2,364 posts
New York Times: Arizona Passes a Ballot Measure to Raise Teacher Pay by Taxing the Wealthy
November 6, 2020
Prop. 208 passed with 52 percent of voters supporting the measure, The Associated Press reported late Thursday. Under Arizona’s rules for ballot measures, the tax increase needed a simple majority to pass. “It’s a significant win, not just for Arizona, but I think it sent signals all across the country,” said Meg Wiehe, deputy executive […]
Axios: The Wealthy Rush to Shield Their Assets From Biden
November 2, 2020
Driving the news: Biden says he wants to raise taxes on people who earn more than $400,000 a year — which excludes most Americans — and lower the amounts people can give tax-free to their spouses and heirs. … “Just 1.9 percent of taxpayers would see a direct tax hike” if Biden’s tax proposals for individuals […]
Jacobin: Donald Trump Lied About Passing Pro-Worker Industrial Policy
November 2, 2020
The Trump tax plan also literally gives corporations more incentives to move production to other countries. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Trump’s plan “taxes the offshore profits of American corporations at a rate of zero percent or, sometimes, at half the rate imposed on domestic profits. […] This can also encourage […]
BBC: US Election 2020: Fact-checking Trump and Biden’s Final Week
October 31, 2020
In 2018, 91 of the top 500 companies in the US effectively paid no tax, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Despite making almost $80bn in pre-tax income, some companies paid no taxes, as the US corporate tax code “lowers the bar for the amount of tax avoidance it […]
Florida Policy Institute: Florida Would See an Extra $577 Million in Sales Tax Revenue Under Amendment 2
• By ITEP Staff
As Florida Policy Institute and many others have demonstrated, gradually increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026 would help lift households out of poverty and reduce pay inequities long experienced by women, people of color, and immigrants. Additionally, a new analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that Amendment 2 […]
Chicago Tribune: Commentary: How Illinois’ Small Businesses Will Benefit from a Graduated-rate Income Tax
October 30, 2020
Recent studies have shown that for decades, the current flat tax structure has only worsened income inequality throughout the state, stunting much-needed revenue and consumer spending. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that over the last 20 years, Black and Hispanic households in Illinois that make less than $250,000 per year paid $4 billion […]
Deadline: Joe Biden Slams Netflix & Amazon On Taxes, Again
October 30, 2020
The tax debate flared after President Donald Trump and the Republicans reworked the corporate tax code in 2016, slashing the corporate tax rate to 21%, from 35%. A widely cited analysis by Washington, D.C. think tank the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy last year analyzed 2018 financial filings of the country’s largest publicly held companies and […]
An Underfunded IRS Allows Corporations to Get Away with Probably Illegal Tax Dodges
• By Matthew Gardner
A new look at S&P 500 annual financial reports for 2019 shows that five companies—Chevron, Dell, Eli Lilly, ExxonMobil and General Electric—kept $1 billion in tax breaks they admitted were probably illegal because tax authorities failed to come to a final determination before the statute of limitations ran out.
Trump Says Taxes Will Be Too High on the 2% Who Pay More Under Biden’s Plan
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Trump campaign has failed to convince the public that large numbers of Americans would face tax hikes under Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s tax plan. The claim has been widely discredited. For example, ITEP found that the federal taxes that people pay directly would rise for just 1.9 percent of taxpayers in the U.S., and that number does not vary much by state. So, Fox News and other conservative voices are trying out a new…
Voters Have the Chance in 2020 to Increase Tax Equity in Arizona, Illinois, and California, And They Should
• By Marco Guzman
There’s a lot at stake in this election cycle: the nation and our economy are reeling from the effects brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and states remain in limbo as they weigh deep budget cuts and rush to address projected revenue shortfalls.
New ITEP Report Shows Few Taxpayers in Each State Paying More Under Biden’s Tax Plan
• By Steve Wamhoff
An ITEP report finds that taxes that people pay directly would stay the same or go down in 2022 for 98.1 percent of Americans under President-elect Joe Biden’s tax plan.
New 50-State Analysis of Biden Revenue-Raising Tax Proposals
• By ITEP Staff
A state-by-state analysis of President-elect Joe Biden’s proposal to raise taxes for filers with income of more than $400,000 finds that in 2022, just 1.9 percent of all taxpayers would face a direct tax increase. This would vary only slightly by state. For example, in West Virginia, 0.6 percent of taxpayers would see an increase, and in Connecticut, 3.7 percent of taxpayers’ taxes would increase.
People Need Relief. House Compromise COVID-19 Bill Addresses Urgent Needs
• By Amy Hanauer
Media contact Following is a statement by Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding the COVID-19 relief bill that the U.S. House is expected to vote on this week. “The revised House COVID-19 relief bill, a significant compromise from House Democrats’ initial HEROES act passed in May, is sorely […]
Donald Trump and Taxes: Fast and Loose with Loopholes or Fraud?
• By Matthew Gardner
The president’s apparent abuse of everything from hair-care deductions to consulting fees for family members raises questions about whether Trump was fast and loose with tax loopholes or whether the IRS simply wasn’t enforcing the law. Either way, Trump successfully flouting or pushing the limits of the law shouldn’t come as a surprise: Congress has cut IRS funding, in real terms in each of the last 10 years.
A 2017 Tax Provision Could Have Restrained Trump’s Tax Dodging, But Congress Just Weakened It
• By Steve Wamhoff
President Trump and Republicans in Congress passed up almost every opportunity to shut down special tax breaks and loopholes for real estate investors when they enacted their 2017 tax law. They did, however, include some welcome provisions to limit how business owners use losses to avoid taxes, and these provisions could potentially limit the sort of tax dodging perfected by Trump. Unfortunately, Congress temporarily reversed these limits with some provisions tucked into the CARES Act…
Real Tax Reform Never Had a Chance Under Trump
• By Steve Wamhoff
Congress is certainly to blame both for providing a ridiculously lenient tax code for the super-wealthy and for preventing the IRS from enforcing even the existing weak limits in the law on tax avoidance. But make no mistake, one person is primarily responsible for the farce that is Donald Trump’s tax dodging, and that is Donald Trump. For years, he has actively and loudly supported special tax breaks and tax shelters, making him anything but…
It’s Time to Change the Tax Laws to Make Donald Trump and Corporate Giants Pay Up
• By Amy Hanauer
It’s time for a new approach. Trump’s egregious tax avoidance further exposes a system that preserves an enormous and growing economic divide. Congress has gutted IRS funding so that we don’t have the resources to audit wealthy tax avoiders. And lobbyists continue to secure giveaways for corporate clients that do nothing for our communities.
ITEP: New York Times’ Trump Tax Revelation Confirms What We Already Know
• By Steve Wamhoff
"The New York Times revelation of Trump’s years of dodging taxes confirms something we already know. There are two tax systems: one that most of us follow, and another far more generous one for the very rich."
It’s No Secret—To Save State Budgets End Preferential Treatment of Capital Gains
• By Marco Guzman
In an updated policy brief, ITEP explores the flaws in state capital gains tax breaks and highlights how ending special tax breaks provides one of the simplest ways to raise additional revenue and increase equity in the tax system.
State Taxation of Capital Gains: The Folly of Tax Cuts & Case for Proactive Reforms
• By Marco Guzman
The federal tax system and every state treat income from capital gains more favorably than income from work. Preferential capital gains tax treatment includes exclusions and seldom-discussed provisions like deferral and stepped-up basis, as well as more direct tax subsidies for profits realized from local investments and, in some instances, from investments around the world. This policy brief explains state capital gains taxation, examines the flaws in state capital gains tax breaks, and proposes reform…
Of Shiny Objects and Scapegoats
• By Jenice R. Robinson
While the moneyed elite were dangling shiny objects, scapegoating Black and brown people, denigrating immigrants, and financing studies to convince us that poor people are the problem, they were concurrently securing policies that cut taxes primarily for the rich and profitable corporations, deregulated industry, weakened unions and attacked voting rights. This and more allowed the rich to amass even more wealth and power.
Another Reason to Tax the Rich? States with High Top Tax Rates Doing as Well, if Not Better, than States Without Income Taxes
• By Carl Davis
ITEP updated a 2017 study that examined the economic performance of the nine states with the highest top marginal tax rates compared to the nine states with no state income tax. Economies in states with the highest top marginal rates grew faster. States facing budget shortfalls should first look at raising taxes on those most able to pay (incomes at the top have grown during this economic crisis) before considering harmful budget cuts.
New ITEP Estimates on Biden’s Proposal to Expand the Child Tax Credit
• By Steve Wamhoff
On Thursday, former Vice President Joe Biden announced that his tax plan would include a provision passed by House Democrats to temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC), potentially lifting millions of children out of poverty. Estimates from ITEP show that this change would benefit most families with children—more than 83 million children live in households that would benefit if this was in effect in 2020—but the most dramatic boost would go to low-income families.
Webinar: What’s Tax Got to Do With It?
• By ITEP Staff
Tax justice is necessary to achieve racial, social and economic justice. We need race-forward tax policies that create opportunity for everyone, demand corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share and raise enough revenue to respond to compounding climate, health and economic crises. Tax justice is justice. Sen. Sherrod Brown, joined by Dorian Warren (Community […]
Illinois’s Flat Income Tax Amounts to a Tax Subsidy for the Wealthiest Illinoisans that Compounds Income and Wealth Inequalities
• By Lisa Christensen Gee
This November, Illinoisans will decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow a graduated income tax. A “yes” vote on the Illinois Fair Tax constitutional amendment will make effective legislation that will replace the current flat tax rate of 4.95 percent with graduated rates that cut taxes for those with taxable income less than $250,000 and institute higher marginal rates on taxable incomes greater than $250,000.
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