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.
The five states with the highest average combined state and local sales tax rates are Louisiana (10.11 percent), Tennessee (9.61 percent), Arkansas (9.48 percent), Washington (9.47 percent), and Alabama (9.44 percent).
10 min read
The Senate’s version of the OBBB restores the benefit of avoiding the SALT deduction cap with PTETs for all pass-through businesses, while placing new limits on the extent of the workarounds.
6 min read
President’s Trump’s policies would throw high-tax states a life raft as they swim against the tide—before potentially hitting all states with a tariff-induced economic tsunami that could force lawmakers’ hands and reverse recent tax relief.
For owners of pass-through businesses, the reconciliation package (1) raises the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, (2) denies the benefit of pass-through entity-level taxes that had previously worked around the SALT cap for such pass-through businesses, and (3) increases the Section 199A deduction for qualifying pass-through entities.
4 min read
As the US House hashes out its “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” statehouse lawmakers are watching closely, given the impact of both its tax and spending provisions on state budgets.
12 min read
As home values have spiked, Florida and other states are weighing elimination of property taxes.
In Washington, Gov. Ferguson (D) will soon have to act on legislation enacting a far more sweeping tax on Washington-based businesses than lawmakers imagined.
7 min read
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) only succeeds in demonstrating that America has more millionaires than it used to, not that high-tax states are doing well in attracting or retaining them.
7 min read
The proposed changes to federal tax code conformity in Oregon are a good example of a change that could significantly reshape the state’s tax code in the future, despite being framed as temporary technical adjustments.
4 min read
With a wealth tax, property tax increases, and this new payroll tax on the agenda, Washington lawmakers have reason to fear that many employers could be looking for the exits.
5 min read
Maryland’s proposed budget has garnered headlines for many reasons, but another momentous change is flying under the radar: backdoor adoption of potentially mandatory worldwide combined reporting.
6 min read
With such an important change to Iowa’s property tax system, it’s important that lawmakers get the details right.
33 min read
Lawmakers should finish the work they have begun over the past few decades, tackling tax rates and structures to give the state a leg up in an era of enhanced competition.
84 min read
While capping C-SALT has superficial appeal in perceived parity with personal limits, it rests on flawed assumptions about the nature of individual and corporate income taxes.
7 min read
The Trump administration appears to be moving in a “reciprocal” policy direction despite the significant negative economic consequences for American consumers of across-the-board tariffs on goods coming into the US. However, the EU’s VAT system should not be used as a justification for retaliatory tariffs.
6 min read
Retail sales taxes are an essential part of most states’ revenue toolkits, responsible for 32 percent of state tax collections and 13 percent of local tax collections (24 percent of combined collections).
9 min read
Nebraska has an opportunity to revise the property tax package enacted in 2024 to ensure that Nebraskans enjoy meaningful property tax relief.
32 min read
Thirty-nine states will begin 2025 with notable tax changes, including nine states cutting individual income taxes. Recent years have seen a wave of significant tax reforms, and the changes scheduled for 2025 show that these efforts have not let up.
25 min read
Policymakers can and should address taxpayers’ legitimate grievances about out-of-control property tax bills, but they should do so without upending a system of taxation that is more efficient, fair, and pro-growth, and better suited to municipal finance, than any of the alternatives.
39 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.
115 min read