Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Kansas City Star: Study Ranks Kansas, Missouri Fairly High in Tax Fairness

September 17, 2014

Missouri and Kansas appear to have relatively fair state and local tax systems when compared with other states, according to a study released Monday. The study by WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked Kansas 14th for tax fairness. Missouri ranked 21st.  The survey results were then compared with state and local tax burden data from […]

The Philadelphia Inquirer: As Wealth Shifts, States Struggle to Tax Rich, Poor

September 17, 2014

The growing concentration of income among the richest Americans has made it tougher for states to fund their budgets, because of the way most states fund public services, writes Gabriel J. Petek, San Francisco-based primary credit analyst for Standard & Poor’s Rating Services.  Separately, WalletHub, a Washington-based consumer credit data service owned by ex-Capital One […]

Greenfield Daily Reporter: NY Tax Receipts Keep Rising Despite Growing Gap Between the Rich and the Rest

September 17, 2014

New York tax collections have continued rising despite a growing income gap between its richest residents and everyone else, even as a national study shows overall growth in state tax receipts slowing as the income gap widens across the U.S. While declining to immediately comment on the S&P analysis, Cuomo administration officials pointed to a […]

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Poverty Data Not Surprising, No Matter How You Spin It

September 16, 2014 • By Jenice Robinson

The top 20 percent of households captured more of the nation’s collective income (51 percent) than the rest of population, according to the Census report Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013 released today. This is consistent with what we know about worsening income inequality in this nation. Median household income remained relatively stagnant […]

Newsweek: How Companies Get Rich off Taxes

September 8, 2014

By David Cay Johnston Today at least 362 of the Fortune 500 companies have more than 7,800 tax haven subsidiaries, many stuffed with cash, according to a tiny nonprofit research organization, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its detailed analysis of company disclosure statements found that in the five-year period from 2008 through 2012, […]

Spokesman-Review: Corporate Taxes Exaggerated

September 8, 2014

By Lewis Marler Corporations, their lobbyists and most of the media complain that the statutory corporate tax rate is 35 percent and among the highest in the developed world. But studies (Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy) demonstrate the effective tax rate – the percentage of profits that corporations actually pay in taxes – is […]

Chicago Tribune: Roads May Crumble as People Go Green

September 8, 2014

By Julie Wernau State governments aren’t the only ones struggling. Over the past five years, Congress has transferred $53 billion from the general fund to the Highway Trust Fund in order to compensate for lagging gas tax revenues, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Highway Trust Fund supports 39 percent of […]

Chicago Tribune: How Some of Illinois’s Largest Companies Cut Their Taxes

September 5, 2014

The United States generally taxes the income of large corporations at 35 percent, one of the highest rates in the world. It has spurred companies such as Lake Forest-based Hospira to enter talks to buy a French company in a deal that would enable the drugmaker to move its headquarters to that country and lower […]

NYT: Businesses Are Winning Cat and Mouse Tax Game

September 3, 2014

By David Gelles A pharmaceutical company moved its headquarters to Ireland, sharply reducing its tax rate. A billboard company reclassified itself as a real estate concern, meaning it will no longer pay corporate taxes. And a big oil producer split itself in two, cleaving off a multibillion-dollar division that now operates tax-free.…“Wall Street is whispering […]

Beaver County Times: Taxes May Be Biggest Burden Facing Aliquippa

August 28, 2014

By Tom Davidson, The city still bustles with traffic now and then, although most of it’s just passing through town. On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Dwan Walker and City Manager Sam Gill took a drive through Aliquippa, starting at what they call the east end corridor between the Ohio River and Route 51 where the Jones […]

The Christian Science Monitor: A Solution to Burger King-Like Inversions

August 28, 2014

All the fracas over tax inversions like the recent Burger King-Tim Horton’s merger has generated some interesting ideas for broader changes in the way we tax multinational firms. One would base a firm’s US taxable profits on the US share of its total worldwide sales. … Single sales factor apportionment is hardly new. In 2012, […]

Akron Beacon Journal: After a decade of tax cuts in Ohio

August 25, 2014

“Zach Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio has assessed the broad impact of the changes, with the help of the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group in Washington. In a report released this week, he found that as a result, the state has experienced a net decrease in revenue of $3 billion a […]

The Day: Tax-Free Shopping Starts Sunday in Connecticut

August 20, 2014

Connecticut’s annual sales-tax holiday coinciding with back-to-school shopping kicks off Sunday and runs through Aug. 23. The tax holiday primarily applies to clothing and footwear costing less than $300 per item. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, in an appearance to promote the tax holiday, said this week that the idea is to boost retail sales while […]

The Spectrum: Solution Possible for the Corporate Tax Issue

August 20, 2014

By Della Lowe: A week ago, Walgreen’s reversed its decision to move its corporate headquarters out of the United States, a move that would have been in name only but would have allowed the drugstore chain to save billions of dollars over the next five years in taxes. It appears from the news reports that […]

The Motley Fool: The 5 States with the Highest Sales Tax

August 20, 2014

By Jeremy Bowman: Nearly every state in the union charges a sales tax, and the tax levied on goods and services sold at the retail level is just one of many tools states use to collect revenue, along with licensing and taxes on income, corporations, and property. Sales taxes tend to attract less attention than […]

The Toledo Blade: Tax Shift and Shaft

August 20, 2014

By the Editorial Board: Nearly a decade ago, Ohio placed a fateful bet: that big tax cuts, especially for the state’s richest people and corporations, would generate strong job creation, economic growth, and revenue increases. That mostly hasn’t happened. Columbus’ tax-cut scheme — which costs about $3 billion a year — has forced huge reductions […]

USA Today: Shrinking Revenue Spurs Gas Tax Alternative

August 14, 2014

By Elaine S. Povich It was the potholes that convinced real estate broker Lester Friedman that there’s got to be a better way to pay for road construction and repairs. Friedman, who lives in Bend, Oregon, drives about 8,000 miles a year in his 1999 Chevrolet Suburban, ferrying clients throughout central Oregon. He sees roads […]

Politico: Craft Beer Tastes Great, Less Taxes

August 14, 2014

By Kelsey Snell Trendy craft beer sales are booming, and cities and states are hoping tax breaks will help them elbow their way into a seat at the bar. Targeted tax breaks are a favorite tool for states looking to capitalize on a growing industry, and states from California to New York are all hoping […]

The Bond Buyer: No Easy Fix for Highway Trust Fund

August 14, 2014

By Jim Watts Congress delayed but did not fix a $100 billion hole in federal transportation spending with the enactment last Friday of legislation providing $10.8 billion to extend solvency of the rapidly shrinking Highway Trust Fund by 10 months. … The gasoline tax is quickly losing steam and purchasing power, according to the Institute […]

Bloomberg BNA: Processor Giant Intel Corp. Enters $100 Billion Incentive Agreement to Invest in Oregon

August 14, 2014

By Michael Kerman Processor and semiconductor giant Intel Corp. entered a Strategic Investment Program Agreement Aug. 11 with Washington County, Oregon’s second-largest county, located just outside Portland, the Portland Business Journal reports. The agreement is loaded with property tax incentives to ensure that Intel continues to invest in manufacturing and developing technologies in the state. […]

NYT: The Muddled Road to Overhauling Corporate Taxes

August 14, 2014

By Patricia Cohen Every loophole has its lover. That’s why, despite the furor that has erupted over American companies adopting foreign headquarters to reduce their taxes, it is proving so difficult to fix a corporate tax system that most everyone agrees is badly broken. … According to a study of scores of Fortune 500 companies […]

Washington Post: Do Sales-Tax Holidays Boost Back-to-School Shopping?

August 11, 2014

By Sarah Halzack It’s back-to-school shopping season, meaning parents everywhere are dragging their kids to the store to stock up on notebooks and supplies or to nab the perfect first-day-of-school outfit. Sixteen states, including Maryland and Virginia, have offered or will offer some sort of sales tax holiday in July or August, a policy that […]

Toronto Star: What’s Behind Obama’s War on Corporate Deserters

August 8, 2014

By David Olive American corporate CEOs who don’t object to paying the dues granting them the privilege of country club memberships — possibly because their employer covers that perk, which often is a tax-deductible expense — are increasingly taking radical objection to paying their fair share of dues for the privilege of profiting from doing […]

Politifact: Nan Rich Makes Claims about State’s Economy, Taxes

August 6, 2014

In response to questions, Rich said Florida’s tax structure was too regressive. Rich cited a 2013 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which partners with Citizens for Tax Justice, a group that advocates for middle- and low-income families. The report concluded that all states have regressive tax systems. It means that state […]

Charleston Daily Mail: Remembering the Sales Tax Holiday

August 6, 2014

By Jared Hunt With students set to return to school this month, many parents are once again going through their annual ritual of back-to-school shopping. It might not be an enjoyable experience, if Huntington Bank’s latest “Backpack Index” price gauge — which estimated some parents could pay up to 20 percent more for supplies this […]