FDA Menthol Ban Would Boost Smuggling, Reduce Revenues, with Few Health Benefits
Learn more about the FDA’s proposal to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Including its effect on revenue & public health measures.
4 min read
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 Regressivity of Grocery Tax Exemptions
Exempting groceries from the sales tax base reduces economic efficiency without achieving its objective of enhancing tax progressivity.
19 min read
State and Local Tax Burdens, Calendar Year 2022
Tax burdens rose across the country as pandemic-era economic changes caused taxable income, activities, and property values to rise faster than net national product. Tax burdens in 2020, 2021, and 2022 are all higher than in any other year since 1978.
24 min read
State Legislatures Take Up Tax Reform and Relief in 2022
After a whirlwind of cuts and reforms in 2021, it looks like 2022 might be an even bigger year for state tax codes. Republican and Democratic governors alike used their annual State of the State addresses to call for tax reform, and there is already serious momentum from state lawmakers nationwide to get the job done.
3 min read
Are Tax Rebates a Good Way to Provide Relief from Rising Prices?
States are flush with cash, but taxpayers’ purchasing power is being eroded by high inflation. Tax rebates, gas tax holidays, and other temporary tax expedients have the potential to add to existing inflation—but good intentions do not always make for good policy.
5 min read
Maryland Digital Advertising Tax Litigation Focus Moves to State Courts
Digital advertising taxes are poor tax policy and legally dubious in the extreme. Maryland has a long fight ahead of it—all for the right to enact a tax for which lawmakers struggle to even articulate a rationale.
5 min read
Iowa Enacts Sweeping Tax Reform
Even if 2022 sees many tax reforms, the scope of Iowa’s tax relief measures is likely to stand out. With the most recent reform package, Iowa lawmakers have made a significant investment in a more competitive tax climate for an increasingly competitive era.
6 min read
Florida Gas Tax Holiday Has Negligible Benefits—But Other States Seem Ready to Follow
A gas tax holiday may be good politics, but it’s unlikely to achieve its aims. There are far better ways to provide tax relief—short- or long-term—than an inefficient gas tax suspension.
4 min read
Missouri’s Tax Competitiveness
While Missouri has room for improvement, the state is making waves, positioning itself as an increasingly attractive location for business investment. And as ongoing reforms further enhance the competitiveness of the state’s tax code, more businesses will take notice.
8 min read
States Should Act Fast on UC Trust Fund Deposits, and Other Takeaways from the New Treasury Guidance on ARPA Funding
States will continue to cut taxes because revenues are skyrocketing. But some will also be keeping a close eye on litigation targeting this dubious restriction on states’ fiscal autonomy.
8 min read
California Considers Doubling its Taxes
Practically doubling state taxes—even if the burden is partially offset through state-provided health coverage—could send taxpayers racing for the exits.
6 min read
Eight State Tax Reforms for Mobility and Modernization
States are unprepared for the ongoing shift to remote and flexible work arrangements, or for the industries and activities of today, to say nothing of tomorrow. In some states, moreover, existing tax provisions exacerbate the impact of high inflation and contribute to the supply chain crisis.
40 min read
Americans Moved to Low-Tax States in 2021
The pandemic has accelerated changes in the way we live and work, making it far easier for people to move—and they have. As states work to maintain their competitive advantage, they should pay attention to where people are moving, and try to understand why.
6 min read
2022 State Business Tax Climate Index
While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, our State Business Tax Climate Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
169 min read
Traveling for the Holidays? States Would Like the Gift of Taxes
In most states, you don’t have to visit for long before you start accruing tax liability.
5 min read
Aligning Kentucky’s Tax Code for Growth
7 min read
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