ITEP's Research Priorities
Contrary to Rhetoric, President’s Tax Plan Will Disproportionately Benefit Wealthy Taxpayers and Corporations
February 28, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Following is a statement by Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding President Donald Trump's address to Congress. During the speech, Trump said he will reduce the corporate tax rate and provide "massive" tax relief for the middle class.
Return of the Moderate: A Kansas Force Awakens
February 28, 2017 • By Lisa Christensen Gee
Before the tea party wave of 2010 that brought Gov. Sam Brownback to power and inspired the disappointing “real life experiment” in tax policy, Kansas was primarily governed by a moderate bipartisan coalition. One thing the last few weeks in the Kansas capital has clearly demonstrated is that this coalition is back and they mean […]
What to Watch in the States: State-Federal Relationship Shifting
February 28, 2017 • By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
So far in this series on tax policy topics to watch in 2017, we’ve covered important state debates in areas such as attempts to weaken or eliminate progressive taxes and needed updates to gas taxes and sales taxes. As if those topics weren’t enough to keep state lawmakers up at night, they will be making […]
The Register Guard: Deportation Plan Will Have Major Impact on Oregon
February 28, 2017
Also facing deportation are homeowners, entrepreneurs (an estimated 5,700 in Oregon) who have created jobs, community volunteers and young people who were born in Mexico but have been educated in Oregon public schools. In some cases, minor children born in the United States will face the loss of one or both parents — or de […]
The Morning Call: Deporting Illegal immigrants could cost US economy $5 trillion
February 28, 2017
Do they pay taxes? According to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants paid $11.64 billion a year in state and local taxes either through house payments or rent (property taxes), income tax through employer deductions from their paychecks or through the purchase of goods or services (sales taxes). If […]
The Epoch Times: The Tax Loophole Behind Amazon’s Rapid Growth
February 28, 2017
As recently as 2011, Amazon was only collecting sales tax in five states, said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit research organization focused on tax policy. This is one of the ways by which the giant online retailer has kept its prices low compared to brick-and-mortar […]
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Proposal Advanced to Cut Top Rate on Ga. Income Taxes
February 28, 2017
The left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said the measure could save Georgia taxpayers — and cost the state — about $154 million. That estimate comes from the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
The Sun-Sentinel: Undocumented Immigrants Contribute $437 Mil to South Florida Economy
February 28, 2017
The FIU institute compiled its figures from new undocumented immigrant population estimates by the Pew Research Center and effective tax rates for sales, property and income taxes paid by low- and moderate-income families in states as reported by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Both Pew and the taxation institute are nonpartisan organizations located […]
Miami Herald: They May Not Be Documented, But They Do Pay Taxes
February 28, 2017
Bustamante pulled his data from a collection of reports that include research by the Pew Research Center, the National Academies of Sciences and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “These aren’t small figures,” he said, “ so it’s certainly something that should be considered thoughtfully.” Read more Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article134797534.html#storylink=cpy
Washington Post: The New Immigration Order, a Disaster in the Making
February 28, 2017
And the cost of the undocumented? Their contributions to the economy far outweigh their burden. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants pay $11.6 billion in taxes each year. According to the Social Security Administration, undocumented workers contribute $15 billion annually to the fund, but only withdraw an estimated $1 billion. […]
Eater: How Restaurants Hire Undocumented Workers
February 28, 2017
Hille had a similar experience in his 20 years in the restaurant industry. “When politicians say things like ‘immigrants don’t pay taxes, they’re a burden on the system,’ it’s just not the reality. Undocumented people are usually having taxes withheld. They’re paying into a system that doesn’t ever pay them back.” According to The Institute […]
CFO: Planning for Tax Policy Turmoil
February 28, 2017
On top of the then-President-elect’s proposed tax breaks was the prospect of more-permanent and deeply rooted reforms contained in “A Better Way,” the tax-reform “blueprint” issued by House Republicans in June 2016. The reforms, which would likely have languished in Congress under a Hillary Clinton presidency, included elimination of the alternative minimum tax and a […]
Evidence Counts: A Marriage Not Made in Heaven: A State EITC Without an Income Tax
February 28, 2017
Last Friday, the Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform explored the idea of amending SB 335 to include a version of a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit. As noted previously, SB 335 would replace the personal and corporate income tax, along with the sales and use tax, with a general consumption tax of 8 […]
States Should Require Combined Reporting of Corporate Income
February 27, 2017 • By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
An important aspect of a 21st century tax code is ensuring that corporate income taxes are easy for corporations to follow, but not easy for them to avoid. As our newly updated policy brief on Combined Reporting of State Corporate Income Taxes explains, “combined reporting” remains an essential tool for states to achieve these goals. […]
Why, West Virginia, Why?
February 24, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
A recently introduced Senate Bill in West Virginia (SB 335) would ultimately eliminate the state’s personal and corporate income taxes, do away with the sales and use tax, and reduce the state’s severance tax. Under the plan, the revenue lost from this assortment of diverse taxes would be replaced by an 8 percent broad-based general […]
Tax Justice Digest: The Problems with a Border Adjustment Tax
February 24, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, blog posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been working on lately. Regressive and Loophole-Ridden: Issues with the House GOP Border Adjustment Tax Proposal In recent weeks, the Republican congressional […]
Combined Reporting of State Corporate Income Taxes: A Primer
February 24, 2017 • By Dylan Grundman O'Neill, Meg Wiehe
Over the past several decades, state corporate income taxes have declined markedly. One of the factors contributing to this decline has been aggressive tax avoidance on the part of large, multi-state corporations, costing states billions of dollars. The most effective approach to combating corporate tax avoidance is combined reporting, a method of taxation currently employed in more than half of the states that tax corporate income. The two most recent states to enact combined reporting are Rhode Island in 2014 and Connecticut in 2015. In several states, including Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, lawmakers adopted the policy after…
State Rundown 2/23: Regressive Tax Proposals Multiplying
February 23, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week saw a nearly successful attempt to right the fiscal ship in Kansas; regressive tax proposals introduced in WestVirginia, Georgia, and Missouri; ongoing gas tax fights in Indiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee; and further tax and budget wrangling in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and beyond. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP State Policy Director, @megwiehe Both […]
The Border Adjustment Tax Creates More Problems Than It Solves
February 22, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
In recent weeks, the Republican congressional leadership’s effort to introduce a comprehensive tax reform bill has increasingly faced opposition from major business groups and skeptical lawmakers from across the aisle. The primary source of dissent thus far is that the most prominent tax framework, the House GOP’s “Better Way” tax blueprint, contains a radical provision […]
Common Dreams: Taking on the Billionaires
February 22, 2017
The result has been to make state and local taxes, on the whole, regressive. The share of income paid by the poorest 20 percent is twice that of the richest 1 percent. Unsurprisingly, the disparity is widest in states without an income tax. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Washington’s working class […]
Mic: Taxpayers in These Seven States Don’t Pay State Income Tax
February 22, 2017
As a result of Washington’s various consumption taxes, its low-income residents wind up paying a disproportionately higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
Bloomberg BNA: Property Tax Caps–Giving with one Hand, Taking with the Other
February 22, 2017
On the other hand, tax caps on assessed value in particular can lead to tax disparities amongst homeowners in neighborhoods where market values are comparable, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). This disparity is likely to present itself when properties are subject to a change in ownership. In such cases when […]
West Virginia Metro News: Debate Over Repealing W. Va’s Income Tax Begins
February 22, 2017
States best equipped to make a move like this are those that have an influx of wealth, said Carl Davis, an analyst for the national Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Unless you’re in a situation like Alaska and you manage to stumble onto a huge pot of new tax revenue, income tax repeal involves […]
CT News Junkie: Keep Your Eyes on the CEO Not the Public Employee
February 22, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Connecticut’s state and local tax system is the 26th most regressive in the nation. That simple fact alone is reason enough to demand real tax fairness. Connecticut’s budget issues cannot be resolved on the backs of middle class families. Nor can they be fixed by […]
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