Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

ITEP's Research Priorities

The Lever: Pfizer’s Massive Tax Dodge

April 15, 2024

While jacking up drug prices, Pfizer recently reported more than $27 billion in revenue from its U.S. sales in 2023. But the Big Pharma titan owes nothing in federal income taxes, despite being one of the most profitable pharmaceutical companies in the world. That’s largely thanks to existing loopholes and a 2017 tax law signed by former President Donald Trump.

Maine Center for Economic Policy: Tax Fairness — an Explainer

April 15, 2024

Taxes help pay for things that benefit everyone, like good schools, clean air and water, and safe roads. Businesses also need these things to succeed, along with a healthy, housed, and educated workforce, modern infrastructure, and affordable energy. Fair taxes mean everyone pitches in according to their means, so those who have less pay less, and those who have more pay more. Unfortunately, the vast majority of states still have upside-down tax structures, meaning that families with wealth pay a smaller portion of their income in taxes than families with low income. That’s not fair.

Occidental College Urban & Environmental Policy Institute: Measuring LA’s Mansion Tax

April 8, 2024

In November 2022, 58% of Los Angeles City voters approved Measure ULA to increase the City’s existing real estate transfer tax on property sales over $5 million. The law went into effect on April 1, 2023. In its first year, Measure ULA is on track to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and spend the funds to build more affordable housing, provide emergency rental assistance, protect tenants from eviction, and prevent homelessness. This is all despite efforts by the real estate industry to undermine the new law and a significant shortage of Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) staff to carry…

Money: These States Are Using Their Budget Surpluses to Give Tax Breaks to Residents

April 8, 2024

The most impactful changes in state taxes this year have come in the form of new or expanded tax credits targeted at families with children, according to Aidan Davis, state policy director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan tax policy organization. “The first really incredible — and, I would say, positive — trend was that 18 states created or enhanced child tax credits or income tax credits in their states,” Davis says. Three of those states (Minnesota, Oregon and Utah) launched brand-new child tax credits, she says, with the remainder altering, and usually improving, existing credits.

Associated Press: Lawmakers in GOP-Led Nebraska Advance Bill To Raise Sales Tax

April 3, 2024

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With no votes to spare, Nebraska lawmakers advanced a bill that would raise the state’s sales tax by 1 cent to 6.5% on every taxable dollar spent — which would make it among the highest in the country.

Capital & Main: Extreme Wealth Is on the Ballot This Year — Will Americans Vote to Tax the Rich?

April 3, 2024

On March 7, President Joe Biden reintroduced proposals to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the nation’s most profitable corporations. The move virtually ensures that the nation’s extreme wealth inequality — more than one in four dollars in the country is held by a tiny sliver of households with a net worth over $30 million — will be part of the national election debate. But excessive wealth may take center stage in at least 10 states, ranging from Democratic bastions such as California, Hawaii and New York to swing states such as Nevada and Pennsylvania.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: States Can Fight Corporate Tax Avoidance by Requiring Worldwide Combined Reporting

April 1, 2024

To reduce their federal corporate income taxes, every year large multinational corporations shift hundreds of billions of dollars in profits earned in the United States onto the books of subsidiaries formed in foreign tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Ireland. Because nearly all state corporate taxes are based on the taxable profits a corporation reports on its federal return, each year states lose at least $10 billion — and perhaps as much as $15 billion — of revenue due to this profit-shifting, estimates suggest. This is substantial revenue states could be using to provide K-12 teachers with better…

Open Sky Policy Institute: Why Proposed Tax Shift is Wrong for Nebraska

April 1, 2024

The tax package designed to lower property taxes paid to local political subdivisions would increase the tax burden on low- and middle-income working families and make it increasingly difficult for cities, counties and schools to provide the services that Nebraskans expect.

Open Sky Policy Institute: How the Tax Package Impacts Nebraskans

April 1, 2024

The proposal to lower property taxes paid to fund local government services will reduce property taxes paid by property owners, but it’s important to understand how the package that raises the state sales tax rate impacts all consumers and the effect of plans to “front load” the existing tax credit for taxes paid to public schools.

Montana Budget & Policy Center: The Great Tax Shift

March 20, 2024

The taxes paid by Montana residents and businesses have created and continue to fund an equitable educational system, roads and bridges, and services that keep our communities safe. Unfortunately, over time, responsibility for our tax system has shifted to everyday Montanans, like our teachers, plumbers, and construction workers, and away from the wealthy. Over the […]

The Volcker Alliance: State Tax Cuts After the Pandemic

March 18, 2024

The Issue Paper by Can Chen and Alex Hathaway, State Tax Cuts After the Pandemic: Strategies to Sustain Fiscal Health, is the latest in a series of Alliance issue papers on state and local budgeting in the COVID Era. Following the unprecedented federal aid issued to offset the impact of COVID-19, state revenues and cash reserves reached […]

Video: Sen. Warren Slams Republicans Pushing Corporate Handouts While Fighting Child Tax Credit Expansion

March 13, 2024

Senator Warren’s exchange at a March 12, 2024 Senate Finance Committee hearing entitled: American Made: Growing U.S. Manufacturing Through the Tax Code

The Nation: Biden Should Channel His Inner FDR and Soak the Rich

March 13, 2024

There’s no risk and everything to gain politically. According to a Navigator Research poll from last month, 79 percent of registered voters favor higher taxes on billionaires and corporations. Only 16 percent are opposed. Democrats favor wealth taxes on billionaires by a 94-2 margin, independents by a 78-15 margin, Republicans by a 63-30 margin.

Institute for Policy Studies: More for Them, Less for Us

March 13, 2024

Corporate tax dodging and executive pay packages have both gotten so far out of control that a significant number of major U.S. corporations are paying their top executives more than they’re paying Uncle Sam in federal income taxes.

Maine Center for Economic Policy: The Case for Corporate Transparency

March 13, 2024

Mainers work hard to support themselves and their communities. They pay taxes to fund the services communities need to thrive, like education, health care, and infrastructure. But it is increasingly clear that big corporations aren’t holding up their end of the bargain by contributing their fair share. They deploy complicated tax loopholes and accounting schemes to avoid paying what they owe, using their money and power to ensure laws in place don’t expose the tricks they’re playing.

Sacramento Bee: California Families Could Save Thousands of Dollars From Proposed Child Tax Break. Here’s Why

March 12, 2024

President Joe Biden’s child tax credit plan would benefit millions of California parents, saving eligible families an average of $2,980, according to data from Washington’s Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Newsweek: What a Second Trump Term Means for Taxes

March 12, 2024

A second Donald Trump presidency would likely see another round of tax cuts targeted at the wealthy, similar to his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to a prominent taxation expert and lawyer.

USA Today: What President Joe Biden Got Wrong (and Right)

March 11, 2024

Though President Joe Biden largely stuck to the facts during his third State of the Union address Thursday, on several occasions he overstated the truth, left out key context or was simply wrong.

ITEP’s Marco Guzman Testifies in Favor of Tax Fairness Bills in Connecticut

March 11, 2024

Good afternoon, Senator Fonfara, Representative Horn, and members of the Committee, and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Marco Guzman and I'm a senior policy analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, and we’re a nonprofit research organization that focuses on state, local, and federal tax policy issues. 

Yahoo Finance: Trump-Era Corporate Tax Cuts Boosted Investment, but Did Not Pay for Themselves

March 6, 2024

The corporate tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped boost business investment while delivering a small increase in worker pay, according to a new analysis published by the Bureau of Economic Research. The tax cuts did not, however, come anywhere close to paying for themselves, as their Republican proponents in Congress and the Trump administration insisted they would, and instead are costing the federal government more than $100 billion per year in lost revenues.

Common Good Iowa: Killing Democracy by Superminority

March 6, 2024

Iowa’s tax structure has long favored the wealthiest Iowans and corporations, and tax cuts passed in 2022 are making inequities worse. The average millionaire will see a cut of $62,000 a year. In the middle, Iowans earning $40,000 to $60,000 will see an average cut of $300, or about $6 a week. Most with incomes under $40,000 will see no cut at all. 

Colorado Department of Revenue: Property Tax Circuit Breaker Programs

March 4, 2024

Because property taxes are based upon property values, they are not as strongly connected to an ability to pay as the income tax. This can be particularly burdensome when income changes as a result of job loss, divorce, illness, or retirement. As a result, property taxes tend to be regressive. 

Route Fifty: States Move to Cut Grocery Taxes

March 4, 2024

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed a bill to eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries. With the 4.5% tax gone, that leaves 11 states that impose a grocery tax—a number that is swiftly shrinking. Stitt called it the largest single-year tax cut in state history. Oklahoma will see more than $415 million less in revenue a year.

Deseret News: The Utah Legislature Approved Another Tax Cut. Here’s What Taxpayers Need to Know

March 4, 2024

Utah lawmakers dropped the state’s income tax rate again this year. The reduction in the individual and corporate state income tax rate from 4.65% to 4.55% adds up to nearly $170 million, slightly more than the amount set aside in December for an unspecified tax cut by the powerful Executive Appropriations Committee made up of legislative leadership. The higher price tag is due to updated revenue forecasts showing an anticipated increase in income tax collections and the Legislature’s longtime Republican supermajority left little doubt they intended to continue to lower the state income tax rate. A tax cut was announced as a top…

The Guardian: Private Equity Prepares for a Boon From Congress

March 4, 2024

Some of largest and most profitable companies in the US are primed to save billions of dollars from a congressional tax deal that critics say gives “billions in tax credits to the biggest corporations while giving pennies to middle-class children and families”. And private equity funds could be among the deal’s biggest beneficiaries, a Guardian analysis suggests. The tax cuts passed the House of Representatives at the end of January as part of an agreement that pairs handouts for businesses with a moderate expansion of the child tax credit. The Senate could vote on the bill over the coming weeks, and the White House has indicated that Joe…