Threats and Opportunities Facing State Budgets in 2025
Budgets are an essential responsibility of state legislators. Every year legislatures approve trillions in public spending. Budgets are also a reflection of a state's values and priorities and can be a powerful tool to advance justice and secure meaningful, material gains for working families.
State budgets were already expected to face shortfalls in 2025 as pandemic-era federal dollars conclude, and automatic tax cuts threaten state budgets. However, with the advancing Trump administration, the possibility of completely eliminating federal public programs, grants, and jobs is real – alongside a punitive federal government that could target and scapegoat states that don’t go along with the federal agenda.
SiX created the webinar State Budgets: Threats and Opportunities in 2025, in partnership with our colleagues at the Center for Budget & Policy Priorities (CBPP), the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the State Revenue Alliance (SRA), and more, to help state legislators, legislative staff, advocates, and movement partners navigate the unique dynamics facing state budgets in 2025.
The webinar overviews how federal and state budgets interact with each other, who contributes to our state budgets, and the power – as well as mass popular support – state legislators have to pass common-sense tax solutions to ensure working families have access to public education, healthcare, childcare, and retirement.

If you would like to access the recording and slides or receive follow-up support on advancing state budgets that center on the needs of people over corporate and billionaire profits, fill out this password form. If you’d like to share the webinar recording or slides with a colleague, please send them the password form instead so we can keep track of who has access!
During the webinar, SiX and our partners at CBPP, ITEP, and SRA shared some essential tools and resources we’ve released for legislators, legislative staff, and advocates to defend and advance progressive state budgets:
- Who Gives and Who Gets? Explore the Balance of Payments between States and the Federal Government, Rockefeller Institute of Government
- Federal Policy Debates in 2025 Carry High Stakes, Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- FAQs on Impoundment: Presidential Actions Are Constrained by Long-Standing Constitutional Restrictions, Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- Who Pays? 7th Edition (see where your state ranks!), Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
- Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
- Medicaid Threats in the Upcoming Congress (includes state-by-state impacts), Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- SNAP: State-by-State Data, Fact Sheets, and Resources, Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- States Should Reverse Course on Defunding Public Education Through Private School Vouchers and Property Tax Cuts, Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- Black Women Best Framework Points the Way to Equitable and Just State Tax Reform, Center for Policy & Budget Priorities
- Financial Exposure: Rating the States on Economic Development Transparency, Good Jobs First (See also: Film and TV Subsidies: Frequently Asked Questions)
- Punitive Fines and Fees Are an Invisible Cost of State Tax Cuts, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
- Tax Policy Polling and Modeling District Lookup Tool, State Revenue Alliance
- 2024 Legislative Session Overview recapping many of the 2024 state tax revenue highlights, State Revenue Alliance
SIX’s Economic Power Project:
This webinar is part of SIX’s Economic Power Project, our national economic justice initiative, organizing legislators committed to building economies that empower people and advance justice. With alarmingly rising corporate and billionaire influence in the federal government, the states are the frontlines for building people-centered economies that deliver tangible wins for working families. Learn more and join here.