"In early 2012, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial: The Heartland Tax Rebellion, which brought to national attention the movement in many Midwestern states to replace their state income tax. The opinion piece compared nine states with the highest personal income tax with nine states...

We study U.S. state tax rules over the past 70 years to shed light on the determinants of U.S. state tax policy, generating three key results. First, we show that long-term tax trends are not consistent with Tiebout sorting and race-to-the-bottom competition models. Second, we document evidence...

We collect detailed data on U.S. state personal income, corporate, sales, cigarette, gasoline, and alcohol taxes over the past 70 years to shed light on the determinants of state tax policies. We provide a comprehensive summary of how tax policy has changed over time, within and across states....