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
The Surprising Challenge of Too Much Tax Revenue—and Florida’s No-Gas-Tax Solution
Temporary tax relief measures, like refund checks or gas tax holidays, are not necessarily bad, and can be justified as ways to return excess revenues to taxpayers, but they often miss an opportunity to do better by taxpayers in the long run.
7 min read
Mississippians Would Benefit from Sustainable Income Tax Reduction
Mississippi lawmakers should deliver tax relief in 2022, but they need not take an all-or-nothing approach. There are many ways to improve the state’s tax code, even if full income tax repeal doesn’t remain on the table.
6 min read
Pro-Growth Tax Reform for Oklahoma
Our new study identifies a number of deficiencies in Oklahoma’s tax code and outlines possible solutions for reform that would create a more neutral tax code and encourage long-term growth in the state.
6 min read
Tracking 2021 Election Results: State Tax Ballot Measures
Through 10 ballot measures across four states—Colorado, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington—voters will decide significant questions of state tax policy.
7 min read
Federal Deductibility Is Distorting Tax Liability in Six States
The intentions behind federal deductibility are undoubtedly pro-taxpayer. Unfortunately, that is not what happens in practice. Tax liability is not reduced. It is distorted.
7 min read
Washington Voters to Weigh in on New Capital Gains Income Tax
On May 4th, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed legislation creating a 7 percent capital gains tax, to take effect next year. On November 2nd, Washington lawmakers will learn what voters think about it.
5 min read
As Inflation Rises, So Will Tax Bills in Many States
Inflation is often called a hidden tax, but in many states it yields a far more literal tax increase as tax brackets fail to adjust for changes in consumer purchasing power.
5 min read
Federal Judge Rules Against ARPA’s Tax Mandate
Kentucky and Tennessee won an important legal victory Friday when a federal court ruled that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)’s restrictions on state fiscal autonomy were unconstitutional and enjoined (blocked) the enforcement of those provisions against both states.
7 min read
States Have $95 Billion to Restore their Unemployment Trust Funds—Why Aren’t They Using It?
Given the restrictions on the use of federal relief funding, and the significantly higher tax burdens on employment that will result if trust funds are not replenished, applying federal aid to these trust funds should be an urgent priority.
11 min read
What If We Taxed Churches?
Whether spurred by a belief that government is improperly favoring religious institutions, an antipathy to wealthy celebrity pastors, or a hope that taxing houses of worship could bring down personal tax bills, the taxation of religious bodies is hotly debated online, but barely on the radar of actual elected officials. But is that true? How much, if any, tax revenue is forgone, and what do the policies look like?
7 min read
Three Issues with Proposed Regulations for Maryland’s Digital Advertising Tax
Earlier this year, Maryland legislators overrode Governor Larry Hogan’s (R) veto of HB732, approving a digital advertising tax, the first of its kind in the country. But legislators punted several crucial questions to the state comptroller, who last week submitted proposed regulations for the digital advertising tax to the state Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review.
9 min read
Sales Tax Rates in Major Cities, Midyear 2021
Neither Anchorage, Alaska, nor Portland, Oregon, impose any state or local sales taxes. Honolulu, Hawaii, has a low rate of 4.5 percent and several other major cities, including Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, keep overall rates modest.
13 min read
D.C.’s Income Tax Hike Helps Maryland and Virginia, Not D.C.
Even as lawmakers in eleven states have cut income taxes this year, the D.C. Council has responded to surpluses and growth by voting to include substantial income tax increases in the budget.
7 min read
States Respond to Strong Fiscal Health with Income Tax Reforms
As states close their books for fiscal year 2021, many have much more revenue on hand than they anticipated last year. Eleven states have responded by reducing income tax rates and making related structural reforms as they strive to solidify a competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive national landscape.
29 min read
North Carolina’s Tax Competitiveness
Tax reform has paid off for the Tar Heel State. North Carolina features one of the nation’s most competitive tax environments for businesses across the industry spectrum, and the state currently boasts the nation’s third-best effective tax rates for newly established firms and fifth-best rates for mature firms, according to a new analysis conducted by the Tax Foundation and KPMG LLP.
7 min read
Montana Adopts Individual and Corporate Income Tax Reform
Montana adopted structural reforms to both individual and corporate income taxes during the recently adjourned legislative session, enacting three bills reducing individual tax rates, simplifying the state’s individual tax system, repealing 16 tax credits, and changing the apportionment factor for corporate income tax.
5 min read
Treasury Rule on State Tax Cuts Limitation Raises New Questions
Today, the U.S. Treasury issued an interim final rule on the $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provided under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The proposed rule resolves several important questions but continues to involve the federal government in state finances at an extraordinary level.
7 min read
States Consider Digital Taxes Amidst Conflicting Rationales
Digital advertising, social media, and data tax proposals have been introduced in nine states following enactment of Maryland’s digital advertising tax, which has since been postponed a year due to administrative and legal challenges.
14 min read
What Location Matters Can Tell Us About State Tax Competitiveness
Location Matters is an account of tax complexity and the ways that tax structure affect competitiveness. For policymakers, it represents an opportunity to explore the seemingly more arcane tax provisions that can have a significant impact on business tax burdens, and to discover how their tax code—often completely by accident—picks winners and losers.
4 min read