Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

ITEP's Research Priorities

Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy: Idaho’s Recent String of Income Tax Cuts Jeopardizes Investments in Public Services

October 4, 2024

Every year, Idaho tax dollars are spent to ensure families receive a good education, live in safe communities, experience good health, and drive on safe roads. However, over the past four years, lawmakers have passed deep and costly tax cuts and reforms. These cuts were made in response to temporary budget surpluses that were largely driven by federal pandemic relief, but they have long term consequences. The changes to Idaho’s tax code —which are permanent and tilted toward wealthy households and corporations — weaken state revenues by growing amounts over time, limiting the state’s ability to maintain support for schools…

Economic Policy Institute: The U.S. Benefits From Immigration but Policy Reforms Needed to Maximize Gains

October 4, 2024

Immigration has been a source of strength for the U.S. economy and has great potential to boost it even more, but the current U.S. immigration policy regime squanders too many of its potential benefits by depriving immigrants of their full rights as workers and granting employers too much power to manipulate the system. It is crystal clear that immigration expands U.S. gross domestic product and is good for growth. And immigration overall has led to better, not worse, wages and work opportunities for U.S.-born workers. Yet, it is also clear that when workers are denied full and equal labor and…

Al Jazeera: How Will Trump’s Plans to Deport Undocumented Migrants Impact US Economy?

October 4, 2024

Trump has made immigration, a hot-button issue this election, one of the pillars of his campaign. The role of immigrants in the startup economy is well known – 55 percent of US startups valued at $1bn or more were founded by immigrants, and some of the most famous names in Silicon Valley are those of foreign-born entrepreneurs, including Tesla chief Elon Musk and Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute: Federal Policymakers Will Consider Tax Changes Benefitting Higher-Income Granite Staters in 2025

October 2, 2024

Federal lawmakers will face several key fiscal policy deadlines in 2025. These deadlines include, but are not limited to, the federal government’s debt limit taking effect in January 2025; the end of the current spending caps on the federal government’s annual budget in September 2025; the sunsetting of enhanced health care marketplace subsidies, which provided an estimated $38.4 million to Granite Staters in 2023 to help them afford individual health coverage, at the end of 2025; and the expiration of key components of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) after December 2025.

Business Insider: Trump’s Plan to Scrap Taxes on Tips and Overtime Could Reshape How Millions of Americans Get Paid

October 2, 2024

Joe Hughes, a senior analyst on federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told BI that "you would need a lot of safeguards in place to keep this from being just another avenue for tax avoidance." He continued: "It's at least applaudable that Trump says that he wants to help low-income workers. But I think that there are much better avenues to do that than exempting very specific types of income."

CNBC: Fixing Social Security Funding Woes Requires Addressing Immigration “Fraud,” Vance Said. Here’s What Experts Say.

October 1, 2024

Undocumented immigrants contributed $33.9 billion in federal social insurance taxes in 2022 toward Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Yet because of their immigration status, those workers are barred from accessing those benefits.

NerdWallet: What Trump and Harris Have in Store for Your Taxes

October 1, 2024

As far as how the candidates are tackling all aspects of tax code, Amy Hanauer, executive director of the left-leaning think tank Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says, “The big picture is the Harris approach raises more revenue; it raises it primarily from the wealthiest and corporations. The Trump approach puts us deeper in debt and gives a lot more away to wealthy people and corporations. Both of them, I think, have some proposals that would help middle class families on the tax side. But the Harris approach gives us more revenue to pay for things that middle class…

CBS News: What Are Tim Walz’s Economic Policies? Here’s a Look at What He’s Done in Minnesota.

October 1, 2024

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz may be best known for his Midwestern roots, having grown up in Nebraska and spent years as a public school teacher and football coach in Minnesota. But voters will get a chance during his debate Tuesday with vice presidential rival Sen. JD Vance on CBS to hear more about Walz's views on taxes and the economy, a critical issue in the November election.

Policy Matters Ohio: The Great Ohio Tax Shift, 2024

September 27, 2024

Major tax policy changes enacted by Ohio lawmakers since Governor Taft’s 2005 State Budget Bill ask families with the lowest incomes to pay more, the wealthy to pay less, and the state to forgo the resources it needs to ensure the prosperity of its residents. Those are the conclusions of a new analysis conducted for Policy Matters by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

NPR Planet Money: Inside the Economic Minds of the VP Candidates

September 27, 2024

FOUNTAIN: Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. Tax policy is our wheel house. Tell us about the tax policies of Walz. ROSALSKY: So, to set the scene a little bit, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, most states in our country actually have somewhat regressive tax systems. They tax the rich at lower rates, and therefore are tax systems that aren't progressive at all. Walz helped make Minnesota one of the few tax systems in the country that is progressive. And he did this through a series of tax cuts and rebates and credits for…

Center on Budget and Policy Proposals: Principles for the 2025 Tax Debate: End High-Income Tax Cuts, Raise Revenues to Finance Any Extensions or New Investments

September 26, 2024

Key provisions of the 2017 Trump tax law are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. Given the law’s fundamental problems — its high cost, skew toward high-income people, and failure to produce the promised economic benefits — policymakers should take that opportunity to make a course correction in the nation’s revenue policies. This would mean adhering to three principles: ending the tax cuts for high-income households on schedule, raising more revenue, and making new investments that prioritize low- and moderate-income people and families.

Economic Opportunity Institute: Oregon and Washington: Different Tax Codes and Very Different Ballot Fights about Taxes this November

September 25, 2024

First, some background. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s definitive report on state tax systems lists Oregon as #42 – within the top ten – of least regressive tax codes in the country (D.C. and Minnesota are #51 and #50, respectively). In Oregon, the lowest 20% of households by income pay 12 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the top 1% pay 10.4 percent. What contributes to this relatively fair system is that Oregon’s tax code does not have a sales tax and does have:

Invest in Louisiana: A Flat Tax Is Not the Answer

September 25, 2024

Louisiana’s economy works best when all of us have access to high-quality education and training, affordable health care and a strong public safety net that offers support during hard times.

Americans for Tax Fairness: Correcting Senator Crapo on Kamala Harris and the Expiring Trump Tax Law

September 24, 2024

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-ID) recently published an op-ed challenging the stance of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the expiring parts of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law. It contained many errors and misleading statements both about Harris’s position on the law and about the law itself. ATF here sets straight some of Senator Crapo’s most glaring misstatements.

Rolling Stone: Trump’s Tax Plan Is Another Giant Boon for the Wealthy

September 20, 2024

Former President Donald Trump can’t stop touting his 2017 “Trump tax cuts” as his signature economic achievement, claiming vast benefits delivered to average Americans. He’s pledged to both continue and expand the cuts if elected president.

The American Prospect: Trump’s Tax Cut-A-Rama Total so Far: $9.75 Trillion

September 20, 2024

Donald Trump’s recent bid for votes by giving away a host of tax benefits and exemptions would bring the total cost of his tax plan to between $8.5 trillion and $9.75 trillion over a decade, according to a Prospect review of estimates by tax study organizations.

Los Angeles Times: Trump Says He Would Uncap the State and Local Tax Deduction

September 19, 2024

Days after mingling with wealthy donors in Beverly Hills and the Bay Area, former President Trump said that if he is reelected, he would reinstate a tax break that benefits residents of high-tax states such as California.

Media Matters for America: CNBC Failed to Rebut JD Vance’s Falsehoods About Immigrants During Interview

September 13, 2024

During the interview, Vance falsely claimed that so-called “illegal aliens” are “collecting Social Security and Medicare, sometimes fraudulently,” and that it “blows up the federal budget.” Individual anecdotes of crimes aside, this claim is contrary to the facts.

New Jersey Policy Perspective: Taxing “Super Luxury” Home Sales Could Make New Jersey Affordable for More Residents

September 10, 2024

As the cost of housing in New Jersey continues to soar, making it increasingly unaffordable for many residents, the market for “super luxury” homes – properties with exceptionally high price tags – continues to rise at a faster rate than all other homes. Applying a higher fee to the sale of these expensive homes could generate hundreds of millions in revenue, helping to make the state more affordable for low-income and middle-class residents. Crucially, this tax would be targeted exclusively to the wealthiest households.

Herald-Mail Media: Maryland Taxpayers Can Use IRS Direct File Next Year: What to Know About Free System

September 9, 2024

Maryland officials backed a federal effort this week to make the process of filing your taxes “easier, simpler, and more affordable,” according to the governor, but forthcoming program eligibility details will reveal who may benefit.

Pew Charitable Trusts: How a Pandemic-Era Surge in Tax Collections Drove a Revenue Wave—and What It Means for Future State Budgets

September 5, 2024

When the COVID-19 pandemic ground the economy to a near-halt in spring 2020, states scrambled to adjust to an anticipated multiyear decline with drastic spending cuts and revised revenue projections. But fears of a debilitating recession were short-lived thanks, in part, to billions of dollars in aid from the federal government. Instead of extended shortfalls, from mid-2020 through the end of 2022, states experienced an unprecedented revenue wave. Collections recovered faster and at a sharper rate than states had projected in 2020 and continued to grow at historic rates, and lawmakers in many states have used the new revenue to…

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Untargeted Property Tax Cuts and Limits Shortchange Schools and Local Economies

September 5, 2024

More than 50 million K-12 public school students are returning to classes for the start of a new academic year. At the same time, some states are cutting a major source of funding for public education: property taxes.

Democratic National Committee: VP Harris Backs U.S. Manufacturing, While Trump Oversaw Increased Offshoring of American Jobs

September 5, 2024

The Trump-GOP tax law enacted in December 2017 creates clear incentives for American-based corporations to move operations and jobs abroad, including a zero percent tax rate on many profits generated offshore.

The Nevadan: Trump’s Promise of Mass Deportations Could Devastate Nevada’s Economy. Here’s How.

September 3, 2024

A recent study conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that undocumented immigrants contributed at least $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022 — a number that would increase if they were granted formal work authorization. In Nevada, undocumented immigrants accounted for $507 million in 2022 tax revenue, the study found.

Financial Times: Silicon Valley’s Elite Rattled by Prospect of Tax on Unrealized Gains

August 30, 2024

A novel proposal to tax the unrealised gains of wealthy Americans has incited fury from Silicon Valley’s richest investors. US vice-president Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, rolled out a tax plan last week aimed at raising nearly $5tn over a decade. It included support for the controversial tax proposal, which was also part of President Joe Biden’s federal budget plan for 2025.