Expert
Jared Walczak
Senior Fellow
Jared Walczak is a Senior Fellow at the Tax Foundation, where he spent five years as Vice President of State Projects, and president of Walczak Policy Consulting.
Jared has written or co-written tax reform guides for more than a dozen states and has served as the principal author of the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index and Location Matters. He is also a regular on the conference circuit and has testified before legislatures in 35 states. His efforts have been instrumental in securing tax reform in many states, including sweeping reforms in Iowa and Louisiana, along with substantive reforms in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming, among others.
Jared also serves as a member of the faculty of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, sits on the state tax advisory board of the Institute for State Policy Leaders, and contributes to Tax Notes State magazine. He is the author of the “SALT Road” Substack, a free newsletter on state and local tax policy.
Latest Work
Election Analysis: Why Voters Split the Difference on Income Tax Measures
Illinois voters rejected a high graduated rate income tax (“Fair Tax”) while Arizonans embraced a large income tax rate increase for high earners, among the many attention-grabbing results from Tuesday’s elections.
7 min read
Results of 2020 State and Local Tax Ballot Measures
See the results of the most notable state and local tax ballot measures during Election 2020 with our curated resource page.
11 min read
2021 State Business Tax Climate Index
166 min read
Top Rates in Each State Under Joe Biden’s Tax Plan
President Joe Biden’s tax plan would yield combined top marginal state and local rates in excess of 60 percent in three states: California, Hawaii, and New Jersey (also New York City).
4 min read
Arizona Proposition 208 Threatens Arizona’s Status as a Destination for Interstate Migration
Significantly raising the income tax through Proposition 208 will only serve to make Arizona less competitive, especially at a time when individuals and small businesses are already struggling. If Arizona is looking for a long-term way to increase education funding, it would do well to avoid overburdening struggling taxpayers and look toward more broad-based, stable sources of revenue.
5 min read
Twelve Things to Know About the “Fair Tax for Illinois”
Heading into Election Day, the Illinois legislature and Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) are trying to convince voters to scrap a key constitutional feature of Illinois’ tax system: a provision in the state constitution that prohibits a graduated-rate income tax.
18 min read
State and Local Tax Ballot Measures to Watch on Election Day 2020
Here are the state tax ballot measures to watch on Election Day 2020. Explore the most notable 2020 state tax ballot measures in 15 states.
4 min read
Republican Study Committee Workforce Plan Rethinks Education, Labor, and Welfare Tax Policy
The House Republican Study Committee released a proposal, “Reclaiming the American Dream,” which includes 118 policy recommendations to address education, labor, and welfare policy with the aim of expanding opportunity, liberty, and free enterprise for all Americans.
7 min read
New Census Data Shows States Beat Revenue Expectations in FY 2020
State tax revenue collections were down 5.5 percent in FY 2020, driven by a dismal final quarter (April through June) as states began to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While these early losses are certainly not desirable, they are manageable and far better than many feared.
16 min read
New York Stock Exchange Signals Willingness to Relocate Servers to Avoid Proposed New Jersey Financial Transaction Tax
As the NYSE prepares to conduct a test of their server capacity elsewhere, New Jersey lawmakers may be forced to rethink the viability of their financial transaction tax proposal.
4 min read
Teleworking Employees Face Double Taxation Due to Aggressive “Convenience Rule” Policies in Seven States
States can tax your income where you live and where you work—but a growing number of states may also seek to tax your income even if you neither live nor work there, an aggressive posture that becomes increasingly consequential as more Americans work remotely both during and potentially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
15 min read
State Income and Sales Tax Revenues Slide in Second Quarter
Today marked the release of second-quarter GDP data and provides a new glimpse into early changes in state and local revenues and spending. All told, second-quarter state and local tax receipts came in about 3.8 percent lower than they did in the same quarter a year ago. Income and sales taxes fell considerably while property and excise tax collections remained stable.
3 min read
New York and New Jersey Consider Financial Transaction Taxes
Seeking new sources of funding, New York and New Jersey—two states at the heart of global financial markets—are considering financial transaction taxes.
5 min read
(Webinar) Figuring Out Phase Four: Next Steps on Federal and State Coronavirus Response
As U.S. businesses struggle to recover from the economic downturn, Congress and the White House continue to debate a phase four relief package, which could include anything from incentives for domestic travel and a payroll tax cut to more fundamental reforms like enacting permanent full cost recovery.
2 min read
State Forecasts Indicate $121 Billion 2-Year Tax Revenue Losses Compared to FY 2019
Revised state revenue forecasts show a significant decline in projected revenues for both the recently concluded FY 2020 and current FY 2021, though the picture they paint is considerably less dire than many feared a few months ago.
13 min read
What Can Connecticut Learn from its Neighbors About Property Tax Limitations?
Property tax burdens in Connecticut continue to increase even as property values decline, whereas other states—including neighboring Massachusetts and New York—have managed to keep the growth of property tax burdens in check.
42 min read
Seattle Officials Return with New Proposal for Taxing Employment
Seattle’s city council are again gearing up for an effort to increase taxes on the city’s largest employers, intended to generate revenue for cash assistance to low-income households impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, among other reasons.
4 min read
D.C. Council to Consider Tax Hike Despite Balanced Budget
Despite a balanced budget and and revenue shortfalls arising from the coronavirus crisis, the D.C. Council will consider proposals to raise income taxes to fund newly proposed spending projects.
5 min read