State Tax

Corporations in the United States pay federal corporate income taxes levied at a 21 percent rate. Forty-four states and D.C. also levy taxes on corporate income, with top marginal rates ranging from 2.5 percent in North Carolina to 11.5 percent in New Jersey. Fifteen of the states levy graduated corporate income tax rates, while the

Picture this: you arrive at your polling place this November and start filling in your ballot. Member of Congress? Check. State legislators? You did your homework! Mayor? Good to go. Whether certain property tax exemptions provided for agricultural equipment and certain farm products should be expanded to include a merger of two or more family-owned

Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local government and generating state-level revenue in some states as well. In fiscal year 2020, property taxes comprised 32.2 percent of total state and local tax collections in the United States, more than any other source of tax revenue. Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund schools, roads, police departments, fire and emergency medical

Key Findings Massachusetts’ tax advantage in New England is primarily driven by its competitive individual income tax rate and its sales and use tax structure. The graduated income tax amendment would be paid by many small businesses, in addition to wealthy individuals. The proposed surtax is likely to have negative economic effects that will impact

Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) has called a special session for September 1, 2022, to consider another round of tax reform and relief legislation that would return surplus revenue to taxpayers while making the state’s tax code more economically competitive. House Bill 1 would move Idaho to a flat income tax structure, reduce the rate from

Gov. Mike Parson (R) has called the Missouri legislature into a special session beginning September 6th, with the goal of reducing the individual income tax from 5.4 percent to 4.8 percent and raising the standard deduction. An income tax reduction is a competitive move, especially in a rapidly changing tax landscape, but the legislature should

As cookout attendees around the country crack open a cold one on Labor Day weekend, take a minute to discover how much of your cash is actually going toward the cost of a brew. The United States collects an excise tax on beer at the federal level (ranging from $0.11 to $0.58 per gallon based on production,

President Biden’s announcement of student loan debt forgiveness is already raising many questions. How much will it cost? Who will benefit the most? How will it contribute to inflation? Does the president even have the legal authority to implement this loan forgiveness? Here’s one more question to add to the mix: will states consider student

With passage of SB1 in the General Assembly’s third special session, Arkansas last week became the 13th state to authorize an individual income tax rate reduction this year. This round of Arkansas income tax cuts effectively accelerated reforms policymakers enacted eight months ago. The December 2021 changes set the state on course to lower its

The FDA’s proposal to ban flavored cigars would be a disruptive force in the cigar market and would carry significant revenue implications for many state governments. Flavored cigars make up between one-third and one-half of all cigar sales. We estimate that the aggregate effect of a ban on flavored cigar sales in the U.S. would

Today’s map zeroes in on states that have a “marriage penalty” in their individual income tax brackets. Under a graduated-rate income tax system, a taxpayer’s marginal income is subject to progressively higher tax rates. A marriage penalty or “marriage tax penalty” exists when a state’s income brackets for married taxpayers filing jointly are less than double the

Key Findings Seventeen states will hold a sales tax holiday in 2022, down from a peak of 19 in 2010 and unchanged from last year. Sales tax holidays do not promote economic growth or significantly increase consumer purchases; the evidence (including a 2017 study by Federal Reserve researchers) shows that they simply shift the timing

With the Indiana General Assembly gaveled in this week for a special session called by Gov. Eric Holcomb (R), one of the issues is how to allocate portions of the $6.1 billion budget surplus for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The House, Senate, and governor agree that some of the extra revenue should

New Jersey’s proposed ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes (Assembly Bill 1989) would reduce excise and sales tax collections by as much as $243 million per year. Despite the significant revenue loss, smoking rates are unlikely to decline. New Jersey should look to the recent Massachusetts experiment to see what to expect if they

Table of Contents Key Findings Forty-five states and the District of Columbia collect statewide sales taxes. Local sales taxes are collected in 38 states. In some cases, they can rival or even exceed state rates. The five states with the highest average combined state and local sales tax rates are Louisiana (9.55 percent), Tennessee (9.547

Over the past decade, policymakers from both parties in Harrisburg have proposed reducing Pennsylvania’s 9.99 percent corporate net income tax (CNIT) rate but could not agree on an approach—until now. With enactment of HB 1342 as part of the 2022-2023 state budget, lawmakers finally succeeded in cutting what had been the second highest state corporate

Key Findings Ten states enacted individual income tax rate reductions. Six states enacted corporate income tax rate reductions. Oklahoma became the first state to make permanent the full expensing of capital investments by C corporations in the year they made the investments. Two states permanently exempted groceries from their respective sales tax bases. Five states

Oklahoma lawmakers and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) are at a standstill on efforts to secure tax reform in special session, but lawmakers did accomplish something important in the waning days of the state’s regular session—a national first for which the Sooner State deserves substantial credit. Full expensing—or the immediate write-off of all business investment—is now

Today’s map looks at the design of excise taxes for vaping and tobacco alternatives, which is important in the pursuit of harm reduction from smoking. Higher vapor taxes on products such as E-cigarettes could encourage vapors to go back to smoking cigarettes and will discourage cigarette smokers from switching to vaping products.  Since vaping entered

Although the majority of 2022 state tax changes take effect at the start of the calendar year, some are implemented at the beginning of the fiscal year. Individual and corporate income tax changes usually take effect at the beginning of the calendar year to maintain policy consistency throughout the tax year, but sales and excise