remains a sound policy route to strengthen the country’s labor supply, but further eroding the VAT base with preferential rates for selected goods and services would counteract this goal by depleting the extra revenue for labor tax cuts while providing less-targeted relief for low-income households.
6 min read
A pair of bills introduced in the Minnesota House—HF 3954 (overtime) and HF 3955 (tips)—would further erode the state’s tax climate by exempting certain overtime pay and tip income from Minnesota’s income tax.
5 min read
California lawmakers are considering mandating worldwide combined reporting, bringing back a policy the state abandoned in the 1980s due to strong pushback from international trading partners and the federal government. The policy failed to work as intended then and doesn’t make any better sense now.
8 min read
The total amount refunded as of the sixth week of reporting is running ahead of the past filing season by nearly $23 billion at $202.6 billion compared to $179.5 billion, while the average refund is up 10.9 percent at $3,571.
3 min read
The proposed California wealth tax could be levied on founders’ voting interests in their companies, despite the initiative’s drafters insisting otherwise.
6 min read
The evidence overall paints a far different picture than American Compass presents, and a consistent theoretical framework undercuts its assertions of how tariffs should be expected to impact the economy moving forward.
25 min read
Maine’s proposed millionaire’s tax would bring Maine’s top income tax rate to 9.15 percent, dealing a blow to the state’s economic competitiveness.
5 min read
The OBBBA significantly boosted economic prospects by improving the treatment of investment. By making key expensing provisions permanent, the OBBBA created better conditions for long-term growth. However, there’s still work to be done, and the OBBBA provided a blueprint for policymakers to follow.
4 min read
Closing the EU’s value-added tax (VAT) actionable policy gap could yield €773 billion in government revenue—four times the EU’s 2026 budget.
8 min read
It’s for good reason that Georgia wants to eliminate the income tax and rein in property taxes. However, the changes Georgia would need to make to accomplish these goals would work against its overall competitiveness.
8 min read
One year after “Liberation Day,” evidence shows President Trump’s tariffs were not reciprocal, did not generate the promised investment boom, raised less revenue than projected, and contributed to higher prices.
7 min read
When evaluating property tax reform options in North Carolina, only changes that restore balance—without distorting investment or shifting costs unfairly—will ensure the state’s local tax system supports, rather than hinders, continued prosperity.
8 min read
Some form of improved cost recovery for structures—whether full expensing, expensing with a per-unit cap, neutral cost recovery, or simply shortening the asset life of residential structures—is one of the most powerful pro-housing supply options available to federal policymakers.
5 min read