ITEP's Research Priorities
The Dishonest Pitch for Trump-GOP Tax Cuts
October 19, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
Real tax reform would mean raising more revenue to make public investments and increasing the progressivity of the tax code. Many conservatives strongly disagree with this and insist that a substantial tax cut for the wealthiest Americans will grow the economy. Rather than engage in this policy debate based on policy ideals and principles, President Trump, other White House officials and GOP leaders have peppered their sales pitch for tax cuts with false claims about the amount of taxes that Americans pay and the effect the current GOP tax proposal would have on the tax system.
Think Progress: Trump’s Tax Bill Is a Swamp Monster
October 19, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Piper was among several Fierce lobbyists working for Apple on the bill in the Senate, House, and the Executive Office of the President. Apple — the company that had over $230 billion overseas as of 2016 — has been lobbying to allow multinational corporations like itself to bring such accumulated foreign earnings back to the U.S. […]
CNN: America Needs Higher Wages, Not Lower Taxes
October 19, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
There’s no argument over who benefits from the current Republican proposal to cut taxes, if you put aside ideology and honestly look at the numbers. According to analyses from the Tax Policy Center and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, more than two-thirds of the tax cuts would benefit the richest 1% of Americans […]
The Corporate Tax Code is in Dire Shape, But Trump-GOP Plan Would Make It Worse
October 18, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
Just how bad has the corporate tax code gotten? The newest edition of Offshore Shell Games, a joint report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and U.S. PIRG, outlines the massive scale of the offshore tax avoidance undertaken by U.S. multinationals. It’s well known that Fortune 500 companies have accumulated a stash of $2.6 trillion in earnings offshore, which has allowed them to avoid an estimated $752 billion in taxes.
Michigan League for Public Policy: Immigrant families in Michigan: A state profile
October 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Michigan immigrants also contribute millions in tax revenue each year, and in doing so help pay for important public programs and infrastructure in the state. In 2015 for example, undocumented immigrants in Michigan paid approximately $86.6 million in state and local taxes. Young undocumented immigrants also contribute their share in taxes. In 2015, DACA-eligible immigrants […]
State Rundown 10/18: Ballot Initiative Efforts Being Finalized
October 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Ballot initiatives relating to taxes made news around the country this week, with Oregon voters to consider reversing new health care taxes, Washingtonians to vote on improving education funding, and Nebraskans to potentially vote on a state tax credit for school property taxes. Meanwhile, multiple states are finalizing their proposals to lure Amazon to build a new headquarters in their state, often through the use of massive tax subsidies. And in our "What We're Reading" section we have sobering news from Moody's Investors Service on states' struggles to fund their infrastructure and save for the next recession.
NPR’s Marketplace: Can You Convince Americans to Support Lower Corporate Taxes by Promising Them a Pay Raise?
October 18, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner
Another reason Trump’s message may not land? Many economists don’t think that corporate tax cuts will lead to higher wages. “It’s a pretty far-fetched claim,” said Matthew Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Gardner said the corporate tax cuts would likely mean bigger payouts for shareholders, but there’s no guarantee anything would […]
Tax Foundation Updates Its Problematic Wishlist for State Tax Policy
October 18, 2017 • By Carl Davis
This week the Tax Foundation published its 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index, or as University of Iowa economist Peter Fisher has nicknamed it, the “Waste of Time Index.”
Reveal: The Fight for Public Education
October 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis
In this radio interview, ITEP research director Carl Davis discusses the downfalls of using tax credits for private education. Carl is featured around the 8:40 mark. Read more
Washington Examiner: Indiana’s Tax Cuts Haven’t Led to Higher Paychecks
October 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis
Carl Davis for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: In announcing a tax cut framework in Indianapolis that was negotiated with House and Senate leaders, President Trump said, “Indiana is a tremendous example of the prosperity that is unleashed when we cut taxes and set free the dreams of our citizens … In Indiana, […]
Wisconsin Public Radio: Paul Ryan Defends Tax Proposal Health Insurance Subsidy Cut
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington DC found about 60 percent of the proposed tax cuts would benefit the top 1 percent of income earners in Wisconsin. Ryan said Monday he hadn’t seen that report, but maintained his stance that cutting taxes on businesses would help middle-income people by creating more jobs. […]
Commonwealth Institute: Average Virginian Families Provided a Pittance from GOP-Trump Tax Plan, Top 1% Would See Windfall
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Who in Virginia would benefit from the type of tax cuts proposed by the Trump administration and congressional Republicans? New analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released in October shows that nearly 80 percent of all of the tax cuts in Virginia would go to the top 1 percent–households with an average of income of $1.7 million...
International Business Times: Three quarters of Fortune 500 companies used offshore tax havens in 2016
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
New research has revealed that 73% or 366 companies on the Fortune 500 list, including brands as big as Nike, Apple and Citigroup, used tax havens to avoid US taxes in 2016. A new report, published on Tuesday (17 October) by the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund and the Institute on Taxation and […]
The Nation: How the Swindlers of Silicon Valley Avoid Paying Taxes
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan organization, has warned, “Corporations would have even greater incentives to engage in accounting gimmicks to make their U.S. profits appear to be earned in offshore tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, where corporate profits are not taxed.” The logic for companies is […]
Fiscal Times: 4 Corporate Giants Benefiting from Offshore Tax Havens
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies used offshore tax havens in 2016. The report says that four companies — Apple, Pfizer, Microsoft and General Electric — account for a quarter of the $2.6 […]
Bloomberg BNA: Taxes Lost to Offshore Profits Rise to $752B in 2016
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The report, released Oct. 17 by the left-leaning U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “undermines the case for any tax proposal that would allow companies to repatriate their U.S. profits at a special low tax rate,” according to a news release. In addition to a lower […]
Wisconsin Budget Project: What the Trump Tax Plan Means for Wisconsin Taxpayers, in Six Charts
October 17, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The tax plan being advanced by President Trump and Republican members of Congress would mostly benefit the extremely rich, despite initial claims by proponents that it would be targeted at members of the middle class...Using data from an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, we have prepared six charts that show how the Trump-GOP tax framework would affect Wisconsin taxpayers:
Offshore Shell Games 2017
October 17, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner, Richard Phillips
This study explores how in 2016 Fortune 500 companies used tax haven subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes on much of their income. It reveals that tax haven use is now standard practice among the Fortune 500 and that a handful of the country’s biggest corporations benefit the most from offshore tax avoidance schemes.
New York Times: U.S. and Europe May Collide on Taxing Apple and Amazon
October 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The rulings on Amazon and Apple — which those companies are disputing — are byproducts of a race among governments to lure corporate giants to their shores in the hunt for new sources of revenue. That cutthroat competition is the reason that 73 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a subsidiary in a low-tax haven, […]
State Rundown 10/13: Soda Taxes, Business Subsidies, and Gas Taxes Considered in Several States
October 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A comprehensive tax study is underway in Arkansas this week as other states hone in on more specific issues. Soda taxes hit setbacks in Illinois and Michigan, business tax subsidies faced scrutiny in Iowa and Missouri, and gas tax update efforts are underway in Mississippi and North Dakota.
FiveThirtyEight: The GOP Had One Big Divide On Health Care. It Has Three On Taxes.
October 11, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Here’s the problem: The draft Republican plan would raise a lot of people’s taxes. Estimates from the Tax Policy Center suggest that limiting tax deductions and going from seven tax brackets to three would cause tax increases for about 12 percent of taxpayers,1 including a third with incomes between $150,000 and $300,000, who would pay […]
Middle-Income More Likely Than the Rich to Pay More Under Trump-GOP Tax Plan
October 11, 2017 • By Jenice Robinson
The Trump Administration and GOP leaders continue to wrap their multi-trillion tax cut gift to the wealthy in easily refutable rhetoric about boosting the nation’s middle class. Later today, trucks and truck drivers will serve as a backdrop for a Pennsylvania speech in which Trump is anticipated to talk about how proposed tax changes that […]
Bloomberg BNA: N.Y., N.J., Connecticut Hurt Most If State Deduction Ditched
October 10, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The White House has said the tax reform framework was crafted with the middle class in mind. However, a report released Oct. 4 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the richest 1 percent of residents in all but a handful of states would receive at least half of the tax cuts being […]
Select State News Coverage of ITEP’s 50-State Analysis of the GOP Tax Proposal
October 10, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
The Sentinel: Trump Tax Even in Harrisburg Will Feature Truckers The Columbus Dispatch: 15% of Ohioans Could See Tax Increase Under GOP Plan KGW Portland: Richest Oregonians Benefit Most from Proposed Tax Cuts Raleigh News & Observer: The Racial Wealth Divide Could Grow with Tax Changes Northwest Indiana Times: Hoosiers Would Lose in Trump Tax […]
Ralph Nader Radio Hour: The Truth About Trump’s Tax Plan
October 7, 2017 • By Alan Essig
Ralph and Alan Essig, Executive Director of Citizens for Tax Justice break down President Trump’s Tax Reform proposal and insurance expert, Robert Hunter, returns to explain what’s going on with hurricane and flood insurance in the wake Harvey, Irma and Maria. Read more
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