A well-designed tax trigger can be a highly valuable tool for lawmakers seeking both tax reform and revenue stability. States should embrace established baselines adjusted for inflation, use collections instead of projections as benchmarks, and prioritize contributions to their rainy day funds.
7 min read
Tax collections vary widely by state, making per capita collections figures—a measure of collections per person—especially useful, as they allow comparisons across differences in tax rates and bases, economic capacities, and policy decisions that impact the size and scope of government.
5 min read
This study simulates several large tax increases and consistently finds that even tax increases large enough to close the primary deficit in the near term will lose ground over time and fail to put the debt on a sustainable course.
41 min read
Millions of Americans, along with significant amounts of income and economic activity, are moving from high-tax states to those with more competitive tax systems and lower overall costs of living.
8 min read
Delaware Governor Matt Meyer (D) has proposed a new state budget that includes roughly $18.9 million in additional annual revenue from higher tobacco taxes.
4 min read
Structural reforms such as broadening tax bases, improving cost recovery, and shifting toward less distortive taxes can improve competitiveness without necessarily reducing revenue.
7 min read
With changes to payroll taxes likely to be part of a toolkit for reform, both policymakers and the public would benefit from understanding how the payroll tax works, who pays it, and its impact on the economy.
21 min read
Over the long run, OBBBA’s permanent extension of lower marginal tax rates on work, saving, and investment lays a solid foundation for stronger economic growth.
6 min read
Scandinavian countries are well known for their broad social safety nets and their public funding of services such as universal health care, higher education, parental leave, and child and elderly care. High levels of government spending naturally require high levels of taxation. So, how do these countries raise their tax revenues?
7 min read
Our modeling indicates the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will boost economic growth but increase deficits, leading to record high debt in 2028 that rises to 124 percent of GDP by 2034.
7 min read
With property tax bills on the rise, homeowners are searching for answers—and some even want to abolish the tax altogether. In this episode, we break down why property taxes are increasing, common but flawed solutions, and why the property tax remains an economically efficient revenue source.
Policymakers are considering ways to extend the enhancements made to Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that expire at the end of the year, which could cost $350 billion over the next decade. Any expansion of the credits should be offset by reducing other healthcare subsidies or preferences in the tax code, the largest of which is the exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) premiums, estimated to cost more than $5 trillion over the next decade due to reduced income and payroll tax revenue.
10 min read
As the market share of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road grows, the gas tax’s ability to fund road projects and decrease traffic congestion erodes. Both federal and state real tax revenue per vehicle mile traveled has been on a steady decline for decades, creating a fiscal gap for road expenditures even as the demand for road infrastructure improvements has grown.
5 min read
While well-designed excise taxes can make society better off, some of the health taxes proposed by the WHO use a pretty façade to cover for policies that fail to deliver their promised benefits.
5 min read
Tax Foundation Europe’s Sean Bray had the opportunity to interview Dr. Dominika Langenmayr, Professor of Economics at Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, about the future of the EU tax mix.
15 min read
Different taxes have different economic effects, so policymakers should always consider how tax revenue is raised and not just how much is raised.
4 min read
Florida’s latest property tax debate highlights the familiar challenge of prioritizing pro-growth tax policy while tackling rising property tax burdens.
6 min read
With property tax bills on the rise, homeowners are searching for answers—and some even want to abolish the tax altogether. In this episode, we break down why property taxes are increasing, common but flawed solutions, and why the property tax remains an economically efficient revenue source.
Americans were on the move in 2024, and many chose low-tax states over high-tax ones.
6 min read
The US already has massive problems with cigarette smuggling. A cigarette prohibition would be devastating to tax coffers while pushing smokers toward what could become the world’s largest illicit market.
4 min read