The mission of our state program is to promote tax and fiscal policy that leads to higher economic growth and improved quality of life for taxpayers throughout the U.S. states.
Our state tax policy experts are routinely relied upon for presentations, testimony, and media appearances on state tax and fiscal policy, and our website is a comprehensive resource for information on tax and spending policy in each U.S. state.
We produce the annual State Business Tax Climate Index, Facts & Figures: How Does Your State Compare, and Location Matters: The State Tax Costs of Doing Business, among other resources. Explore our five reforms for an increasingly mobile economy.
State Tax Trends | State Tax Maps | State Reform Guides | State & Local Tax Collections | Excise taxes | Taxes & Inflation | Cost Recovery
In recognition of the fact that there are better and worse ways to raise revenue, our Index focuses on how state tax revenue is raised, not how much. The rankings, therefore, reflect how well states structure their tax systems.
111 min read
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
Facts & Figures serves as a one-stop state tax data resource that compares all 50 states on over 40 measures of tax rates, collections, burdens, and more.
2 min read
Remote and flexible work opportunities are here to stay, whether states like it or not. With enhanced opportunities to take their job with them wherever they please, more workers can factor tax burdens into their decision of where to live.
15 min read
The current patchwork of state laws taxing marketplace facilitators is complex, burdensome, and inefficient. States should work to resolve these issues and standardize the otherwise disparate requirements—with or without an inducement from Congress or the courts.
29 min read
All policy choices involve trade-offs—but occasionally, the ratio of costs and benefits is shockingly lopsided. Adopting a de minimis exemption for tangible personal property (TPP) taxes is just such a policy: one which massively reduces compliance and administrative burdens at trivial cost.
18 min read
The Ohio Commercial Activity Tax, a 0.26 percent tax on business gross receipts above $1 million, is a throwback to an earlier era of taxation, bringing back a tax type that had been in steady retreat for nearly a century.
34 min read
Aside from hurting low-income earners, the poor revenue performance of Philadelphia’s soda tax, 24 times higher than the excise rate on beer, threatens the sustainability of the education programs it is intended to fund.
12 min readEstate and inheritance taxes reduce investment, discourage business expansion, and sometimes drive wealthy taxpayers out of state. It’s little wonder that states are under pressure to reduce or eliminate them.
44 min read
While most states enact tax changes at the beginning of the calendar year, a number of them implement changes at the beginning of the fiscal year. Eight states have tax changes that will take effect on July 1, 2017, the beginning of the 2018 fiscal year.
8 min read
Taxpayers who itemize deductions on their federal income tax are permitted to deduct certain taxes paid to state and local governments from their gross income for federal income tax liability purposes.
26 min read