This budget update supplements the regular monthly revenue update published by the IFO and provides additional detail for March General Fund revenues. March revenues include large payments for gross receipts, insurance premiums, bank shares and corporate net income taxes.
This research brief uses new benchmarked jobs data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to track the sectors and industries that gained or lost jobs since 2019 (i.e., pre-Covid).
A new research brief examines Act 85 of 2024, which replaces the alternative fuel tax on electric vehicles with an annual electric vehicle road user charge for battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. It also details the impact of federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Pennsylvania’s EV charging infrastructure.
Director Knittel submitted an article for publication in the February 3, 2025 edition of Tax Notes State. It reviews recent results from the Pennsylvania tax incidence model and discusses factors that make state and local tax systems appear more regressive than they are in practice.
This report uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and other sources to facilitate a comparison of state and local tax systems across the 50 states. The report examines (1) state and local effective tax rates across states, (2) the distribution of state and local taxes across revenue sources (e.g., income, sales and property) and (3) state debt levels.
Director Knittel made a brief presentation at the NFIB Economic Forum.
In response to a legislative request, the IFO transmitted a letter that updates a previous analysis on potential revenue sources that could replace school district property taxes if eliminated.
This research brief provides tabulations of child care industry employment, wages and average annual costs. For 2024 Q2, Pennsylvania private child care employment now exceeds pre-pandemic levels (2019 Q2) by 1,200 employees, while average industry wages increased significantly (31%). Child care costs vary widely depending on family income and access to the Child Care Works program.
This research brief provides tabulations of corporate net income tax return data for tax year 2021. For that year, 48 returns comprised nearly one quarter of tax liability, and 12.4% of taxable income was offset by net operating loss (NOL) deductions.
As part of its statutory duties, the IFO must “(p)rovide an analysis, including economic impact, of all tax and revenue proposals submitted by the Governor or the Office of the Budget.” Tax incidence is a key component of any economic impact analysis. This research brief and methodology compute effective tax rates (ETRs) to track tax incidence and assess the progressivity or regressivity of specific taxes and the overall state and local tax system. The methodology provides a detailed explanation of the data sources and assumptions used by the analysis.