High-Income Taxpayers, Progressivity, and Inequality

The Five Most Pro-Growth Options in the Options Guide

Some taxes have more powerful economic effects than others, and that’s a lesson policymakers should absorb as they work to craft a tax code that encourages growth and raises sustainable revenue.

Wealth Taxes in Europe, 2026

Wealth taxes not only collect little revenue and create legal uncertainty, but an OECD report argues that they can also disincentivize entrepreneurship, harming innovation and long-term growth.

Why Billionaires Are Still Leaving California

The California Billionaire Tax Act’s residency provisions are exceptionally vulnerable to legal challenge. Even if the tax passes and survives challenges to its broader constitutionality, billionaires who leave California sometime in 2026 have good reason to believe they can escape some or all of the tax.

US Has Most Progressive Tax System in OECD, New Index Shows

A study from the Fraser Institute finds the US tax code is highly progressive relative to other OECD countries.

Targeting High Earners is Misguided and Will Worsen States’ Fiscal Positions

Policies that increase the tax burden on high earners makes states less competitive, increase revenue volatility, discourage investment, and risk accelerating outmigration of talent and capital. Many top-earners are already leaving high-tax states for Florida, North Carolina, and other low-tax jurisdictions.

The Risks the Wealth Tax Advocates Are Ignoring

Voters in California this fall will have to determine whether the state will institute a billionaire tax. Advocates of this proposal have been pushing for these kinds of money grabs for decades—and their arguments often run the same. The base is narrow, the lifespan is limited, the cause is sympathetic.

Mid-Year Movers and the California Wealth Tax

If approved by voters, the wealth tax will face a flurry of serious legal challenges—some to its overall constitutionality, and some regarding who can be taxed and to what degree if the tax survives broader legal scrutiny.

State and Local Tax Collections Per Capita by State, 2026

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.

Testimony: A High-Earner Surtax Would Hurt Rhode Island’s Small Businesses

The economic literature overwhelmingly finds that an income tax increase of this magnitude would negatively affect economic growth and opportunity in Rhode Island.

Minnesota Should Learn from Europe: Wealth Taxes Are a Failed Experiment

A new bill introduced in the Minnesota House seeks to tax non-real assets, imposing an annual tax of 1 percent on “taxable wealth” exceeding $10 million for individuals and trusts from tax year 2026 onward.

The State Race for Wealth Taxes Will Fail. Just Ask Europe.

These debates are often framed in terms of fairness. Raise taxes on a few to provide benefits for most, the thinking goes. But in policy, the more important question should focus on mechanics: will this change achieve its stated goal?

Can Tax Reform Solve the Debt Problem—or Just Slow It?

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. 

Testimony: Illinois “Millionaire’s Tax” Would Hurt Small Businesses, Exacerbate Outmigration

Illinois’ proposed Millionaire’s Tax would raise taxes on Illinois families and businesses in an economically damaging way, further harming the state’s competitiveness and reducing economic opportunity even for those Illinois residents who would not owe the tax directly.

Flat Tax

Americans Are Moving to States with Lower Taxes and Sound Tax Structures

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.

After Pandemic Relief Ended, CBO Shows Federal Taxes Remained Progressive in 2022

In 2022, incomes for the bottom 80 percent of earners were slightly lower after taxes and transfers compared to 2020 and 2021, driven by expiring pandemic-era policies.

Summary of the Latest Federal Income Tax Data, Tax Year 2023

New IRS data shows the US federal income tax system continues to be progressive as high-income taxpayers pay the highest average income tax rates. Average tax rates for all income groups remain lower after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

Yes, the California Wealth Tax Could Tax Voting Interests

The proposed California wealth tax could be levied on founders’ voting interests in their companies, despite the initiative’s drafters insisting otherwise.

Ideas, Not Mandates: Lessons Learned from a Decade of International Tax Reform

The past decade’s record suggests that countries have reliable legislative methods to improve their tax systems through ordinary tax reforms.

Maine’s Proposed Millionaire’s Tax Would Harm the State’s Economy

Maine’s proposed millionaire’s tax would bring Maine’s top income tax rate to 9.15 percent, dealing a blow to the state’s economic competitiveness.