ITEP's Research Priorities
CNBC: Richest Households Get the Biggest Benefit Under Trump Plan
September 13, 2017
This report, using ITEP data, examines which households will benefit most from the White House’s proposed tax plan. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/09/13/richest-households-get-biggest-benefits-under-trump-tax-plan-report.html
Fox Business: Trump gives assurances on tax reform,
September 13, 2017
According to an April 2017 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington research organization, the top 1% of income earners in the United States pays an estimated 23.8% share of total taxes. Read more
New Analysis Shows White House Tax Proposal Would be an Unprecedented Upward Redistribution of Wealth
September 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The tax plan outlined by President Trump would strip away the U.S. tax system’s moderate progressivity by lowering the effective tax rate for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans by 7.5 percentage points and shifting more of the nation’s tax bill to every other income group, a new analysis released today by the Institute on […]
Trump Proposals Would Reduce the Share of Taxes Paid by the Richest 1%, Raise It for Everyone Else
September 13, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
The tax proposals released by the Trump Administration in April would reduce the share of total federal, state and local taxes paid by America’s richest 1 percent while increasing the share paid by all other income groups. This clearly indicates that the tax system would be less progressive under the president’s approach.
Marketplace: The American Dream: How Undocumented Immigrants Buy Homes in the U.S.
September 12, 2017
Undocumented immigrants pay as much as $3.6 billion in property taxes each year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy which analyzed MPI’s undocumented home ownership data. The data helps dispel the myth that undocumented immigrants aren’t paying taxes, said Meg Wiehe, co-author of the report and a deputy director at ITEP. Even […]
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Would Help Build Shared Prosperity
September 12, 2017
These reforms would also make New Jersey’s tax system more equitable, but it would not undo the tax code’s upside-down nature, in which low-income and middle-class New Jerseyans pay greater shares of their incomes to state and local taxes than wealthy residents. With these changes, this inequity would be slightly evened out. The share paid by the top 1 percent would rise to 7.7 percent from 7.1 percent, but that would still be lower than any other group of New Jersey families.
Census Data Shows Importance of Refundable Tax Credits in Reducing Poverty, But Lawmakers Move to Restrict Them
September 12, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
The annual poverty data released by the Census Bureau today continues to show that federal refundable tax credits are the second most important anti-poverty program after Social Security. But this could change if the House Republicans have their way. The budget resolution approved by Republicans on the House Budget Committee in July would place new […]
Salon: Donald Trump Uses Hurricane Irma to Argue for Tax Cuts
September 11, 2017
The administration’s plans regarding taxes are still hazy, but based upon the details released thus far, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated in July that more than 60 percent of the reductions would go to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. Read more
Reducing the Cost of Child Care Through State Tax Codes in 2017
September 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Low- and middle-income working parents spend a significant portion of their income on child care. As the number of parents working outside of the home continues to rise, child care expenses have become an unavoidable and increasingly unaffordable expense. This policy brief examines state tax policy tools that can be used to make child care more affordable: a dependent care tax credit modeled after the federal program and a deduction for child care expenses.
Property Tax Circuit Breakers in 2017
September 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
State lawmakers seeking to make residential property taxes more affordable have two broad options: across-the-board tax cuts for taxpayers at all income levels, such as a homestead exemption or a tax cap, and targeted tax breaks that are given only to particular groups of low- and middle-income taxpayers. One such targeted program to reduce property taxes is called a “circuit breaker” because it protects taxpayers from a property tax “overload” just like an electric circuit breaker: when a property tax bill exceeds a certain percentage of a taxpayer’s income, the circuit breaker reduces property taxes in excess of this “overload”…
Options for a Less Regressive Sales Tax in 2017
September 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Sales taxes are one of the most important revenue sources for state and local governments; however, they are also among the most unfair taxes, falling more heavily on low- and middle-income households. Therefore, it is important that policymakers nationwide find ways to make sales taxes more equitable while preserving this important source of funding for public services. This policy brief discusses two approaches to a less regressive sales tax: broad-based exemptions and targeted sales tax credits.
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2017
September 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for struggling families to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the EITC has been magnified as many states have enacted and later expanded their own credits.
Politifact: Will Trump’s Decision on DACA Hurt New York’s Economy?
September 10, 2017
A small part of the lost economic contribution is tax receipts. Undocumented immigrants eligible for DACA contribute more than $2 billion in state and local taxes each year, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. More than $140 million comes from DACA eligible immigrants in New York state. Read more
Time: Formerly Undocumented State Representatives Say Donald Trump Is Threatening the American Dream
September 9, 2017
For a politician to toy with the futures of so many young people is unconscionable. But when you consider the impact that repeal would have on our economy, it’s also reckless. The progressive think tank the Center for American Progress estimated that ending DACA would wipe away at least $433.4 billion from our nation’s GDP […]
Bloomberg: Football Champs and CEOs Alike Sidestep Taxes With Private Jets
September 8, 2017
The result is that airline passengers are subsidizing some of the world’s largest corporations and wealthiest people under the current system, said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Pretty clearly, we all feel the pain every time we buy an airline ticket and see how big a […]
Houston Chronicle: Should Low-Tax Texas Have to Shoulder More of Harvey’s Load?
September 8, 2017
Right now, although Texas is a low-tax state overall, that tax burden falls disproportionately on poor people. High property and sales taxes and the absence of an income tax means that folks in the lowest 20 percent of the income spectrum pay 12.5 percent of their earnings in state and local taxes, the seventh highest […]
Arkansas Times: Arkansas to Fare Worse Than Most States under Trump Tax Proposal, Report Says
September 8, 2017
We don’t have an actual tax bill to parse yet, but Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has a helpful preview of how the cuts outlined by Trump earlier this year would affect Arkansas. It’s based on an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The key takeaway is that Arkansas is among the […]
State Rundown 9/6: Most Statehouses Quiet, Many Pondering Harvey’s Impacts
September 7, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
It's been a quiet week for tax policy in most states, though lawmakers are still making noise in Pennsylvania, where a budget agreement is still needed, and in Wisconsin, where legislators are searching for the will to raise revenue for the state's ailing transportation infrastructure. In our "What We're Reading" section you'll find interesting reading on the fiscal fallout of Hurricane Harvey, as well as an in-depth series on how states' disaster response needs are likely to continue to increase.
New ITEP Report: Trump’s Proposed Territorial Tax System Would Increase Corporate Tax Dodging
September 6, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
While promoting his ideas for overhauling our tax code today in North Dakota, President Trump said that Congress should adopt a territorial tax system which, he argued, would result in more investment in the United States. You’re not alone if you’re not sure what “territorial” means in this context. It’s a euphemism used by some politicians to describe a proposal that will be wildly unpopular once voters understand what it really means.
Politico: Why Corporate Tax Reform Is So Messy
September 6, 2017
There is even greater variation among individual companies. Eighteen of the 258 Fortune 500 companies that were consistently profitable between 2008 and 2015 did not pay any federal taxes during those years, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal-leaning group that analyzed their SEC disclosures. Among them: General Electric, Priceline.com and […]
Quartz: The Smart Tax-Reform Idea Aimed at Democrats That Will Also Rile Republicans
September 6, 2017
The Republican proposals include provisions that would lead to huge reductions in taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans—an estimate from the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy suggests the top 1% of earners would receive 60% of the cut. The argument for such cuts is not compelling. Wealthy Americans already pay less than their […]
San Antonio Express News: News of DACA’s End Hits South Texas Immigrants
September 6, 2017
Immigration activists noted that DACA recipients pay $2 billion a year in state and local taxes, including $300 million in Texas, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
Denver 9 News: What’s True About DACA Recipients
September 6, 2017
According to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy earlier this year, DACA enrollees contribute an estimated $1.6 billion a year in state and local taxes. Read more
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pennsylvania Leaders Respond to Trump Administration’s DACA Rescind
September 6, 2017
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Democrat “President Trump’s action today is an insult to America and our values. This action is profoundly unjust, immoral and without regard for basic fairness. Tearing apart the lives of these young people will make our nation less safe, and harm our economy. “According to the CATO Institute, deporting Deferred Action […]
Turning Loopholes into Black Holes: Trump’s Territorial Tax Proposal Would Increase Corporate Tax Avoidance
September 6, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
The problem of offshore tax avoidance by American corporations could grow much worse under President Donald Trump’s proposal to adopt a “territorial” tax system, which would exempt the offshore profits of American corporations from U.S. taxes. This change would increase the already substantial benefits American corporations obtain when they use accounting gimmicks to make their profits appear to be earned in a foreign country that has no corporate income tax or has one that is extremely low or easy to avoid.
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