Nick Johnson is the Director of the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington D.C. He is responsible for directing a unit that works on state-level tax and budget policies and has conducted numerous multi-state analyses of various topics, including the direct burden of various state taxes on low-income families and the adequacy of state tax and budget policies in funding essential services. He also provides direct technical assistance to policymakers and non-profit advocacy organisations on various topics relating to state fiscal policy. He leads an effort to strengthen and expand the 'State Fiscal Analysis Initiative'—a 24-state network of policy institutes that provide timely, credible and accessible analysis of tax and budget decisions.
Prior to this he was a Senior Policy Analyst on the state fiscal project. While in New Zealand, Nick was be based at The Treasury and the Ministry of Social Development for six months, where he worked on a project titled Making work pay in New Zealand: A case study in tax and welfare reform.
His goals were to understand how and why the Working for Families package was enacted; to identify any unresolved portions of the reform agenda and assess possible short and long-term policy solutions; to suggest potential strategies to build on upon the current reforms and to provide a roadmap for future researchers; and to identify potential lessons that the US experience can provide to New Zealand and vice versa.