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
May 22, 2019
State Rundown 5/22: (Some) State Lawmakers Can (Partly) Relax This Weekend
Lawmakers and advocates can enjoy their barbeques with only one eye on their work email this weekend in states that have essentially finished their budget debates such as Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, though both Alaska and Minnesota require special sessions to wrap things up. Getting to those barbeques may be a bumpy ride in Louisiana, Michigan, and other states still working to modernize outdated and inadequate gas taxes.
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blog
May 22, 2019
Proposals for Refundable Tax Credits Are Light Years from Tax Policies Enacted in Recent Years
A new ITEP report examines five big proposals that have been announced this year to create or expand tax credits to address inequality and help low- and middle-income households.
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news release
May 22, 2019
Five Recent Federal Tax Credit Proposals Target Benefits to Bottom 60 Percent of Taxpayers
Five tax proposals announced this year are a radical departure from the top-heavy 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, targeting their benefits instead to low- and moderate income families while providing no or nominal tax cuts to the highest-earning households, a new Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis of each of the five plans reveals.
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report
May 22, 2019
Cost-of-Living Refund Act
The Cost-of-Living Refund Act would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low- and moderate-income working people. The maximum EITC would nearly double for working families with children. Working people without children would receive an EITC that is nearly six times the size of the small EITC that they are allowed under current law.
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.
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.
Progressive Revenue-Raising Options
America has long needed a more equitable tax code that raises enough revenue to invest in building shared prosperity. Any true federal tax reform plan would, at a minimum, include these revenue-raisers, among other provisions.
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.
