Post enactment of TCJA, lawmakers in most states needed to decide how to respond to the creation of this new program. Given the shortcomings of the federal Opportunity Zones program and its added potential costs to states, the most prudent course of action is three-pronged: States should move quickly to decouple; states should reject look-alike programs; and lawmakers should make investments directly into economically distressed areas.
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report December 12, 2019 States Should Decouple from Costly Federal Opportunity Zones and Reject Look-Alike Programs
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blog December 11, 2019 House Democrats’ Latest Bill on SALT Deductions Would Mean Bigger Tax Cuts for the Rich
ITEP estimates show that if the House Democrats’ proposal was in effect in 2022, it would have a net cost of $81 billion in that year alone. The estimates also show that 51 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers in the U.S. Clearly, lawmakers concerned about the SALT cap need to go back to the drawing board.
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blog December 9, 2019 Legal Cannabis and a Tax Cut, Too
A new ITEP report explains that an income tax cut for cannabis businesses embedded in the MORE Act is probably larger than the new 5 percent sales tax. This means that the average cannabis retailer—and its customers—could expect to pay LESS tax if the MORE Act is signed into law. Congress might have good reasons for structuring legalization this way, but it is an underappreciated aspect of the bill that should be made clearer as this debate progresses.
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report December 9, 2019 Cannabis Legalization: Tax Cut or Tax Hike?
Understanding the full tax consequences of cannabis legalization requires evaluating not only the excise taxes proposed in most legalization bills, but also the effects on the federal income tax liability of cannabis businesses.
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media mention December 7, 2019 The News Tribune: Washington State Leaders Must Tax the Way to a Just Society
The inequalities in our state’s tax code are well known, and have gained us the ignoble designation of “the most unfair state and local tax system in the country.” This… -
media mention December 4, 2019 Beacon: New Ad Highlights Collins’ Vote to Pass Tax Break for Wealthy Corporations
Marking two years since Senator Susan Collins cast a key vote in support of the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, the progressive 16 Counties Coalition launched a new ad on Monday highlighting corporations like Amazon and… -
media mention December 4, 2019 Fox Business: Biden to Unveil Tax Proposal Targeting Corporations, Wealthy
Under Biden’s plan, companies like Amazon, Netflix, General Motors, JetBlue and IBM, which reported net income of more than $100 million in the U.S. but paid zero or negative federal… -
December 2, 2019 Worker Relief and Credit Reform Act
Data available for download The Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act would replace the existing EITC. In most cases, the WRCR credit would be $4,000 for single people and… -
media mention November 26, 2019 The News Tribune: How Did Tacoma Do Under Trump Tax Cuts? You Can Calculate it for Yourself
President Donald Trump has said it’s time to consider another tax cut — as evidence mounts that wealthier taxpayers in the Tacoma area and around the nation benefited a lot… -
media mention November 26, 2019 CNBC: Blue States File Appeal in Legal Battle Over SALT Tax Deductions
Whether the final rule will ultimately deter people from donating to these funds remains to be seen. “If you’re really passionate about private school vouchers in Georgia, you donate and… -
blog November 25, 2019 A Lump of Coal for 12 States Not Collecting Marketplace Sales Taxes this Holiday Season
The last few years have brought major improvements in how states enforce their sales tax laws on purchases made over the Internet. Less than a decade ago, e-retailers almost never collected the sales taxes owed by their customers. The result was a multi-billion dollar drain on state coffers and a competitive disadvantage for local businesses. But this holiday season looks a bit different.
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media mention November 25, 2019 The Oracle: Big Corporate Tax Loopholes Strain Florida Budget
A 2019 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, for instance, examined data from the IRS and Congressional Budget Office, estimating that Florida loses $1.1 billion annually from… -
media mention November 25, 2019 Vanity Fair: “My Reserve Of F–Ks To Give Is Really Depleted”: How Teflon Tim Cook Gets Away With Enabling Donald Trump
Cook runs the biggest company on earth, with a current market cap of $1.16 trillion, and yet, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan tax-policy think tank,… -
media mention November 24, 2019 Business Insider: From Amazon To GM, Here Are all the Major Tech and Transportation Companies who Avoided Federal Income Tax Expenses Last Year
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit think tank, analyzed SEC filings of Fortune 500 companies and identified 60 major corporations that didn’t report any federal income tax expenses in… -
media mention November 17, 2019 The New York Times: How FedEx Cut Its Tax Bill to $0
“Something like $1.5 billion in future taxes that they had promised to pay, just vanished,” said Matthew Gardner, an analyst at the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “The… -
media mention November 15, 2019 Orlando Sentinel: As Florida Cuts Corporate Taxes, Your Tax Burden Rises … and Schools, Mental Health, Roads Suffer
Families that make less than $50,000 a year pay between 8.1% and 12.7% of their income in local and state taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy,… -
media mention November 15, 2019 PolitiFact: Viral Post Says Democrats Spent $40 Million on Impeachment. That’s False
Tax policy experts told us they aren’t sure how much the impeachment inquiry has cost since Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced it Sept. 24. “I can’t think of anyone who’s tried to calculate… -
media mention November 14, 2019 USA Today: Trump Is Floating Another Tax Cut. But the Last Thing We Need Is More Breaks for the Rich.
Why is it so important that the rich pay more? Those at the top benefit much more from all the public investments we finance with our tax dollars. President Donald… -
media mention November 13, 2019 Orlando Sentinel: In Florida, 99% of Companies Pay No Corporate Income Tax — with Lawmakers’ Blessing
A leaky corporate income tax ultimately shifts more of the cost of Florida government from corporations onto others, including low- and middle-income families, said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at… -
media mention November 8, 2019 Washington Post: Pete Buttigieg Proposes Free College for Americans Earning Under $100,000 in his New Economic Plan
Democratic candidate Julián Castro, the former secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration, has also proposed expanding the EITC. Castro would go further and also make the… -
media mention November 8, 2019 The Washington Post: Pete Buttigieg Proposes Free College for Americans Earning Under $100,000 in His New Economic Plan
Democratic candidate Julián Castro, the former secretary for housing and urban development in the Obama administration, has also proposed expanding the EITC. Castro would go even further and also make… -
media mention November 7, 2019 Capitol and Main: Trump Boasts of Economic Growth as Inequality Deepens
A second term for Trump would likely mean a doubling down on his inequality exacerbating tax and regulatory agenda. “There will be more tax cuts and further inequality,” said Steven… -
media mention November 7, 2019 Fast Company: While Trump Boasts of Economic Growth, Inequality Deepens
“There will be more tax cuts and further inequality,” said Steven Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Republicans have already proposed…