2,364 posts
New 20-Year Study Provides Insight on How State Tax Systems Worsen Inequality and the Racial Wealth Gap
• By ITEP Staff, Lisa Christensen Gee
A new study finds that over the last 20 years, Illinois’s tax system has effectively sapped $4 billion more from Black and Hispanic communities than it would have under a graduated income tax while also allowing the state’s highest-income (mostly white) households to pay $27 billion less in taxes, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) said today.
Illinois’s Flat Tax Exacerbates Income Inequality and Racial Wealth Gaps
• By Lisa Christensen Gee
Flat or graduated personal income taxes have varying effects on the annual individual tax liabilities of taxpayers at different income levels. Less examined is how tax structures affect income inequality and racial wealth gaps. This brief illustrates how Illinois’s historic flat income tax structure compares to the proposed Fair Tax through a multi-year retrospective analysis. It shows that Illinois’s flat income tax in lieu of a graduated rate tax used by most states amounts to…
The Vital Role of Public Programs in Moving People and Families Out of Poverty
• By Aidan Davis
More families across our nation are struggling to meet their most basic needs. High unemployment, the struggle to put enough food on the table, and an inability to make rent or mortgage payments are widespread. Absent federal intervention, outcomes would have been worse. Over the past few months, federal and state relief measures have mitigated hardship. By putting cash in the hands of those who need it most, lawmakers were able to stabilize some families’ budgets and prop up our fragile…
Boosting Incomes and Improving Tax Equity with State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2020
• By Aidan Davis
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the incomes of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for families struggling to afford the high cost of living to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the…
Tax Justice is…
• By Amy Hanauer
Racial justice requires tax justice. Economic justice requires tax justice. Climate and health justice require, yes, tax justice.
GOP ‘Skinny Bill’ Rightly Fails, Too Skimpy for This Crisis
• By Amy Hanauer
"Nearly one in eight households don't have enough to eat. Millions are at risk of eviction. State and local governments are facing revenue shortfalls of well more than $500 billion, leading to inevitable layoffs and cuts to critical services. Knowing that, the Republican Senate put forth a so-called skinny COVID relief package that failed to address these concerns. Too skimpy for this crisis, the bill failed as it should have."
Millionaire Population Swells in Blue States Despite Migration Fearmongering
• By Carl Davis
Although the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has created a slew of problems, it is now clear that a mass migration of top earners out of higher-tax blue states is not one of them.
The Rich Are Weathering the Pandemic Just Fine: Tax Them
• By Carl Davis, ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe
Reductions in critical state and local investments, including health care and education, would only exacerbate the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 and worsen racial and income inequality for years to come. Higher taxes on top earners are among the best options for addressing pandemic-related state revenue shortfalls in the coming months.
South Strong: Racial Equity and Taxes in Southern States
• By Amy Hanauer, Meg Wiehe
Southern states have a particularly egregious record on tax equity, rooted partly in racism. Lawmakers baked some of the most egregious and anti-democratic tax policies into southern state constitutions, such as supermajority requirements to raise taxes in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, income tax rate caps in North Carolina and Georgia, and the recent elimination of […]
Missed Opportunity: Flimsy Paper Touts Flawed Program
• By Amy Hanauer, ITEP Staff, Lorena Roque
Republicans continue to tout Opportunity Zones as their main vehicle to assist poor people, most recently with a deeply flawed report from President Trump’s White House Council of Economic Advisors and a mention from Donald Trump Jr. in his opening night convention speech. The report purports to compare—as a way of cutting poverty—tax breaks for investors vs food, cash or health insurance coverage for struggling families.
Keystone Research Center: REPORT: Why Pennsylvania Needs a State Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
• By ITEP Staff
If one thing has become clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that workers who do essential things like providing care for the sick, stocking shelves at grocery stores, and cleaning facilities to keep our buildings clean and safe are undervalued in our society. Despite their hard work, many Pennsylvanians earn such low wages that […]
Analysis: Trump’s Proposed Capital Gains Break Almost Exclusively Benefits Top 1 Percent
• By Steve Wamhoff
On Aug. 13, President Trump pledged to cut the top federal income tax for capital gains to 15 percent. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that 99 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers. This is unsurprising given that only those with taxable income of nearly half a million dollars are subject to a capital gains tax rate higher than 15 percent.
Revenue for Rhode Island: An Equitable Path Forward
• By ITEP Staff
We propose raising revenue for Rhode Island by adding one new tax bracket for the top 1% of earners – from 5.99% to 8.99% on adjusted gross income above $475,000. The average adjusted gross income for those impacted is $1 million dollars per year. This proposal will have no effect on Rhode Islanders outside of […]
Trump’s Executive Order on Social Security Payroll Taxes Is a Mess
• By Steve Wamhoff
President Trump’s executive order that would supposedly allow workers to delay paying Social Security taxes, along with his related public statements, have created a situation that is bizarre even by 2020 standards.
Action (lack thereof) on Economic Aid Reflects Longstanding Anti-Government Agenda
• By Amy Hanauer
The biggest danger we face right now is that politicians will fail to get this health crisis under control and Americans will continue to die. The second biggest danger is that elected officials will fail to help families and communities, leading to foreclosures, evictions, and impoverishment—and also torpedoing the economy. With their inaction this week, the Senate seems determined to do both. Hold on everyone, we’re in for a sickening ride.
IRS Rule Leaves the Door Open for Private/Religious School Voucher Donation Schemes, Broader SALT Cap Workarounds
• By Carl Davis
An IRS regulation released last Friday sanctions a widely derided tax dodge that allows profitable businesses to avoid taxes by sending money to private and religious school voucher funds. It also leaves the door open to a brand of state and local tax (SALT) cap workaround that previously appeared to be on its way out.
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Supporting Racial Equity and a Robust Recovery with a Corporate Income Tax Rate Increase
• By ITEP Staff
By returning the state corporate income tax to pre2010 rates, the Commonwealth could raise $375 million to $500 million a year to help fund a racially equitable, economically just, and robust recovery. As is now clear, low-income communities and communities of color have been hurt far more deeply by the COVID-19 pandemic than wealthier and […]
Between the Lines: Amazon Q2 Report Hints It Will Avoid Taxes on This Year’s Record Profit Haul
• By Matthew Gardner
The House Judiciary Committee last week held an antitrust hearing to scrutinize Amazon and other tech companies’ growing dominance. A look at the online retail giant’s new quarterly report and past tax avoidance reveals why lawmakers should be equally concerned about how the tax system allows dominant, profitable corporations to avoid most or all federal tax on their profits. Amazon, yet again, is poised to pay little or no federal income tax on its record…
Sorry, States: GOP Senate Ignores Need for Federal Relief to State and Local Governments
• By Meg Wiehe
During the Great Recession, the most ambitious state revenue-raising efforts closed just 10 percent of shortfalls and most states relied heavily on federal aid and budget cuts to balance their budgets. Of course, states can and should turn to progressive revenue-raising options now, but as the pandemic rages on, the extent of this crisis will become too significant for states and localities to handle on their own. The federal government should step in to help.
Biden’s Minimum Corporate Tax Proposal: Yes, Please Limit Amazon’s Tax Breaks
• By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
A large majority of Americans want corporations to pay more taxes and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has several proposals to achieve that. The newest idea is to require corporations to pay a minimum tax equal to 15 percent of profits they report to shareholders and to the public if this is less than what they pay under regular corporate tax rules. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal quotes several critics of the…
Sales Tax Holidays: An Ineffective Alternative to Real Sales Tax Reform
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
Lawmakers in many states have enacted “sales tax holidays” (16 states will hold them in 2020) to provide a temporary break on paying the tax on purchases of clothing, school supplies, and other items. These holidays may seem to lessen the regressive impacts of the sales tax, but their benefits are minimal while their downsides are significant—and amplified in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy brief looks at sales tax holidays as a…
A Cautionary Tale on Sales Tax Holidays During a Pandemic
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
Sixteen U.S. states will hold “sales tax holidays” this year. As ITEP’s newly updated brief explains, these events offer dubious benefits at significant public expense even in normal years, problems which are only amplified in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Hero vs a Heel: No Contest
• By Amy Hanauer
Americans are demanding policy that meets the needs of this urgent moment. There are now competing proposals from the U.S. House and Senate: One is a reasonable response to the staggering crisis we’re in. One is not.
A Tax Loophole You Could Drive a Food Truck Through: Senate GOP Proposes Full Deductibility of Business Meals
• By Matthew Gardner
After weeks of being in no particular hurry to assemble a new COVID-19 economic relief package, the Senate GOP has released its plan. It includes the “Supporting America’s Restaurant Workers Act,” which would allow business owners to write off 100 percent of the cost of their restaurant meals through the end of 2020. The two most obvious questions to ask about such a plan are “why” and “why now?” Republican lawmakers have not offered sensible…
New Analysis Compares HEROES Act and HEALS Act, Disaggregates Data by Race and Income
• By ITEP Staff, Jessica Schieder, Meg Wiehe, Steve Wamhoff
The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act released by Senate Republicans Monday includes a tax rebate that is slightly more generous than the one provided under the March CARES Act, but fails to correct most of the earlier act’s problems. House Democrats addressed these shortcomings in the May HEROES Act, a better starting place for negotiations over the next round of COVID-19 relief. ITEP has analyzed both acts to provide a detailed…
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