Friend,

Something big is coming in 2023.

For the first time in its 40-plus year history, ITEP is launching a local tax policy team to help cities, towns, and counties advance tax equity and raise enough revenue to create stronger, healthier, and more inclusive communities. Given the deep connections between federal, state, and local government policies, a focus on local tax solutions is essential to achieving better economic and health outcomes for all.
With your support, ITEP will enhance our microsimulation tax model to provide timely and accessible local analyses of potential tax changes, disaggregated data by race and ethnicity, information on how states can stop preempting localities from passing the best tax policies, and resources for local policymakers and advocates to push for progressive reforms. Our rigorous analyses and data-driven recommendations will help shape more equitable and sustainable communities.
As many state lawmakers continue to cut taxes for the wealthy, states have less revenue to share with local governments that have been long underfunded. Many localities are currently spending less than they were before the Great Recession in 2009, despite higher costs and greater needs in many places. This lack of adequate funding has real-life consequences for our communities, from shuttered libraries and crumbling infrastructure to diminished school programs and municipal pensions at risk of insolvency.
 
Local budgets also increasingly rely on practices that trap Black, brown and low-income communities with the least political power in a cycle of debt and criminalization. At the same time, corporate stockholders benefit from generous local tax breaks despite often failing to produce the revenue or benefits promised when seeking these subsidies. Altogether, this results in a skewed system with cash-strapped local governments substituting inequitable fines and fees for a just tax system.
To make things worse, many states restrict local governments’ abilities to adopt or expand progressive taxes. Even many localities with taxing authority are still required to seek voter approval for tax changes, with the effect of granting veto power to ultra-wealthy elites and anti-tax lawmakers with the most resources and influence to fight these ballot initiatives. Without enough revenue sharing from state governments or the ability to raise their own revenue, localities often balance their budgets on the backs of those with the least means. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way.
 
Many local policymakers and advocates are actively seeking to better understand tax policy and are requesting recommendations to raise revenue, enhance equity, and fund communities. ITEP has the drive and capacity to elevate data about local tax systems, how taxes are distributed across the income spectrum, and opportunities for a more just system.
 
Your support powers this essential work for families and communities. Austerity, privatization of public services, and predatory governance have guided our economic systems for too long. Together, we can work toward a brighter future of shared prosperity.
 
Sincerely,
Kamolika and the ITEP team
Like what you're reading?
Informing tax policy debate nationwide | itep.org