Joe supports ITEP in monitoring federal tax policies. His research focuses on progressive tax priorities to ensure corporations and the ultra wealthy pay their fair share. Prior to joining ITEP in 2021, Joe worked at the Congressional Research Service and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He completed a master’s in applied economics at George Washington University and undergraduate studies at the University of Tennessee.

We asked New York state resident Morris Pearl, former Blackrock executive and current chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, a few questions to hear straight from the mouth of a millionaire how the SALT cap and its proposed repeal would affect his life.

Media contact Ever since former President Trump and the GOP-led Congress enacted a $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions in December 2017, federal and state lawmakers in the mostly “blue”, higher-income states that have more residents affected by the provision have been weighing measures to repeal the cap or provide state-level workarounds.   Repealing the cap has made […]

A new report from ITEP provides policy recommendations to modify the $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), which was signed into law by President Trump as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.   Because the SALT cap mostly restricts tax deductions for the richest 5 percent of Americans, the best options are to leave the cap as is or replace […]

If lawmakers are unwilling to replace the SALT cap with a new limit on tax breaks that raises revenue, then any modification they make to the cap in the current environment will lose revenue and make the federal tax code less progressive. Given this, lawmakers should choose a policy option that loses as little revenue as possible and that does the smallest amount of damage possible to the progressivity of the federal tax code.

When crafting tax policy, lawmakers and bill authors often work backward, using a patchwork of changes to help achieve their stated goal. One important consideration that is routinely left out is what impact the change will have on racial equity. Such is the case with the qualified business income deduction, which is helping to further enrich wealthy business owners, the overwhelming majority of whom are white. At present, white Americans own 88 percent of private business wealth despite making up only 60 percent of the population. Meanwhile, Black and Hispanic families confronting much higher barriers to entrepreneurship each own less…

History has repeatedly shown that such policies harm state economies, dismantle basic public services, and exacerbate tax inequities.

Neva supports researchers and advocates in their fight for equitable and adequate state tax systems through policy analysis, research and collaboration. Prior to ITEP, Neva was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Louisiana Budget Project where her research and advocacy included issues of corporate tax policy, working family tax credits, unemployment insurance, and K-12 finance policy.

Brakeyshia researches and writes about tax policies to inform the public and supports advocates and policymakers with analyses to help secure equitable tax policies, sound fiscal practices, and policy solutions that remedy historical injustices.

Summer is quickly (and sadly) coming to an end and if you’ve been away enjoying the great outdoors or off the grid, we’re here to help keep you up to date on what’s been happening on the tax front around the country...

It’s back-to-school shopping season, so…everyone who buys a cell phone in Arkansas this weekend will do so sales-tax-free. For this whole week in Connecticut, and for the entire spring in New Mexico, the corporate owners of highly profitable multinational restaurant chains had the option to pocket their customers’ taxes rather than remit them to the state to fund vital public services, pass along those savings to their customers, or give a much-needed boost to their employees. And all told, about $550 million of state and local revenue will be forgone in 17 states this year through wasteful and poorly targeted…

Policymakers tout sales tax holidays as a way for families to save money while shopping for “essential” goods. On the surface, this sounds good. However, a two- to three-day sales tax holiday for selected items does nothing to reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income taxpayers during the other 362 days of the year. Sales taxes are inherently regressive. In the long run, sales tax holidays leave a regressive tax system unchanged, and the benefits of these holidays for working families are minimal. Sales tax holidays also fall short because they are poorly targeted, cost revenue, can easily be exploited, and…

Congress is proving that there does not need to be a trade-off between good climate policy and good economic policy. Direct hires aside, an even bolder government-backed effort to secure the future of our planet could create as many as 25 million net new jobs at its peak, as well as 5 million permanent jobs, many of which deal directly with domestic infrastructure and cannot be outsourced. With the U.S. economy still down 5.7 million jobs from pre-pandemic levels, climate legislation can be a critical investment for jumpstarting our economic recovery.

Following is a statement from Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding the death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: “The board and staff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax Justice mourn the sad news of the loss of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Mr. […]

Property taxes are among the oldest and most relied upon form of local taxes. Revenue raised from these taxes funds education, firefighting, law enforcement, street and infrastructure maintenance, and other essential services. Though all members of the community enjoy these public goods, homeowners of color, especially Black families, pay more as a share of home value in property taxes than their white counterparts.