Watch: State Tax Policy and COVID-19

Like the federal government, states play a critical role in responding to the coronavirus outbreak. Legislators across the country are working to respond as quickly and effectively as possible.

While direct public health interventions and assistance to those in economic distress are the most urgent needs, taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. policy plays an important role in this process, both in states’ efforts to provide relief and, ultimately, to cover the costs of these outlays.

Today, we ask how state governments can balance short-term needs with policies that lead to a long-term, sustainable recovery.

What is the current state of the state tax response to COVID-19? What existing tax policies stand in the way of sustained recovery and how should states approach closing budget gaps?

Many state unemployment compensation trust funds will run out soon. What should be done and what is the federal government’s role in helping?

Tax Foundation Director of State Tax Policy Jared Walczak tackles these questions and others in a new video discussion.

As the U.S. federal, state, and local governments, as well as countries around the world, are implementing emergency measures to support their economies amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) threat, our experts are providing trusted analysis of the latest tax policy developments to better inform policymakers, journalists, and taxpayers.

Among our other resources, you can explore our state-by-state legislative tracker and our country-by-country fiscal measures tracker, where we will be tracking and and analyzing the latest coronavirus tax updates in the United States and around the world.

If you are new to the Tax Foundation’s work, you can learn more about who we are and what we do here. You can also support our work here.

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