New estimates from ITEP show that Julián Castro’s refundable tax credit proposal would mostly benefit the bottom 60 percent of households and would have a cost ($195 billion in 2020) that places it roughly in the middle of the different tax credit proposals that Democrats have offered over the past several months.
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blog September 17, 2019 Julián Castro Provides the Latest Proposal to Expand Refundable Tax Credits
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report September 17, 2019 Working Families First Credit
The Working Families First Credit proposal would increase the CTC from $2,000 to $3,000 and remove the limits on refundability that prevent many lower-income families from receiving the entire credit and expand the EITC by increasing the rate at which earnings are credited and it would provide a larger increase for childless workers. View the distributional analysis.
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map September 16, 2019 Cannabis Tax Revenue, Per Capita, April – June 2019
Seven states currently allow for the legal, taxable sale of recreational cannabis. The above map shows per capita revenue collections from excise and sales taxes on cannabis during the second quarter of 2019, the most recent period for which data are available in every state. The most lucrative cannabis market in the country, from a tax revenue perspective, is in Washington State where the 46 percent combined tax rate applied to cannabis is the highest in the country. Collections in California and Massachusetts, by contrast, remain low as these states are still in the early stages of establishing their legal markets. ITEP has issued in-depth analyses of cannabis taxes in general and of California’s market in particular.
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blog September 16, 2019 The Case for a Federal Wealth Tax
A federal wealth tax on the richest 0.1 percent of Americans is a viable approach for Congress to raise revenue and address economic inequality. This new video from ITEP makes the case for a federal wealth tax.
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blog September 12, 2019 Why Are Ideologues Trying to Downplay Poverty and Economic Inequality?
Our elected officials should pause and check the pulse of the nation. The public is aware of the great income divide and likely isn’t keen on an agenda that would use sleight of hand to “reduce” poverty and spend less on domestic programs—particularly when that agenda is in tandem with using the tax code to further boost income for the wealthy.
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blog September 12, 2019 Sen. Wyden’s Anti-Deferral Accounting Proposal Could Be a Game-Changer
Today, Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, fulfilled a promise he made several months ago to release a proposal that could fundamentally transform how the… -
news release September 12, 2019 Senator Releases Plan That Would Increase Capital Gains Tax Rates, Close Loopholes
Following is a statement from Alan Essig, executive director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, on the paper released today by the Senate Finance Committee’s ranking Democrat, Ron Wyden, calling for anti-deferral accounting, which could dramatically reform the way the U.S. taxes capital gains.
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September 12, 2019 Comments on Senate Finance Committee Paper on Anti-Deferral Accounting
Comments on Senate Finance Committee Paper on Anti-Deferral Accounting
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news release September 12, 2019 New Report: A Chicago EITC Would Benefit up to 1 Million Chicago Families
Media contact Report outlines policy options for Chicago Resilient Families Initiative Task Force Recommendations A new report reveals that a city-level, Chicago Earned Income Tax Credit would boost the economic security… -
report September 12, 2019 Promoting Greater Economic Security Through A Chicago Earned Income Tax Credit: Analyses of Six Policy Design Options
A new report reveals that a city-level, Chicago Earned Income Tax Credit would boost the economic security of 546,000 to 1 million of the city’s working families. ITEP produced a cost and distributional analysis of six EITC policy designs, which outlines the average after-tax income boost for families at varying income levels. The most generous policy option would increase after-tax income for more than 1 million working families with an
average benefit, depending on income, ranging from $898 to $1,426 per year. -
ITEP Work in Action September 11, 2019 The Half Sheet: Over 1 Million Virginia Taxpayers Expected to Miss Out on Refund Checks
If everything goes according to schedule, Virginia’s tax department will begin issuing $110 refund checks – $220 for joint filers – to Virginia taxpayers beginning next week and continuing through… -
blog September 10, 2019 Census Numbers Show the Power of the Tax Code to Direct Resources to Low-Income Families
Refundable federal tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), lifted 7.9 million people out of poverty in 2018. This latest analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau demonstrates the power of federal programs to alleviate poverty and help low-income families keep up with the increasing cost of living.
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blog September 10, 2019 How Tax Policy Can Help Mitigate Poverty, Address Income Inequality
Analysts at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy have produced multiple recent briefs and reports that provide insight on how current and proposed tax policies affect family economic security and income inequality.
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report September 10, 2019 Major Federal Tax Credit Proposals
In 2019, several federal lawmakers have introduced tax credit proposals to significantly expand existing tax credits or create new ones to benefit low- and moderate-income people. While these proposals vary a great deal and take different approaches, all build off the success of the EITC and CTC and target their benefits to families in the bottom 60 percent of the income distribution who have an annual household income of $70,000 or less.
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map September 6, 2019 How Do State Tax Sales of Over-the-Counter Medication?
While most states levy general sales taxes on items that consumers purchase every day, those taxes often contain carveouts for some necessities such as rent, groceries, and medicine. Prescription drugs,… -
ITEP Work in Action September 4, 2019 MECEP: NEW REPORT: Maine reaches new milestone on the road to tax fairness
Starting in 2020 and for the first time in decades, the Mainers who earn the least will no longer pay a larger share of their income to state and local taxes than those who earn the most, according to a policy brief published today by the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
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September 3, 2019 Erika Frankel
Erika brings more than 25 years of information management, project management, and development experience in non-profit, government, and commercial environments to the Data and Model Team. She redesigned the platform for ITEP’s flagship microsimulation model, allowing ITEP to respond more quickly to a wider range of policy proposals and changes.
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map August 30, 2019 Where Does Your State Fall on the ITEP Tax Inequality Index?
The vast majority of state and local tax systems exacerbate the economic divide by taxing low- and middle-income families at higher rates than the wealthy. This map distills an exhaustive… -
blog August 29, 2019 ICYMI: A Brief Summary of Our August Blogs and Reports
DESPITE CONTRARY CLAIMS, NUMBERS SHOW TRUMP TAX LAW STILL FAVORS THE WEALTHY GOP leaders continue to misrepresent who benefits from the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law, most recently claiming most “of… -
blog August 29, 2019 New Analysis: A Third of NC Taxpayers Won’t Benefit from Proposed Tax Refund Plan
North Carolina Senate and House leaders are moving forward with a flawed proposal to spend the majority of the state’s revenue over collections, more than $600 million, to issue tax refund checks of $125 per taxpayer ($250 for married couples).
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blog August 28, 2019 Updated Estimates from ITEP: Trump Tax Law Still Benefits the Rich No Matter How You Look at It
President Trump’s allies in Congress continue to defend their 2017 tax law in misleading ways. Just last week, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee stated that most “of the tax overhaul went into the pockets of working families and Main Street businesses who need it most, not Wall Street.” ITEP’s most recent analysis estimates that in 2020 the richest 5 percent of taxpayers will receive $145 billion in tax cuts, or half the law’s benefits to U.S. taxpayers.
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report August 28, 2019 TCJA by the Numbers, 2020
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), signed into law by President Trump at the end of 2017, includes provisions that dramatically cut taxes and provisions that offset a fraction of the revenue loss by eliminating or limiting certain tax breaks. This page includes estimates of TCJA’s impacts in 2020.
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blog August 22, 2019 Why California’s Cannabis Market May Not Tell You Much about Legalization in Your State
New tax data out of California, the world’s largest market for legal cannabis, tell a complicated story about the cannabis industry and its tax revenue potential. Legal cannabis markets take time to establish, and depending on local market conditions, the revenue states raise can vary significantly.
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blog August 20, 2019 White House Considers Payroll Tax Cut that GOP Opposed During Obama Years
The Trump Administration is considering cutting the Social Security payroll tax to prevent an economic downturn, something that seemed more justified when enacted in the aftermath of the Great Recession—when congressional Republicans largely opposed it. Here are some things to remember about this tax.
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blog August 20, 2019 Business Roundtable’s Newfound Devotion to Corporate Responsibility Doesn’t Include Paying Taxes
If you squint really hard, the Business Roundtable’s newly declared fondness for “supporting the communities in which we work” could be read as an acknowledgment of the need for a tax system that can pay for needed services. But it’s not.