A New State Payroll Tax Could Drive Jobs out of Washington
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.
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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 readPolicymakers should aim for neutral tax policies that support stable revenues like VATs and avoid inviting trade conflicts with discriminatory and economically harmful policies like DSTs.
6 min readThis legislative session, local taxes are a major topic of debate in Indiana. Although the state’s property tax system is already nationally competitive, dramatic increases in assessed values have created discontent in recent years.
8 min readSurtaxes such as Germany’s solidarity surtax run counter to the principles of simplicity and transparency of the tax system because they impose an additional layer of tax on taxpayers and create a more complex tax structure that often obscures the actual tax burden.
4 min readMaryland’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 readMontana’s 2025 legislative session has seen a flurry of property tax reform proposals, a response to the surge in property valuations in the state. Unfortunately, hasty decision-making can result in suboptimal policy outcomes.
6 min readA North Carolina House bill titled “No Tax on Tips, Overtime, Bonus Pay,” is gaining bipartisan traction in the General Assembly, mirroring similar proposals nationwide, including those championed by President Trump.
4 min readLawmakers should prioritize pro-growth tax policies and use the least economically damaging offsets to make the legislation fiscally responsible. If lawmakers choose to use C-SALT, they should carefully consider the economic trade-off with permanent, pro-growth tax cuts that support investment and innovation in the US.
7 min readThe Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced a series of new targeted tax breaks, many of which seem to be much more expensive than originally forecasted. Understandably, repealing these subsidies is a key option for policymakers looking to pay to extend the expiring broader tax cuts passed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).
7 min readContrary to the president’s promises, the tariffs will cause short-term pain and long-term pain, no matter the ways people and businesses change their behavior.
5 min readAs the property tax debate continues in Kansas, two new proposals have emerged that are much better structured, and would be more effective, than the assessment limits. However, policymakers should consider additional modifications.
7 min readAs we learned in the first trade war, retaliation will exact harm on US exporters by lowering their export sales—and the US-imposed tariffs will directly harm exporters too. US-imposed tariffs can burden exporters by increasing input costs, which acts like a tax on exports.
4 min readIn a perilous economic and fiscal environment, with instability created by Trump’s trade war and publicly held debt on track to surpass the highest levels ever recorded within five years, a lot rides on how Republicans navigate tax and spending reforms in reconciliation.
6 min readWhile Governor Moore’s tax plan is still being fiercely debated in Maryland, legislators have introduced several additional proposals—mostly aimed at increasing taxes on businesses—to generate revenue and address the state’s chronic budget deficit.
6 min readA recent proposal in Minnesota exempting certain nonresident workers from having to file and pay income taxes would reduce compliance costs for business travelers and their employers at limited cost to the state.
4 min readWhile fixing infrastructure funding has not been a focus of the tax expiration debate, it would be a smart way to pay for at least a small portion of the expiring tax cuts. In recent years, highway funding has exceeded highway revenues, and the introduction of electric vehicles has made the gas tax increasingly obsolete.
7 min readWhile 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 readWhile evaluating new estate tax bills this legislative session, Oregon legislators should consider the state’s competitive tax landscape and interstate migration patterns.
4 min readThe agreement represents a major change for tax competition, and many countries will be rethinking their tax policies for multinationals. If there is no agreement on changes to Pillar Two or digital services taxes, retaliatory American tariffs could be on the horizon.
8 min readThe Tax Foundation models tax policy using our proprietary Taxes and Growth model, illustrating the economic, revenue, and distributional impacts of different changes to the federal tax code. We’ve recently implemented improvements to the model that have been underway for the past several years, and we will be detailing them further in our forthcoming model methodology update.
4 min read