2,364 posts
Washington State Budget & Policy Center: New Reforms Bring Balance and Equity to State’s Tax Code and Economy
• By ITEP Staff
People seeking a more equitable state tax code and stronger supports for parents scored major victories earlier this year in Washington state, after more than a decade of hard work and focused advocacy by community leaders. By enacting a new excise tax on extraordinary stock profits (capital gains) and an expansive new tax credit for […]
State Rundown 7/7: The New Fiscal Year Starts off With a Bang, And Not Just Fireworks
• By ITEP Staff
States were busy over the past week despite the Fourth of July holiday. Many are gearing up for upcoming tax and budget clashes that could shape their futures for some time...
In Drive to Cut Taxes, States Blow an Opportunity to Invest in Underfunded Services
• By Marco Guzman
Many states find themselves in a peculiar fiscal situation right now: federal pandemic relief money has been dispersed to states and revenue projections have exceeded expectations set during the pandemic. Meanwhile, more and more workers are returning to jobs as vaccines roll out and typical economic activity resumes. Some states, however, have decided to squander their unexpected fiscal strength on tax cuts.
The Child Tax Credit in Practice: What We Know About the Payoffs of Payments (Webinar)
• By ITEP Staff
Join us for a discussion on why tax credits like the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion are good economic policy. You’ll hear from anti-poverty experts on why Congress should extend the policy beyond 2021 and what we can learn from an initiative providing low-income mothers in Jackson, Miss., $1,000 cash on a monthly basis, no strings attached. From theory to practice and what it means for American families, this CTC webinar will provide a unique…
Congress Should Follow States’ Lead on Inclusive Economic Recovery
• By Meg Wiehe
President Joe Biden's American Families and Jobs plans intend to “build back better” and create a more inclusive economy. To fully live up to this ideal, the final plan must include undocumented people and their families.
Center for Migration Studies: Innovating Inclusion: A New Wave of State Activism to Include Immigrants in Social Safety Nets
• By ITEP Staff
States across the country are tackling an equity issue in the tax code by breaking from federal eligibility standards for their state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs). Specifically, states are taking it upon themselves to end the exclusion of taxpayers who file their taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). ITINs are personal tax […]
State Rundown 6/30: Resolutions Are in Order for the New Fiscal Year
• By ITEP Staff
Today is the last day of the fiscal year in many states, and some lawmakers might want to take the opportunity to make some new fiscal year resolutions. Legislators in Arizona, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, for example, should really cut back on the trickle-down tax-cut Kool-Aid, which may make parties with rich donors more fun but tends to be both harmful and habit-forming...
Policy Matters Ohio: Ohio Tax Cuts Would Go Mostly to the Very Affluent
• By ITEP Staff
Instead of using Ohio’s public resources to build strong, resilient communities, the General Assembly approved income-tax cuts that would favor the very wealthiest Ohioans, while providing only modest benefits for moderate-income Ohioans and nothing at all to the state’s poorest. Benefiting especially from the elimination of the top bracket of the tax, the most affluent […]
Policy Matters Ohio: Ohio Income-tax Cuts Would Reward the Wealthiest
• By ITEP Staff
Income-tax cuts approved by the General Assembly in the budget bill would favor the very wealthiest Ohioans, while providing only modest benefits for moderate-income Ohioans and nothing at all to the state’s poorest. Benefiting especially from the elimination of the top bracket of the tax, the most affluent 1% of Ohioans would see an average […]
State-Level EITC Victories in 2021
• By Aidan Davis
A growing group of state lawmakers are recognizing the extent to which low- and middle-income Americans are struggling and the ways in which their state and local tax systems can do more to ensure the economic security of their residents over the long run. To that end, lawmakers across the country have made strides in enacting, increasing, or expanding tax credits that benefit low- and middle-income families. Here is a summary of those changes and…
When Tax Breaks for Retirement Savings Enrich the Already Rich
• By Steve Wamhoff
Members of Congress frequently claim they want to make it easier for working people to scrape together enough savings to have some financial security in retirement. But lawmakers’ preferred method to (ostensibly) achieve this goal is through tax breaks that have allowed the tech mogul Peter Thiel to avoid taxes on $5 billion. This is just one of the eye-popping revelations in the latest expose from ProPublica.
Oregon State Legislature: House Committee On Revenue 06/24/2021
• By ITEP Staff
Oregon lawmakers discuss a SALT-cap workaround provision. ITEP analysis found that in Oregon more than 91 percent of the tax cut benefits of repealing the SALT cap would go to those earning more than $200,000, and four of five households that benefit are white-led households. Watch here
North Carolina Justice Center: Five Takeaways from the Senate’s Budget Proposal
• By ITEP Staff
The Senate’s budget plan would bring the state’s investments to a new low while committing the state to untold losses in the form of revenue reductions by eliminating income taxes for profitable corporations by 2028 and lowering the already flat (read: regressive) personal income tax rate. Read more
Child Tax Credit Expansion Q&A with Aidan Davis
• By Aidan Davis
On July 15, the U.S. Treasury will begin mailing monthly checks to families with children who are eligible for the Child Tax Credit. Previously, the maximum credit was $2,000 per child, but for 2021, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan broadened the credit to $3,600 for each child under six and $3,000 for children over six. The expansion also made eligible children whose parents' incomes were too low to qualify for the previous credit, both addressing…
ITIN Filer Data Gap: How Changing Laws, Lack of Data Disaggregation Limit Inclusive Tax Policy
• By Emma Sifre
Like U.S. citizens, noncitizens who live, work, or invest in the United States must file local, state and federal taxes. But in order to file personal income taxes, they must first be issued a processing number called an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) by the IRS. These numbers are issued to both legal permanent residents and nonresidents who are not eligible for Social Security numbers. ITINs do not imply immigration status, nor can they be…
The Rockefeller Foundation: The Untold Benefits of State EITCs on Child Welfare
• By ITEP Staff
With the passing of the American Rescue Plan in March, more than 5 million children are projected to be lifted out of poverty this year, cutting child poverty by more than half, through Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansions. But what about state tax codes? What can states do to […]
Child Tax Credit Is a Critical Component of Biden Administration’s Recovery Package
• By Aidan Davis
Nearly one in seven children in the United States live in poverty and about 6 percent of all children live in deep poverty. President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan would tackle child poverty in an immediate, meaningful way. It is expected to extend the one-year Child Tax Credit (CTC) enhancements included in the March 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) through 2025. Next year alone, this would provide around a $110 billion collective income boost to…
Fortune: Biden’s plan will stop Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk from avoiding billions in taxes
June 9, 2021
FORTUNE: COMMENTARY | TAXES BY STEVE WAMHOFF It is no surprise that billionaires pay little in federal taxes relative to their incomes, but the level of detail provided by ProPublica Tuesday about how 25 billionaires pulled this off is astonishing. It is also an argument for one of President Joe Biden’s key tax proposals—taxing so-called unrealized capital gains […]
U.S. Should Pursue Biden’s Tax Legislation and International Tax Agreement on Separate Tracks
• By Steve Wamhoff
The agreement announced over the weekend from the finance leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) countries to allow governments to tax some corporate profits based on the location of sales and to implement a 15 percent global minimum tax is a major step forward—but in no way changes the need for Congress to enact President Joe Biden’s tax reforms right now.
ITEP: ProPublica’s Expose on Billionaires’ Taxes Is Another Wake-up Call
• By Amy Hanauer
The explosive ProPublica report released today confirmed what we have known for quite some time: the wealthy and powerful play by a different set of rules than the rest of us. Following is a statement by Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding the report: “ProPublica’s reporting today on the details of how 25 billionaires pay little to nothing in federal tax relative to their incomes is a wakeup…
State Rundown 6/7: Remaining State Legislative Sessions Are Heating up as Budget Deadlines Loom
• By ITEP Staff
Just as an early summer heatwave brought soaring temperatures this past weekend through much of the lower 48 states, several state legislative sessions are heating up as legislators scramble to make tough budget decisions. Massachusetts lawmakers are voting on a fiery new "millionaires' tax" that would support transportation and education revenue needs, and Connecticut will likely restore its state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) back to 30 percent. Illinois’s decision to cut back corporate tax…
The Week: Biden’s new $1 trillion infrastructure offer reportedly swaps in 15 percent minimum corporate tax for tax hike
June 4, 2021
“Corporations have paid a declining share in federal taxes since the 2017 GOP tax law dramatically slashed the corporate tax rate,” the Post reports, and 55 Fortune 500 corporations paid no federal income tax in 2020, according to the left-leaning Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy. Biden’s minimum tax proposal was originally part of a […]
CBS News: Biden emphasizes taxes on richest companies to fund infrastructure proposal
June 4, 2021
“Unless you think corporations shouldn’t pay any tax at all — and we’ll leave that to others to speak to — then there should be a way to find a path to agreement,” Psaki said. According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning nonprofit tax policy organization, at least […]
Washington Post: Biden offers tax concession in infrastructure talks with key Republican
June 3, 2021
Members of both parties have expressed concern with the number of large corporations paying little to nothing in federal income taxes. Fifty-five corporations in the Fortune 500 paid no federal income tax in 2020, according to a report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. Corporations have paid a declining […]
Biden’s Budget Signals the End of Trickle-Down Economics Era
• By Amy Hanauer, ITEP Staff
President Joe Biden’s 2022 budget proposal released today signals a commitment to transformational policy solutions that not only invest in people and communities but also ensure corporations and rich people contribute more in taxes to support the economy that makes their wealth and profits possible, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) said today.
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