Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Moore Case Could Enrich Tax-Avoiding Multinational Corporations – and the SCOTUS Justices Who Own Their Stock

The Moore v. United States case that will soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court could jeopardize at least $270 billion if SCOTUS finds the entire transition tax to be unconstitutional. The decision could also invalidate other important parts of the current tax system while preempting progressive wealth tax proposals. Such an outcome would represent one of the costliest—and most ethically questionable - Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history.

Supreme Corporate Tax Giveaway: Who Would Benefit from the Roberts Court Striking Down the Mandatory Repatriation Tax?

The Supreme Court is set to hear what could become one of the most important tax cases in a century. If decided broadly—with a ruling that strikes down the Mandatory Repatriation Tax for corporations, effectively making it unconstitutional to tax unrealized income—the Roberts Court’s decision in Moore v. US could stretch far beyond the plaintiffs themselves and would put in legal jeopardy many laws that prevent corporations and individuals from avoiding taxes and level the economic playing field.

Stateline: As Child Poverty Edges Back Up, States Launch or Expand Their Own Tax Credits

September 21, 2023

The federal pandemic-era child tax credit expansion lifted millions of children out of poverty in the second half of 2021. But Congress allowed it to expire at the end of that year, and new U.S. census data shows the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, erasing the record gains that were made. Read more.

Washington Post Editorial: The Best Vehicle for Addressing Child Poverty is Right Before Our Eyes

September 18, 2023

Child poverty in the United States more than doubled from 2021 to 2022, data released Tuesday from the Census Bureau shows. The surge — by far the largest jump on record — is a tragedy that was foreseeable and could have been prevented. It is largely the result of the decision by Congress not to renew the enhanced child […]

Rep. Greg Casar on Corporate Tax Dodging & The Inflation Reduction Act

September 16, 2023

On September 14, 2023, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee held a hearing on the Inflation Reduction Act. Rep. Greg Casar talked about how necessary the IRA is to crack down on corporate tax dodging, as evidenced by research from ITEP.

Kyrsten Sinema’s Latest Fight to Protect Tax Breaks for Private Equity

Sen. Sinema's bill to stop a seemingly arcane business tax increase that was enacted as part of the 2017 Trump tax law would be hugely beneficial to the private equity industry.

Video: ITEP’s Amy Hanauer Talks Poverty and the Child Tax Credit on the Rick Smith Show

September 14, 2023

This week the Census Bureau released new numbers showing that in 2022 the U.S. lost the dramatic gains made against child poverty in 2021, in large part due to the lapsed Child Tax Credit expansion.

Salon: Child Poverty More than Doubled in 2022 Due to Republicans’ Tax Cut Push. Trump Plans for More

September 13, 2023

Trump and his advisors are setting sights on an aggressive tax cut plan to push during his 2024 campaign. Read more.

Testimony of ITEP’s Neva Butkus Before the Arkansas Senate Revenue and Tax Committee

September 12, 2023

The corporate and personal income tax changes under Senate Bill 8 would cost the state more than $200 million, with 70 percent of the overall cuts benefiting Arkansans in the top 20 percent of households.

Arkansas Advocates for Children: Lawmakers Returning To Work This Week Should Reject Costly Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

September 12, 2023

In a dramatic development, Arkansas lawmakers are returning to work at the state Capitol this week, after Gov. Huckabee Sanders called for a special session of the Legislature last Friday. Top of the agenda? Whether Arkansas should adopt another round of costly income tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy households and corporations, on top of cuts already […]

Vanity Fair: Donald Trump Wants to Give His Favorite Corporations Another Giant Tax Cut in a Second Term

September 12, 2023

Remember when Donald Trump ran for office in 2016, claiming to be a champion of the working class and the worst nightmare of the global elite? And then passed a package of tax cuts that disproportionately benefited corporations and billionaires and was basically a middle finger to American workers? Well, today brings some exciting news for those who think the überwealthy […]

Washington Post: Trump Advisers Plot Aggressive New Tax Cuts for Second White House Term

September 11, 2023

As Donald Trump widens his lead over other Republican candidates in the GOP primary, the former president’s closest economic advisers are plotting an aggressive new set of tax cuts to push on the campaign trail and from the Oval Office if he wins a second term. Read more.

ITEP’s Marco Guzman: Making a More Robust Property Tax Circuit Breaker in Colorado

September 9, 2023

ITEP Senior State Policy Analyst Marco Guzman gave a presentation on property tax circuit breakers to the Colorado General Assembly’s Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning Tax Policy on September 7, 2023. Click here for the slide deck.

How to Better Tax the Rich Men North (and South) of Richmond

When you examine tax policy through the lens of how much working (and poor) people are taxed compared to rich men north (and south) of Richmond, it’s hard not to take Oliver Anthony's runaway hit as a jumping off point to amplify some important facts.

New York Times: New Corporate Minimum Tax Ushers In Confusion and a Lobbying Blitz

September 7, 2023

The new corporate minimum tax was one of the most significant changes to the U.S. tax code in decades. Its logic rested on the idea that rich companies should not be able to find loopholes and other accounting maneuvers in order to pay lower tax rates than their workers. But making the tax operational has become a […]

Mother Jones: The Struggle to Tax the Rich Isn’t Done Yet—In Some States It’s Actually Happening

August 24, 2023

Under an overcast sky, Patty Flores led a group of colleagues to an empty lot in the mobile home park where she lived. A bare patch of grass traced the outline of a home set ablaze in an electrical fire.  She saw it as a symptom of a larger problem, one that connected to her rising […]

Mother Jones: “The Wealthy Tend to Always Look Out for Themselves”—The Attack on State Taxes By Outside Groups

August 22, 2023

Amia Edwards lives here because she wants to make a difference. But in this majority-Black city, long starved for funding by the state’s mostly white Legislature, that’s proved a steep challenge. Read more.

Chicago Fed: Electric Vehicles, Motor Fuel Taxes, and Road Funding in the Seventh District and Beyond

August 17, 2023

State and federal highways are currently funded by a combination of motor fuel taxes (MFTs), general fund transfers, fees, tolls, property taxes, and bond revenues. Read more.

Does Your State Offer Tax Credits for Private K-12 School Voucher Contributions?

Twenty-one states provide public support to private and religious K-12 schools through school voucher tax credits.

Editorial: Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday is Mostly Hype

August 15, 2023

It’s just about back-to-school time, and Gov. Phil Murphy and other Democratic state leaders are showing their love for New Jersey families by offering this special giveaway: 20 cents in sales tax savings off a $3 notebook. Or 13 cents off $2 box of pencils. Wow, right? Read more.

Washington Post: Biden Wants Rich Companies to Pay Higher Taxes. Some Are Fighting Back.

August 14, 2023

It was a simple idea: Major U.S. corporations should pay at least a 15 percent tax on their income, ending an era when some of the country’s most profitable firms owed the federal government little or nothing at all. Instead, the policy championed by President Biden remains bogged down in Washington amid growing legal uncertainty […]

Celebrating One Year Since the Landmark Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act was a course correction from decades of tax cuts that primarily went to the richest Americans and left the rest of us with budget shortfalls that conservative lawmakers now seek to plug with cuts to Social Security and Medicare. For the first time in generations we are finally asking those who have benefited the most from our economy to contribute back.

City of Seattle Revenue Stabilization Workgroup: Final Report

August 10, 2023

Seattle strives to support a social safety net for people in need and to uplift our diverse communities. Those services are too often financed by putting a disproportionate burden on those least able to afford it. Washington State ranks as having the most regressive tax system in the country. It doesn’t need to be that […]

Video: ITEP’s Carl Davis Presents ‘Tax Policy to Reduce Racial Retirement Wealth Inequality’ at UPenn’s Wharton School

August 8, 2023

ITEP Research Director Carl Davis presents “Tax Policy to Reduce Racial Retirement Wealth Inequality,” coauthored with ITEP’s Brakeyshia Samms, at the 2023 Pension Research Council Symposium “Diversity, Inclusion, and Inequality: Implications for Retirement Income Security and Policy.”

New York Times: What’s the Matter With Miami?

August 4, 2023

For a couple of years after the pandemic struck, there was considerable buzz to the effect that much of the financial industry might leave New York for Miami. After all, state and local taxes on the richest one percent are much lower in Florida than in New York — about nine points lower as a percentage of income, according […]