- Read the Who Pays?, 6th edition by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) (https://itep.org/wp-content/uploads/whopays-ITEP-2018.pdf). Based on this and on class notes, are state and local government taxes mostly regressive, progressive or neutral? What are the most regressive and progressive state and local taxes? Why are some taxes progressive and others regressive? How does Massachusetts stack up compared to other states? Note, you needn’t read the full report, just the executive summary and intro, then flip through some of the state tables.
- To make their tax systems more progressive, a number of states have proposed raising income tax rates on high earners. Critics of these proposals argue that this will drive high earners to move to low tax states. Based on the readings by Cristobal Young and by Robert Tannenwald (on blackboard), what does the evidence show?
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