Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

International Business Times UK: Legalisation of Undocumented Would Increase Tax Contribution by £1.47b a Year

April 20, 2015

Undocumented immigrants would contribute billions of dollars in tax contributions if they were granted a pathway to legal permanent residence, a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy revealed. “The reality is the 11.4m undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions of dollars in local, state and federal taxes, and their […]

Maui Now: Tax Reform and Executive Action Would Increase Immigrants Contributions

April 20, 2015

In a new study, “Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions” by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, it was found that undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions would increase significantly under the Obama administration’s executive actions and even more substantially under comprehensive immigration reform. Read more

The Inquisitor: Illegal Immigrants Pay $11.8B in Taxes

April 20, 2015

Released on Thursday, the study is the work of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research organization that is both non-profit and non-partisan. Their findings reveal that around 8.1 million undocumented, illegal immigrants were responsible for paying $11.8 billion in state and local taxes over the course of 2012. As the Fiscal Times […]

KRGV (Texas): Executive Action Would Increase Tax Contributions

April 20, 2015

“According to the U.S. Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. paid $11.84 billion in state and local taxes in 2012. ITEP’s analysis showed another bump of $845 million under the full implementation of executive actions in 2012 and 2014. The migration policy institute said over […]

Hutchinson News: Tax Poor

April 20, 2015

A new report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that in Kansas families who make less than $20,000 a year pay about 11.1 percent of their pay in state and local taxes. Those on the other end of the income scales? The report found that families with incomes above $439,000 – […]

Latin Post: All U.S. Immigrants Could Contribute $2.2B a Year

April 20, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization about tax policy issues, found that if all 11.4 million undocumented immigrants received lawful permanent residency in the U.S., then state and local tax contributions would increase by approximately $2.2 billion per year. Based on 2012 data, ITEP stated undocumented immigrants have […]

The Washington Post: Varied and Sometimes Unfair State Taxes

April 15, 2015

States favor their highest earners when it comes to taxation, according to a January report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As we reported then, the bottom fifth of earners give up nearly twice as large a share of their incomes in state and local taxes as the top 1 percent. And that skewed reliance on the poor […]

The Montgomery Advertiser: Ending Federal Tax Deduction

April 15, 2015

The lowest-earning 20 percent of residents shell out approximately 10.2 percent of their annual income on state and local taxes, for example, while top earners pay only 3.8 percent, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy. One sensible way for the Legislature to address the budget gap without doing further harm to the […]

Keene Sentinel: On Tax Day, a Look at New Hampshire’s Budget Battle

April 15, 2015

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “On average, poor homeowners and renters pay more of their incomes in property taxes than do any other income group — and the wealthiest taxpayers pay the least.” The institute issues a report every few years noting the effects of state and local tax policies on […]

The Atlantic: Americans Love Paying Taxes

April 15, 2015

These taxes are far from negligible, especially for very low-income people. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, people earning less than $19,000 a year pay an average of almost 11 percent of their income in state and local taxes, compared to the 5 percent paid by the top 1 percent of earners. […]

The Atlantic City Lab: Using Legos to Explain Tax Policy

April 15, 2015

According to a 2015 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the poorest 20 percent of individuals and families pay an average 10.9 percent in state and local taxes, while the top 1 percent pays 5.4. There are plenty of ways the U.S. could alleviate the income chasm, even before taxes enter the […]

Vermont Public Radio: Business Leaders Mount Campaign Against Plan to Limit Tax Deductions

April 15, 2015

Carl Davis is a senior analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C., based research group that analyzes federal, state and local tax policies. Davis, who lives in Vermont, says there’s no reason to think Vermont would suffer any competitive disadvantage if it goes through with the plan. “Massachusetts, Connecticut and […]

The Star News: Taxing Times for Tar Heels

April 15, 2015

Meanwhile, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that in all 50 states, the wealthy tend to pay a lower percentage of their incomes in taxes than low- and middle-income taxpayers. In North Carolina, the institute reported, a family of non-elderly taxpayers in the bottom 20 percent of income – less than $18,000 a […]

The Dallas Morning News: Tax Cuts Are Not the Answer for Texas

April 15, 2015

A recent report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities found that those who are least able to afford it pay a larger share of their incomes in state and local taxes than households that can afford to pay more. For example, Texas households with the lowest income pay almost four times as much in […]

Inland News Today: Who Pays Taxes in California?

April 15, 2015

A new study has found that the lowest-income families in California pay a greater share of their incomes in state and local taxes, on average, than other families, including those at the very top of the income ladder. The California Budget & Policy Center studied data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It […]

The Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas Tax System Puts Higher Burden on Poor

April 15, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined each state’s income, sales, excise and property taxes to determine how much the average person at various income levels would pay. In Kansas, people earning less than $20,000 paid 11.1 percent of their income in taxes on average, while people earning more than $439,000 paid only about […]

Bill Moyers: Progress is Just Another Word for Crony Capitalism

April 15, 2015

Verizon, which is the worst of the bunch, paid no federal income taxes between 2008 and 2012, according to studies from the Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

LA Times: How States Suck the Fairness out of the Tax System

April 14, 2015

A look at the data used by CTJ shows why this happens. It’s compiled annually by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which issues its own report, “Who Pays,” every few years. The main culprits are sales and excise taxes, which disproportionately hammer lower-income taxpayers. In every state and the District of Columbia, the wealthy pay […]

The Atlantic: What Undocumented Students Bring to the Classroom

April 14, 2015

The parents of undocumented students pay nearly $11 billion total a year in taxes, according to a 2013 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study, though, fearing deportation, many undocumented immigrants tend to avoid accessing many of the government services supported by those taxes. Meanwhile, many newly arrived students learn English shockingly fast. They often […]

The Toledo Blade: Lawmakers Should Expand the State EITC

April 14, 2015

Ohio has pursued an increasingly regressive tax system in recent years, and Governor Kasich’s proposed new tax plan would continue that trend. Through a combination of income tax cuts and increases in the state sales tax and other taxes, the plan would increase the tax liability of Ohio households in the bottom 60 percent of […]

The Oregonian: Oregon Lags on Transportation Investment

April 13, 2015

Explaining to The Atlantic last week why Republican state legislatures were so much readier to raise the gas tax than Republican congressmen, Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy pointed out that they didn’t have much choice: Legislatures had to balance state budgets, and they “can raise the gas tax, they can […]

Nashville Post: Possible Hall Tax Cut Among Road Blocks to the Budget

April 13, 2015

“Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-brothers-funded advocacy group, have pushed hard for the state to do away with the tax, calling it punitive for those who save for retirement. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s March 2014 report, the tax largely affects the state’s top 5 percent of earners who collectively pay approximately […]

Crain’s Detroit Business: Households Would Pay $474 More in Tax Under Prop 1

April 13, 2015

The average tax hike for the middle fifth of Michigan households — those making $40,000 to $64,000 a year — would be $267, or $22 a month, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the Michigan League for Public Policy, an advocacy group in Lansing focused on poverty. […]

Reuters: Why Are States Leaving Billions in Retiree Income on the Table?

April 13, 2015

Illinois exempts all retirement income from state taxes – Social Security, private and public pensions, and annuities. We’re leaving $2 billion on the table annually, according to the state’s estimates. And we’re hardly alone: 36 states that have an income tax allow some exemption for private or public pension benefits, and 32 exempt all Social […]

The Seattle Times: Reform Our Tax System with a Flat Tax

April 13, 2015

airness: The Washington State Tax Structure Study Committee found that in 1999 the state’s lowest-income households paid 15.7 percent of their income on state and local taxes, while the highest-income households paid just 4.4 percent. This meant that the lowest-income households had to work 8.2 weeks out of the year to pay their tax bill, […]