Janelle Fritts is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Tax Foundation’s Center for State Tax Policy. She is the lead researcher on the annual State Tax Competitiveness Index and serves as a resource to policymakers in their efforts to modernize and improve the structures of their state tax codes. Her work has been cited in The New York Times, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and numerous state media outlets across the country.
Janelle has been with the Tax Foundation since 2019, with a brief hiatus to teach high school literature, logic, and rhetoric. Before joining the state team, she interned at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Reason Foundation, and the Illinois Policy Institute. She graduated from Dordt University (Sioux Center, Iowa) with a bachelor’s degree in English with a writing emphasis and a minor in Chemistry.
Born and raised in Midland, Michigan, Janelle now lives in Reston, Virginia. In her free time, she enjoys baking, thrifting, and spending time with her husband and infant daughter.
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
The proposed increase of Vermont’s top income tax rate would have negative effects on the state’s economy and competitiveness.
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
Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local governments. While no taxpayers in high-tax jurisdictions will be celebrating their yearly payments, property taxes are largely rooted in the benefit principle of taxation: the people paying the property tax bills are most often the ones benefiting from the services.
9 min read
Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
9 min read
Michigan’s tax code remains too complex, and taxpayers should be asking for a system that bends toward simplicity, not the other way around.
Michigan’s proposed 5 percent income surtax on high earners, yielding a top marginal rate of 9.25 percent, is also a tax on the small businesses that employ nearly 2 million Michiganders.
25 min read
In the spirit of change and improvement, it’s worth looking back to see which states have truly embraced tax competitiveness since 2020, and which ones have lagged behind.
6 min read
The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
122 min read
States are in a better position to attract business investment when they maintain competitive real property tax rates and avoid harmful taxes on tangible personal property, intangible property, wealth, and asset transfers.
5 min read
An ideal sales tax applies to a broad base of final consumer goods and services, with few exemptions, and is levied at a low rate.
5 min read
By letting the corporate surtax expire, eliminating taxes on GILTI, and embracing full expensing, New Jersey would take important steps toward creating a more welcoming and competitive tax environment.
6 min read
Individual income tax rates can influence location decision-making, especially in an era of enhanced mobility, where it is easier for individuals to move without jeopardizing their current job, or without limiting the scope of their search for a new one.
5 min read
Accelerating its current individual income tax triggers and setting up the corporate income tax for eventual elimination would increase Missouri’s attractiveness among states at a time when businesses are increasingly mobile and tax competition matters more than ever.
4 min read
While throwback and throwout rules in states’ corporate tax codes may not be widely understood, they have a notable impact on business location and investment decisions and reduce economic efficiency.
4 min read
If Alabama continues on its current path, its treatment of remote workers would be even more aggressive than that of New York—a shaky legal foundation.
6 min read
As housing prices are rapidly increasing, and property tax bills along with them, the property tax has come into the spotlight in many states. The design of a state’s property tax system can affect how attractive that state is to businesses and residents.
9 min read
Facts & Figures serves as a one-stop state tax data resource that compares all 50 states on over 40 measures of tax rates, collections, burdens, and more.
2 min read
States can better position themselves for success by moving away from economically-damaging taxes like the capital stock tax.
4 min read
The changes put forth in a new package of bills would represent significant pro-growth change for Oklahoma that would set the state up for success in an increasingly competitive tax landscape.
7 min read