Andrew Boardman

Andrew Boardman

Advancing Federal, State and Local Economic Policy

Research Publications

Writing & Commentary

Welcome! I'm Andrew Boardman, a results-driven researcher with experience developing solutions to achieve an economy that works for all.

I am currently a policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, DC. My work at ITEP centers on shaping tax and budget policies to address pressing economic challenges like opportunity, inequality and poverty.

I was previously a researcher at the Urban Institute focused on analyzing labor market policies and conditions to advance economic mobility and security. In current and past roles I have developed and executed projects for policymakers and advocates in Congress, statehouses and city halls.

My work has guided a city's allocation of $120 million in federal economic recovery funds, helped frontline care workers secure tens of millions of dollars in pay raises and illuminated complex lawmaking processes for key stakeholders.

You can find my analysis and commentary in outlets including Bloomberg, Politico, Insider, Law360 and affiliates of NPR and CBS.

Learn more about my work below.

Interested in getting in touch? Reach out over email, LinkedIn or X.

Research & Policy Publications

Brief | Government Finance Review

Progress on the Road to Justice

Report | Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy

Local Earned Income Tax Credits: How Localities Are Boosting Economic Security and Advancing Equity with EITCs

Brief | Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy

How Local Governments Raise Revenue—and What it Means for Tax Equity

Show More Research & Policy Publications

Report | City of Providence COVID-19 Recovery & Resiliency Task Force

The Providence Rescue Plan: Recommendations for Use of American Rescue Plan Act Funds

Brief | The Economic Progress Institute

American Rescue Plan Act Funds for Rhode Island Local Governments

Report | Bipartisan Policy Center

How to Sensibly and Permanently Expand the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit

Report | Bipartisan Policy Center

From Sea to Shining Sea: A Bold Bipartisan Plan to Rebuild American Infrastructure

Report | Andrew Boardman

The Rhode Island Earned Income Tax Credit: History and Analysis

Writing & Commentary

Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy

These three local EITCs are boosting family incomes at tax time

The Public's Radio

Take of the Week: Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy

Worthwhile ideas for a stronger and fairer D.C. tax code

Show More Writing & Commentary

Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy

States and localities are making progress on curbing unjust fees and fines

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

Amid a collapsing labor market, pandemic policy response reduced poverty and inequality

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

Tighter labor markets boost occupational mobility for workers in low-quality jobs

The Public's Radio

Take of the Week: Will Massachusetts' millionaires' tax cause a Bay State exodus?

The Public's Radio

Take of the Week: FTC proposal banning noncompetes is a win for working people

The Public's Radio

Take of the Week: Will Rhode Island's child tax rebate fade as a one-hit wonder?

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

Roe v. Wade’s reversal poses disproportionate threat to Black women’s economic mobility

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

Beyond pay gaps, women face disparities in dignity at work

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

How “Netflix for Jobs” is unlocking economic mobility: A Q&A with Scott Jensen

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

Unionization declined last year despite growing interest in worker organizing

Survey sheds light on how Rhode Island employers are responding to COVID-19

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

New evidence shows internal labor markets favor higher-wage over lower-wage workers

WorkRise at the Urban Institute

As jobs return, the long-term unemployed remain at risk of missing out on the recovery

46,000 Rhode Islanders lost jobless benefits this fall. Hiring didn’t budge

Here’s what’s in Governor Dan McKee’s proposal for American Rescue Plan Act funds

Rhode Island’s next treasurer can take on inequality. Here’s how

Here’s how much money Rhode Island is getting from the American Rescue Plan

Here’s how a Rhode Island “employment bonus” proposal would work—and how it can be improved

Yes, some people are businesses. But very few are in the top 1%

A popular, progressive agenda for Rhode Island lawmakers

What are must-haves for this year’s state budget? Here’s what voters think

Workshare is a win for workers, local economies and government budgets

No, the rich aren't fleeing Rhode Island

House budget proposal: Three winners and three losers

Will Rhode Island limit non-compete agreements?

The earned income tax credit helps low-income working families in Rhode Island

Reimagining family policy in Rhode Island

In the News

Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College

Measuring LA's mansion tax: An evaluation of Measure ULA's first year

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 17 cities and counties in the nation have enacted progressive taxes on high-price real estate sales (i.e. “mansion taxes”), including 10 cities in California.

Atlantic Civic Circle

Should Atlanta consider a “mansion tax” to fund affordable housing?

Since 2018, progressive-leaning cities and counties have passed or considered a wave of so-called mansion taxes—additional taxes on high-end properties. According to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, at least 17 local governments are now levying these kinds of taxes–some just on residential property and others on all real estate transactions. A dozen more are considering them. Should Atlanta be one of them?

Mansion taxes are on the ballot. How do they work?

At least 17 U.S. cities and counties had so-called mansion taxes as of early 2024, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. In total, they raise nearly $3 billion annually for state and local governments. The mansion tax is becoming more popular — of those 17 cities and counties, 16 have been passed or expanded since 2018. The ITEP reports that mansion taxes are under consideration in over a dozen other communities nationwide.

Show More In the News

How luxury real estate can have redeeming social value for the rest of us

Some 17 local governments, the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy details in a just-released report, are now levying a “mansion tax” on the sale of high-end residential properties. Most all of these levies have gone into effect since 2018. The mansion sale levies enacted so far, ITEP researchers calculate, are currently raising “nearly $3 billion” in annual revenue.

More cities should look to adopt 'mansion taxes,' ITEP says

“A property transaction tax is a way to approximate property wealth while also not running afoul of the limits imposed on the annual property tax," Boardman said. "Localities are actually being quite strategic in putting these progressive transaction taxes forward, because they know that it's one of the very few options that they have at their disposal legally to raise new revenue."

If you can buy a ‘mansion,’ you can pay a tax for affordable housing, these states say

These [graduated property transfer] taxes, which impose the biggest burdens on higher earners, largely have been popular among policymakers and voters, said Andrew Boardman, a policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy who has studied the issue.

Steve Ahlquist | Substack

Senate Democrats propose bill to lower taxes on dead millionaires

As Andy Boardman showed, “the rich aren’t fleeing Rhode Island.” “Here’s the upshot,” wrote Boardman in 2019, “there is no discernible exodus of high-income Rhode Islanders. On average, households moving out of Rhode Island are poorer, not richer, than households that stay put.” In a separate piece, Boardman noted that “a bump in the estate tax threshold would help the heirs of about 300 large estates.”

Bloomberg CityLab

As ‘mansion taxes’ catch on in US cities, Los Angeles offers lessons

Such measures already exist in more than a dozen other localities, including New York City and San Francisco, according to Boardman. “Economically, practically, politically, they've proven quite effective, especially within the very limited toolbox of local government finance,” he said. Until now, most of these transfer taxes have done their job “really without much fanfare or controversy,” Boardman said.

POLITICO Morning Tax

The trickle-down of the EITC — first, from the federal level down to the states — has continued in recent years, with three localities now having their own refundable versions ... The three credits are all tailored somewhat differently, as the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted in a new report ... But whatever the structure, the group found that the local EITCs were successfully funneling assistance to lower-income families.

Permanence and other elusive notions: SALT in review

If you are looking for something interesting to read, check out an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy paper on the use of fees and fines to raise revenue: 'States and Localities Are Making Progress on Curbing Unjust Fees and Fines' ... The author, a very bright guy named Andrew Boardman, thinks taxes should be used to pay for government services. While we may disagree on how much government services we should buy, he is right that using fines is awful.

St. Louis Magazine

Why can’t St. Louis city tax people like 94 percent of U.S. localities do?

Certainly, St. Louis isn’t alone in taxing income: About 5,000 jurisdictions (or one in five nationally) do it, says Andrew Boardman, a policy analyst at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ... Boardman suggests the city might amend rather than end the earnings tax by reimagining it as a sort of graduated income tax (similar to the federal variety) that encompasses capital gains and other income streams. Similarly, he says, the city could make its property tax more progressive ... or maybe introduce real-estate transfer taxes.

States ramp up efforts to dismantle criminal justice taxes

Over the last 30 years, these payments have become increasingly abusive in breadth and price, said Andrew Boardman, a policy analyst at the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy ... The good news is that the states are rising to the challenge, Boardman said.

Nesi's Notes: May 20, 2023

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s profile continues to rise in Washington, as his name keeps coming up more and more in the debate over the debt limit. ... Andy Boardman, who follows the issue closely, took note of the senator’s role as of late.

Politico Morning Tax

The progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which has focused largely on federal and state taxes through the years, is broadening its focus to the local level.

Nesi's Notes: January 28, 2023

Rhode Island native Andy Boardman, who is now at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and has tracked the Budget Committee for years, cited two ways he expects Whitehouse to make use of his new gavel.

The Public's Radio

TGIF: Ian Donnis' politics/media roundup for October 7, 2022

While people like Andy Boardman disagree, Guckian believes people still leave Rhode Island because of an unfriendly tax and regulatory regime.

Workforce Monitor

Welcome to America's newest labor movement

Despite all the favorable propensities for union organizing, “by one measure, unionization is less common now than at nearly any point in over 100 years,” wrote WorkRise Research Assistant Andrew Boardman.

Nesi's Notes: April 30, 2022

Rhode Island native Andy Boardman, now at the Urban Institute, flagged a statistic that helps explain the [housing shortage] problem: the state ranks dead last in the country for new housing units per capita.

Providence Business News

Report: Nearly 10% of Rhode Island’s employers misclassify workers

Andrew Boardman, a research assistant at Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that conducts economic and social policy research, said that the findings in the report are “not surprising.” ... Boardman said that what’s driving the apparent increase is that companies are increasingly outsourcing or contracting-out parts of their operations to contractor and subcontractor organizations ... Boardman, whose work at the institute focuses on labor markets and economic mobility for workers, said that while employee misclassification burdens workers, it also puts pressure on law-abiding employers, undermining Rhode Island’s overall economic resiliency.

Joe Manchin said 'no' and sided with Republicans to tank Biden's $2 trillion bill. Democrats say they're 'over the initial shock' and overhauling it

"With a longer-term CTC expansion back on the table, it's not crazy to put the eligibility adjustments back in the mix as well," Andy Boardman, a research assistant at the Urban Institute, told Insider.

Joe Manchin signals he may not back Biden's social spending plan until 2022, risking an abrupt cutoff for monthly child tax credit checks

"No question that it would be a blow to lower-income and middle-class households," Andy Boardman, a research assistant at the Urban Institute, said in an interview.

Democrats are feuding over tax breaks for people earning up to $550,000: 'We're really talking about folks who are in the top 2%'

"We're really talking about folks who are in the top 2%, whether they'll receive a tax increase or cut," Andy Boardman, a research assistant at the Urban Policy Institute, told Insider ... Boardman added that another clash stemmed from whether any new money raised should go towards financing other safety net provisions like expanded Medicare benefits as Sanders wants. "We're in this sort of irresistible force meets the immovable object phase of the negotiation."

Insider

Manchin noncommittal on Biden child tax credit that goes to West Virginians

"It's kind of a breakthrough idea here in Washington that we should just increase [families'] financial resources to lift them out of poverty, and it's working," Andy Boardman, a research assistant at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, said in an interview.

Democrats may blow campaign promises and give the rich a big tax cut in Biden spending bill

"The vote count is as important as the budget math," Andy Boardman, an economic expert at the Urban Institute, told Insider. "Because of that, we've ended up in this place where the bill is delivering tax cuts to higher-income folks in blue areas and simultaneously trying to not target the super-wealthy in those areas too hard."

Nesi’s Notes: September 18, 2021

Providence is getting an estimated $166 million in federal money under the American Rescue Plan Act, and city officials are now looking for feedback from residents about what they should prioritize doing with the money.

The Public's Radio

TGIF: Ian Donnis' politics/media roundup for September 3, 2021

Writing at Uprise RI, Andy Boardman makes the case that the general treasurer could play a valuable role by taking on economic inequality.

Politico Morning Money

Driving the day: More on the debt limit — Via email from Andrew Boardman: “[O]ne thing that makes the Democrats' strategy especially perplexing to me is that they had the opportunity to include a debt-ceiling increase in the American Rescue Plan but opted not to for no discernable reason."

The Valley Breeze

Officials unsure about federal aid’s impact on budget

Andy Boardman, who researches economic policy and writes about it in Rhode Island, posted last week that federal aid for cities and towns, as currently written, would provide Pawtucket with $57 million in aid, second only to Providence at $157 million and well ahead of the next city, Cranston, at $41 million, but those numbers are anything but set in stone.

The Public's Radio

TGIF: Ian Donnis' politics/media roundup for August 28, 2020

August 2020

Andy Boardman recently parsed Bryant University polling data to offer his view, in a piece for Uprise RI, on Rhode Islanders’ budget priorities.

Providence Business News

Brown, URI students named 2018 Truman Scholars

Dorothy Jiang from Brown University and Andrew Boardman from the University of Rhode Island have been named among 59 2018 Truman Scholars, according to a Truman Scholar news release April 12. Truman Scholars receive up to $30,000 each for graduate school and are selected for academic and leadership achievements.

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