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
State taxation of GILTI is unconventional and economically uncompetitive and will become even more so if the federal government adopts a more aggressive approach to taxing GILTI, as outlined in the American Jobs Plan Act.
32 min read
Digital advertising, social media, and data tax proposals have been introduced in nine states following enactment of Maryland’s digital advertising tax, which has since been postponed a year due to administrative and legal challenges.
14 min read
A landmark comparison of corporate tax costs in all 50 states, Location Matters provides a comprehensive calculation of real-world tax burdens, going beyond headline rates to demonstrate how tax codes impact businesses and offering policymakers a road map to improvement.
8 min read
The economic evidence shows that travelers and tourists are sensitive to price changes for rental cars and adjust their behavior to avoid the tax, harming state economies and the travel sector right as the industry is trying to recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
33 min read
Remote work is here to stay. Convenience rules can’t change that. What they can change is the decisions people make. Under this rule, those decisions may not be to Arkansas’s advantage.
4 min read
With so many federal changes occurring in such a short amount of time—including some federal provisions changing more than once and a major change to the treatment of UC income occurring in the middle of tax filing season—state legislators have faced the challenge of responding to these changes quickly in order to provide certainty to taxpayers.
23 min read