What's New
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report
May 22, 2019
Understanding Five Major Federal Tax Credit Proposals
Federal lawmakers have recently announced at least five proposals to significantly expand existing tax credits or create new ones to benefit low- and moderate-income people. While these proposals vary a great deal and take different approaches, all would primarily benefit taxpayers in income groups who received only a small share of benefits from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
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report
April 11, 2019
Corporate Tax Avoidance Remains Rampant Under New Tax Law
For decades, profitable Fortune 500 companies have been able to manipulate the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits. This ITEP report provides the first comprehensive look at how the new corporate tax laws that took effect after the passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affects the scale of corporate tax avoidance.
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blog
July 17, 2019
Follow the Money to See How Sales Tax Holidays Are Poor Policy
Sales tax holidays are wasteful, misguided policies that will drain more than $300 million of funding away from shared priorities like schools, roads, and health care this year in 17 states, while delivering little benefit to the families that could most use the help. Our newly updated brief reviews recent developments in sales tax holiday policy—including how online sales taxes are changing the picture—and explains why they are a misguided policy option for states. And the story below “follows the money” to show how sales tax holidays are a bad deal for families and communities alike.
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brief
July 17, 2019
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (17 states will hold them in 2019), to provide a temporary break on paying the tax on purchases of clothing, school supplies, and other items. While these holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, their benefits are minimal. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a tax reduction device.
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news release
July 17, 2019
Sales Tax Holidays Are Outdated Gimmicks That Have Run Their Course
Just as the very first sales tax holiday for car sales did not fix the auto industry’s challenges, providing consumers a temporary reprieve on sales tax will not address families’ pocketbook concerns.
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ITEP Work in Action
July 16, 2019
CommonWealth: Before the T Derailed, its Funding Got on the Wrong Track
Overall, funding for the Commonwealth during the last two decades has relied increasingly on sales taxes and regressive user fees, while cutting income tax rates.… -
blog
July 12, 2019
State Rundown Special Edition: Fiscal Year Wrap-Up
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: states don’t have to wait for federal lawmakers to make moves toward progressive tax policy. And so far, 2019 has been a good year for equitable and sustainable tax policy in the states. With July 1 marking the start of a new fiscal year for most states, this special edition of the Rundown looks at how discussions in 2019 have been dominated by plans to raise revenue for vital investments, tax the rich and corporations fairly, use the tax code to help workers and families and advance racial equity, and shore up revenues for infrastructure.
Who Pays? Sixth Edition
Poorest 20 percent pay a 50 percent higher effective state and local tax rate than the top 1 percent
ITEP’s sixth edition of Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax System in All 50 States finds that most state and local tax systems continue to tax low- and middle-income households at higher rates than the wealthy.
Who Pays Taxes in America?
Contrary to claims that the rich pay a vast majority of taxes, the reality is very different. The nation's tax system as a whole is only moderately progressive.
What to Watch for on Tax Policy During the Presidential Primary
Taxes fund our democracy and candidates’ philosophy on how the nation raises revenues to fund its priorities matters. Here is an overview of how bold progressive tax policy ideas (on which some candidates have stated policy positions) can work.
The Case for Extending State-Level Child Tax Credits to Those Left Out: A 50-State Analysis
11.5 million children live in poverty across the country. Lawmakers can tackle poverty in their home states with refundable state-level Child Tax Credits and reach families the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act left behind. Joint report with the Columbia Center on Poverty and Social Policy.
The Illusion of Race-Neutral Tax Policy
While ITEP has produced quantitative and qualitative research on class-based tax inequities, we, until recently, have ignored how tax policies affect communities based on race. Solely examining the tax law in the context of class misses a bigger-picture story about how the nation’s public policies not only perpetuate widening income and wealth inequality, they also preserve historic and current injustices that continue to allow white communities to build wealth while denying the same level of opportunity (and often suppressing it) to communities of color.
Impact
Whether it’s at the state or federal level, ITEP produces careful research and in-depth analyses of tax policies, and provides a voice for working people in tax policy debates. State advocates, policymakers and media often use our work to inform public discourse on current and proposed tax policies.
Expertise
Federal Policy
ITEP’s federal policy resources provide quantitative and qualitative research and analysis on current tax policies, proposals, and reform options. Its distributional analyses highlight how tax proposals will affect low-income, middle-class and wealthy Americans nationally and in all 50 states.
Learn more about our Federal Policy work
State Policy
State taxes pay for essential public services, from education to health care. But the ideal design of a tax system is complicated. ITEP’s state policy resources offer insights into central issues, including the impact of state tax systems on individuals, families, and businesses. Its work also analyzes the sustainability of revenue sources over time.
Learn more about our State Policy work
Corporate Tax Research
ITEP’s corporate tax research examines the tax practices of Fortune 500 companies. Besides its corporate study on average effective tax rates paid by the nation’s largest, most profitable corporations, ITEP produces research on subjects such as offshore cash holdings, tax haven abuse, executive stock options and other tax loopholes.
Expert's View
Americans have long wanted progressive taxes but few, if any, lawmakers publicly backed this view. What’s happening now isn’t a shift in public opinion, rather it’s Washington finally catching up with the American people.
