Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Killeen Daily Herald: Sales Tax Holiday Starts Friday

August 6, 2014

By Alex Wukman … Kelly Davis, Midwest director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the three-day tax holiday provides no relief for low- and moderate-income taxpayers throughout the remainder of the year and unfairly favors higher-income earners. “Unlike higher-income taxpayers, low- and middle-income families can’t always shift their shopping to take advantage […]

Main Street: Sales Tax Holidays: Bargain or Rip off?

August 1, 2014

By Hal Bundrick The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds another fly in the sales tax holiday ointment. “One popular rationale for sales tax holidays is that they increase local consumer spending and boost local retail, but this has not been demonstrated,” ITEP says. “Rather, increased sales during sales tax holidays have been […]

Lessburg Today: Virgina’s Back-to-School Tax Holiday

August 1, 2014

  By Kelly Davis Your article about sales tax holidays “Virginia’s Back-To-School Tax Holiday Returns This Weekend” suggests that sales tax holidays are a great deal for shoppers, when, in fact, sales tax holidays aren’t really worth celebrating. These holidays are poorly targeted, costly and represent a lost opportunity to get tax fairness right. A […]

Associated Press: Oklahoma Tax Holiday Is Little Relief

August 1, 2014

By Tim Tally Figures provided by the commission indicate that in 2008, the first year the sales tax holiday was in effect, shoppers saved $6.4 million in sales taxes on clothing and footwear. Last year, shoppers saved more than $7.2 million, and this year the commission estimates shoppers will save almost $7.3 million in sales […]

Streetsblog: Unlike Toll Reform, A Sale Tax Is a Really Regressive Way to Fund Transit

August 1, 2014

By Stephen Miller But a sales tax is one of the most regressive revenue-raisers out there. Of the types of taxes states typically levy — on property, income, and sales — “sales and excise taxes are the most regressive, with poor families paying eight times more of their income in these taxes than wealthy families, and […]

Streetsblog: Will Missouri Voters Go Along with the Highway Lobby’s Money Grab?

August 1, 2014

By Angie Schmitt That means, if Amendment 7 passes, the state’s poorest residents — whether they drive or not — will pay a larger share of their income than the state’s affluent residents. A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the poorest 20 percent of Missouri residents spend 5.9 percent of their income […]

Daily World: Sales Tax Holiday Offers Chance to Save

August 1, 2014

By Mike Hasten “The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has called Louisiana’s tax holiday “more hype than help.””

St. Augustine Record: Tax Holiday, It’s How You Handle It

August 1, 2014

By the Editorial Board Florida touts these holidays — in which the 6 percent tax is temporarily lifted — as breaks for the average family, and says that Floridians will save $40 million this weekend alone. That may not be the whole story. We don’t argue the state numbers, but the truth is that the […]

South Carolina Morning News: Refusal to budge on low gas tax a big mistake

July 24, 2014

“South Carolina’s gas tax has been at 16.8 cents since 1989, one of the lowest rates in the nation. Haley has said she would veto any bill raising the gas tax, but the state has actually been lowering the tax for years. What the DOT could buy with 16.8 cents in 1989 is far less […]

Politifact: Nan Rich says Florida has 3rd most-regressive tax structure

July 23, 2014

“Rich told PolitiFact Florida in an interview, “don’t hold me to ‘third regressive.’ …. I did not say ‘third’ definitively. … We are one of the most 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 fair taxation of […]

CNBC: Where and when to snag sales tax breaks across the US

July 22, 2014

“But while sale tax holidays are popular with consumers, critics argue that they do nothing to stir economic growth, and they simply shift spending on already planned purchases. One of these organizations is the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan group that said sales tax holidays will cost states at least $300 million […]

Fond du Lac Reporter: We must get serious about highway funding

July 21, 2014

Let’s look at the numbers. According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, from 2011 (the latest available), the average driver travels 11,318 miles each year and the average vehicle gets 21.4 miles-per-gallon, consuming 530 gallons of fuel per year. That means the average consumer pays $97.52 per car per year in federal fuel […]

Toledo Blade: Comfort the comfortable

July 21, 2014

“According to an analysis done for the progressive advocacy group Policy Matters Ohio by the nonpartisan Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, fully half of this year’s $400 million tax cut will go to the top 5 percent of Ohio taxpayers. Ohio’s 1 percent — those with average annual incomes of more than $1 million […]

Bangor Daily News: Again, Congress Has Short Fix for Roads

July 18, 2014

“While Congress seemingly has found consensus on a short-term fix, the House and Senate once again have put off the real work of governing — finding a solution that keeps the highway fund solvent long-term…. “Even if revenue from the gas tax remained constant, its buying power to pay for asphalt, labor and other construction […]

Pioneer Press: Fridley-based Medtronic refutes allegations of tax avoidance

July 17, 2014

“Medtronic officials are pushing back against widely published suggestions that the company’s proposed acquisition of Ireland-based Covidien is motivated primarily by a desire to avoid U.S. taxes… “Tax experts and financial analysts have speculated that the inversion deal would let Medtronic invest its overseas cash in the U.S. while potentially avoiding billions in taxes. The […]

Washington Times: Democratic superdonor Tom Steyer’s use of tax shelters draws Romney comparisons

July 16, 2014

“While at Farallon, however, Mr. Steyer used loopholes in U.S. tax regulations to produce maximum returns for his elite clientele. That included using tax havens in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Mauritius, ‘where there are no regulations at all, no call for transparency, and have little to no income tax rates,’ said […]

Providence Journal: Immigrant says now is the time for advocacy

July 16, 2014

“The new definition of America, [journalist Jose Antonio Vargas] said, must acknowledge the reality that today’s immigrants, like those before, are here to stay. They contribute to the economy. Vargas said undocumented workers in the United States paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010.“‘Here in Rhode Island,’ he said, ‘they pay $28 million in […]

Bloomberg: Governors Warn That Road Repairs Stalled by Congress

July 14, 2014

“U.S. governors say they won’t be able to plan or build all the major highway and bridge projects the country needs as long as Congress delays action on a long-term funding plan…. “As Congress delays a long-term solution, states are acting. Seven, including New Hampshire and Wyoming, have raised or adjusted fuel levies since February […]

Public News Service: Ohio’s Affluent Benefit Most From New Tax Cuts

July 10, 2014

“Cutting the income tax does little for the poorest Ohioans because they don’t have much income-tax liability to begin with, Schiller said. As they review current tax breaks, Schiller said, state leaders should restore and expand funding to local governments, schools, and health and human services, all of which he said would improve communities and […]

WZTV: Facebook Gets Refund Without Paying Taxes

July 9, 2014

“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports these large companies like Facebook pay their executives in stock options instead of cash which doesn’t cost the company a dime yet they can write it off as an expense. So Facebook profited more than a billion dollars in 2012 and since they’re not paying, it could […]

Asheville Citizen-Times: There’s no free lunch – and no free highways

July 9, 2014

“As usual, Congress does not want to face up to its responsibilities. The Senate has passed a four-year, $265 billion plan — $37 billion less than the White House proposed — but has no way to pay the bill aside from the fuel tax. The House, meanwhile, has come with a one-year fix by ending […]

The Plain Dealer: Ohio’s tax cuts favor the affluent, do not create jobs

July 7, 2014

Like other income-tax cuts, the latest batch favors the wealthiest Ohioans.  An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research group with a model of the tax system, found that the top 1 percent of Ohioans, who had incomes of at least $360,000 last year, will receive an average tax cut […]

Tucson Weekly: Shifty Proposal

July 3, 2014

  In other words, cutting the income tax helps those at the top way more than it helps the other 85 percent of taxpayers, who barely pay any income tax at all. But people at the lower end of the income ladder do pay plenty in sales tax, gas taxes, sin taxes and a variety […]

Radio Iowa: Immigrants account for 4.5 percent of state’s economic output

July 3, 2014

And Fisher says they would be far less at risk of workplace abuses or wage theft. Fisher and a research associate used government data as well as formulas from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy to determine how much undocumented immigrants pay in Iowa sales taxes, property taxes and income taxes. Fisher says undocumented […]

Remapping the Debate: Congress Fiddles While the Treasury Burns

June 26, 2014

The Levin bill is effective precisely because it is multi-layered, said Steve Wamhoff, legislative director for Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C., and a policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.