Alex Welch – Page 34

blog July 9, 2020
Congressional Budget Office Confirms That IRS Budget Cuts Lose Money and Benefit the Rich

Lawmakers often claim that they are “saving” taxpayers money by slashing federal spending, but the truth is that these cuts often are counterproductive and costly in the long-term. One type of budget-cutting has costs that are immediate and obvious—cuts to the IRS, the agency that collects the revenue that pays for federal spending. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that lawmakers’ anti-government, IRS funding-cuts zeal has increased the deficit.
media mention July 8, 2020
Business Insider: Trump Wants Tax Breaks to Encourage People to Watch Sports Games and Travel Around the US. Here’s Why That Could Backfire as the Pandemic Rages.

The McSally proposal also drew fire from economists who argued it would mainly benefit wealthier taxpayers and not be well targeted. “Low and most middle-income families will receive no or…
media mention July 8, 2020
Financial Times: ‘It’s a Matter of Fairness’: Squeezing More Tax From Multinationals

Since the late 1980s, there has been a complete change in mindset, one pioneered and taken to its extreme by General Electric, America’s biggest manufacturer by market capitalisation for most…
blog July 1, 2020
New Fiscal Year Brings New Challenges and Opportunities in the States

July 1—the start of the new fiscal year in most states—typically marks a point when one can take a step back and reflect on the wins and disappointments of the past state legislative sessions. 2020 is markedly different. Nationwide business closures and stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19 have led to unprecedented spikes in unemployment, decreased demand for consumer spending, and increased demand for vital public services. As a result, states face incredibly uncertain financial futures with little clarity regarding how their tax collections will fare over the next year.
media mention June 30, 2020
Nonprofit Quarterly: The $370 Billion Fiscal Cliff: Why State Budgets Need Our Attention

A 2018 study released by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that the poorest fifth spend on average 11.4 percent of their income on state and local…
media mention June 30, 2020
Law 360: Biz Tax Credit Proposals Would Aid Wealthy, Report Says

Republican proposals to make business tax credits refundable to mitigate the economic downturn caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic would provide unnecessary tax breaks to high-income people, the Institute on…
media mention June 30, 2020
POLITICO Morning Tax: Welcome, commissioner

FOOT OFF THE ACCELERATOR, PLEASE: The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Matthew Gardner and Steve Wamhoff maintain in a new paper that the proposals to allow companies to cash out…
report June 30, 2020
Republican Tax Credit Proposal Would Provide New Breaks to Tax Avoiders Like Amazon and Netflix

While lawmakers of both parties and policy experts discuss various ways to respond to the continuing COVID-19 crisis and resulting economic downturn, Republicans in Congress are offering a new solution. Their idea, which is still being discussed, is to waive existing limits on business tax credits. This could benefit corporations that are profitable but that nonetheless pay no taxes or very little in taxes because of the many tax breaks and legal loopholes they already enjoy.
blog June 26, 2020
Beyond SCOTUS: States Recognize Need for More Inclusive Immigrant Policy

The U.S. Supreme Court last week halted an effort by the Trump administration that would have stripped DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients of their lawful status in the…
blog June 23, 2020
McSally “Travel Tax Credit” Is an Invitation for Tax Avoidance

Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced the “American TRIP Act,” a bill ostensibly designed to encourage Americans to boost the economy by traveling within the United States. The bill is certainly a trip in the colloquial sense of the word.
media mention June 23, 2020
The Fiscal Times: A ‘Wacky’ Tax Credit Idea: $4,000 for Vacation

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says that the loose requirements in the bill mean “that any car owner with an ounce of…
blog June 22, 2020
ITEP supports Black Lives Matter

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy stands with activists who are guiding the movement to transform America, dismantle systemic racism in policing, and envision a better justice system. Committed protestors in big cities, small towns, and suburban enclaves have spurred a sea change in public opinion and policy possibility on policing and incarceration. Their work and activism builds on years of action by Black Lives Matter and other leaders.
media mention June 22, 2020
The Dallas Morning News: DACA Texans Are Essential to our COVID-19 Response and Economic Future

In total, Texas is home to more than 107,000 DACA recipients, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Those DACA recipients pay $244.5 million annually in state and local taxes,…
media mention June 21, 2020
Sentinel & Enterprise: It’s Been a Year Without Equal

Instead, the last real action on the fiscal 2021 budget came in January when Baker rolled out a $44.6 billion spending plan that would have its underlying assumptions wiped away…
media mention June 18, 2020
CNN: This Is Who’s Affected by the Supreme Court Decision on DACA

According to a 2018 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the young undocumented immigrants who are enrolled in DACA and those who would be eligible for the…
ITEP Work in Action June 17, 2020
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Unemployment Insurance Taxes Paid by Undocumented Workers Top $1 Billion

Over the past ten years, unemployment insurance taxes paid based on undocumented immigrants’ work in New Jersey added more than $1.36 billion to state and federal unemployment insurance trust funds,…
blog June 16, 2020
Tax Justice and Racial Justice: Transformative Change Is Overdue

Progressive tax policy can spur deep investments in communities, help families afford childcare and college, provide healthcare for everyone, re-imagine energy consumption to stop heating the planet, expand parks and bike lanes and public transit. Economic justice can give workers a greater voice than corporations in our democracy. People are protesting because the moment for transformative change in policing and our economy is long overdue.
media mention June 14, 2020
Crain’s New York Business: Legalizing Marijuana Can’t Cure Inequality, But It Will Ease Budget Crisis

My methodology is informed by the work of Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, who recently published a thoughtful blog post on per-capita cannabis excise tax…
blog June 11, 2020
COVID-19 Unveils Need for Fair Taxation at the State Level

Most people assume that the federal government is the main—if not only—agent for ensuring economic stability and recovery in response to COVID. Yet, the fight for tax fairness at the state level will have a dramatic impact on economic recovery.
ITEP Work in Action June 9, 2020
New Jersey Policy Perspective: Road to Recovery: Reforming New Jersey’s Income Tax Code

A sensible way to address revenue shortfalls and an unfair tax code is to raise income taxes on the state’s wealthiest households. By reforming New Jersey’s income tax, our recovery…
media mention June 5, 2020
POLITICO: States Move Cautiously in Contending With Huge Budget Gaps

“This crisis is still in its very early stages,” said Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Davis noted that the last recession began in December 2007,…
blog June 2, 2020
White House Incredibly Still Believes Tax Cuts Are the Answer to America’s Problems

White House officials continue to discuss tax cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Wamhoff provides a roundup of these terrible ideas that would do little to boost investment or reach those who need it most.
report June 2, 2020
Depreciation Breaks Have Saved 20 Major Corporations $26.5 Billion Over Past Two Years

The Trump administration and its congressional allies have proposed making permanent the expensing provision in the Trump-GOP tax law. Expensing is the most extreme form of accelerated depreciation, which allows businesses to deduct the cost of purchasing equipment more quickly than it wears out. But expensing and other types of accelerated depreciation already account for a very large share of corporate tax breaks and allows many companies to pay nothing at all.
blog June 2, 2020
Trump-GOP Tax Law Encourages Companies to Move Jobs Offshore–and New Tax Cuts Won’t Change That

New tax cuts to incentivize bringing jobs back to the United States will fail. No new tax provisions can be more generous than the zero percent rate the 2017 law provides for many offshore profits or the loopholes that allow corporations to shift profits to countries with minimal or no corporate income taxes.
media mention June 2, 2020
Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minnesota Companies Cashing in on CARES Act Business Tax Breaks

Other taxation watchdogs call it a windfall, and one that disproportionately benefits large companies with volatile earnings, not the neighborhood auto shop or hair salon whose business vanished in the…

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