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.
Failure to reverse this newly adverse treatment of capital investment makes it less likely that businesses will invest in Pennsylvania.
15 min read
In addition to state-level sales taxes, consumers also face local sales taxes in 38 states. These rates can be substantial, so a state with a moderate statewide sales tax rate could actually have a very high combined state and local rate.
11 min read
Oregon’s Legislative Revenue Office anticipates a $40 million revenue loss in fiscal year 2019, for one simple reason: absent legislative action to the contrary, Oregon will adopt the new pass-through deduction, while most other states will not.
While other states are working to promote growth, Pennsylvania is headed in the opposite direction with a policy that dramatically overtaxes investment.
4 min read
Governor Justice’s proposal to roll back West Virginia’s tangible personal property tax, a tax on equipment and machinery, is an opportunity improve the state’s outmoded property tax structure.
4 min read
Federal tax reform gives states an opportunity to improve their own tax codes. This study surveys the federal provisions to which states conform, what each state can expect from federal tax changes, and what options are available to them.
58 min read
Legislation introduced in Washington State correctly diagnoses the problem with the state’s B&O tax, but the proposed remedy could use some work.
6 min read
New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are pursuing a questionable legal strategy to overturn the cap on a federal tax deduction that benefits the wealthy.
5 min read
California’s plan to circumvent the new state and local tax deduction cap is dubious, but now Illinois, Nebraska, Virginia, and Washington are considering similar plans.
3 min read
As Mississippi policymakers contemplate a lottery, it may be tempting to think of it as free money—new revenue raised without having to adopt a new tax. A better way of thinking about the issue, however, would recognize the lottery for what it is: a regressive form of high implicit taxation.
3 min read
The scramble to restore the full state and local tax deduction for high-income taxpayers has resulted in inventive proposals that, for both legal and practical reasons, are unlikely to succeed.
22 min read
You probably aren’t going to win the Powerball jackpot, but your state already has. Here’s a look at lottery withholding tax rates by state.
2 min read