Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

CNBC: Elizabeth Warren takes aim at FedEx, Nike, Amazon in push for corporate tax hike

April 27, 2021

FedEx and Nike were mentioned in an April report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy as companies that recently paid little-to-no federal corporate income taxes. “The delivery giant FedEx zeroed out its federal income tax on $1.2 billion of U.S. pretax income in 2020 and received a rebate of $230 million,” the report […]

Footwear News: Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Nike and Amazon Should Be Hit With Higher Tax Rate

April 27, 2021

Early this month, a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy suggested that 55 U.S.-based companies — including Nike and FedEx — did not pay corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite reporting sizable pretax profits. According to the think tank, the Swoosh didn’t pay federal income tax on about […]

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Alvin Schorr and the Policy Relay Race

April 27, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

Sometimes a good idea takes a while. Alvin Schorr, who would have turned 100 this month, helped draft a 1972 bill “to provide for a system of children’s allowances.” He continued to push (in a 1977 congressional testimony and in a 1983 New York Times op-ed) for a refundable tax credit for all families and a children’s allowance, among other laudable ideas. A half-century later, these ideas—which many others have championed—are becoming reality.

Morning Call: PPL Corp. and other companies with Lehigh Valley ties paid zero U.S. taxes in 2020

April 26, 2021

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and co-author of the organization’s report, said PPL documents show the company made pre-tax U.S. income of $880 million in 2020 but wound up with a benefit of $9 million in taxes, resulting in a minus 1% tax rate. In the three […]

Daily Kos: Democrats gave Americans a huge tax cut—just not the wealthiest ones

April 26, 2021

According to new estimates from congressional forecasters, Democratic tax cuts for low- to middle-income earners included in President Joe Biden’s relief plan could mean that people making less than $75,000 on average will pay nothing in federal income taxes this year. In other words, Democrats are doing for most Americans what Republicans achieved for many […]

Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy: Analysis and Considerations Related to House Bill 380

April 26, 2021

The Idaho Legislature is considering a proposal that would reduce the number of income tax brackets from seven to five, cut income and corporate tax rates and provide a one-time tax rebate. HB380 is a revised version of HB332, with one significant change, the elimination of two tax brackets, which serves to make Idaho’s tax […]

New Jersey Policy Perspective: Blueprint to Secure a Just Recovery

April 24, 2021

In 2017, New Jersey Policy Perspective released the Blueprint for Economic Justice and Shared Prosperity. It charted a course forward for the state after decades of short-sighted policymaking that exacerbated racial disparities, spread economic inequality, and weakened our ability to address emergent problems. Now, as we begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, […]

Bloomberg: The Myth of the Middle-Class SALT Cap Victim

April 23, 2021

Once again, if you make well under $1 million a year and your tax rate really did go up from 2017 to 2018 because of the SALT cap, I’m not denying that your suffering is real. But you appear to be in a distinct minority even in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and other […]

Washington Post: The Federal Government Is Losing Billions in Unpaid Taxes, in Part Due to Racial Disparities in the Tax Code

April 23, 2021

Drawing from a report by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Wyden said an estimated 80 percent of the individual benefits under the Trump administration’s tax cuts went to White Americans. Read more

Washington Center for Equitable Growth: Weekend reading: Inequities in U.S. taxation and homeownership edition

April 23, 2021

Homeowners of color who sell their homes receive lower prices due to such factors as reduced neighborhood school quality, but they pay the same property taxes because these factors are not incorporated into tax assessments. Black and Hispanic homeowners also face discrimination in assessment appeals. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy explains the regressivity […]

Bloomberg: Firms Shuffle Intangible Assets Abroad Despite U.S. Tax Break

April 23, 2021

President Joe Biden and other Democrats have said FDII has been ineffective and should be replaced or revamped. While the concerns they’ve voiced about FDII aren’t directly related to the overseas IP transfers among subsidiaries, the transactions are yet another example of how FDII hasn’t achieved its goal of getting U.S. companies to house key […]

FAIR: ‘Some of Our Most Profitable Companies Are Not Contributing to Our Basic Needs’

April 23, 2021

Janine Jackson interviewed Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Amy Hanauer about corporate tax avoidance for the April 16, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Read more

Bloomberg: IRS Releases Country-by-Country Filings: Insights on Tax Havens, Effective Tax Rate

April 23, 2021

One of the interesting patterns in the CbCR filings is the gap between the statutory and effective tax rates. The ETR on the U.S. is just 9% versus the statutory rate is 21%. This matches up with a study done by a left-leaning think-thank, The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which found that almost […]

NC Policy Watch: NC needs to fix its tax code to secure a just recovery — for everyone

April 23, 2021

North Carolina’s current tax code asks the top to pay less as a share of their income than taxpayers with poverty-level incomes. By putting in place tax policies that would ask just 1 percent of North Carolinians to pay slightly more, North Carolina can invest in a more equitable, just recovery for everyone. Read more

The Hill: Progressives Divided over Efforts to Repeal SALT Cap

April 22, 2021

Outside liberal groups are also criticizing the push to repeal the SALT deduction cap. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report Tuesday that said repealing the cap would worsen racial income and wealth disparities because most of the benefits of repeal would go to high-income white families. Steve Wamhoff, director of federal […]

Axios: GOP Senators Open to Corporate Tax Increase

April 22, 2021

Driving the news: The president has highlighted a study from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showing 55 corporations actually received $3.5 billion in tax rebates, instead of paying approximately $8.5 billion in taxes on some $40.5 billion in income. Read more

CNBC: Black, Hispanic Families Would Benefit Less from a SALT Cap Repeal than Whites

April 21, 2021

Repealing the $10,000 state and local tax deduction cap is likely to have uneven results for Americans. In fact, Black families are 42% less likely and Hispanic families are 33% less likely than white ones to see a tax break from a SALT cap repeal, according to a recent analysis from the left-leaning Institute on […]

April 21, 2021 • By Matthew Gardner

On Corporate Tax Avoidance “[A majority of people] recognize this basic unfairness: When you give big companies tax breaks, you’re taking them away from small businesses. The corporate tax reform debate has overwhelming public support, agenda-setting power and international agreement in preventing corporate tax avoidance.”

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An EITC to Lift Up Young Workers

April 21, 2021 • By Devin Douglass

Young workers are confronting a harsh economic reality filled with student loan debt and far too few good-paying jobs. The pandemic reinforced this group’s long history of not receiving proper benefits, such as health insurance, from their employers. They also are often overlooked when it comes to policies that promote economic wellbeing. The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), for example, is a glowing success story. It lifted 5.8 million people out of poverty in 2018, including 3 million children. But a key shortcoming of the federal EITC: working adults without children in the home receive little to no benefit.

Jacobin: Democrats’ Lies About Tax Breaks Sound a Lot Like Republicans’

April 20, 2021

If you only listened to Democratic lawmakers, you might think these numbers are dramatically different in Democratic states with higher state and local taxes — but “there is no state where this is a primarily middle-class issue,” reported the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As just one example: the group’s state-by-state analysis found that […]

Bloomberg: SALT Cap Revolt Led by N.Y. Democrats Snarls Biden Spending Plan

April 20, 2021

A study released Tuesday showed that the cap also would disproportionately benefit White families over non-White households, further complicating the Biden administration’s plans to make racial equity a core plank of any economic proposal. The study by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showed that more than 72% of the tax cuts from […]

Forbes: Repealing The Cap On State And Local Tax Deductions Would Widen The Racial Wealth Gap, New Study Shows

April 20, 2021

As some lawmakers from high-tax Blue states push for the elimination of the Trump-era $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, a new study from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that repealing the deduction would not only disproportionately benefit the wealthy, but also white taxpayers, widening the already yawning […]

The Hill: Left-leaning Group: SALT Cap Repeal Would Worsen Racial Income Disparities

April 20, 2021

Repealing the cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction would exacerbate racial income and wealth disparities, according to an analysis released Tuesday from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The think tank’s report comes as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the SALT cap to be repealed […]

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SALT Cap Repeal Would Exacerbate Racial Inequities

April 20, 2021 • By Carl Davis

A new ITEP analysis provides critical data for the debate over whether to repeal the $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The report finds that repeal of the SALT cap without other reforms would worsen economic disparities and exacerbate racial inequities baked into the federal tax system.

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SALT Cap Repeal Would Worsen Racial Income and Wealth Divides

April 20, 2021 • By Carl Davis, ITEP Staff, Jessica Schieder

A bipartisan group of 32 House lawmakers banded together to form the “SALT Caucus,” demanding elimination of the SALT cap. None of their arguments in favor of repeal change the fact that it would primarily benefit the rich and, according to new research, exacerbate racial income and wealth disparities.