Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Fast Company: Is the Global Minimum Tax Enough?

October 13, 2021

The result of many months of negotiations, the decision means companies doing business abroad will have to pay a minimum tax of 15% on their overseas profits, leaving little advantage to continue various “accounting gimmicks” currently in play, says Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), […]

McClatchy: Biden’s spending plan has big income tax changes. Here are the Californians who would benefit

October 12, 2021

Chief beneficiaries of tax cuts would be parents and very low-income workers without children who are among the lowest 20% of income earners, which means those making less than $29,100 in California. Increases in the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit help people in their income bracket. “This is going to have […]

Brinkwire: Update on the IRS Child Tax Credit for 2021

October 12, 2021

Only kids with Social Security numbers are eligible to claim the tax credit, CNBC reports. So, some lawmakers have proposed to allow kids with individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITIN) to receive the credit. Researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy think this change could benefit up to one million children. Read more

Associated Press: How US states help rich foreigners shield assets

October 10, 2021

The Pandora Papers revealed how hundreds of politicians, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers have used shell companies and trusts to hide their wealth and investments. “The Pandora Papers is all about individuals using secrecy jurisdictions, which we would call tax havens, when the goal is to evade taxes,″ said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal […]

Associated Press: ‘Pandora Papers’ bring renewed calls for tax haven scrutiny

October 8, 2021

“The Pandora Papers is all about individuals using secrecy jurisdictions, which we would call tax havens, when the goal is to evade taxes,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. Read more

Politico: Democrats likely to throw billions in tax hikes overboard as spending plans shrink

October 8, 2021

“Democrats need to think about reforms to capital gains that prevent rich people from avoiding capital gains,” said Steve Wamhoff, a former tax aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) now at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “You can do all kinds of things to improve the tax code but if those people […]

Arkansas Times: Arkansas income tax cut plan favors the rich. Duh.

October 8, 2021

Analyses by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) show that plans to cut the top income tax rate would largely benefit Arkansans with the highest incomes and cost hundreds of millions in annual revenue. ITEP estimates that cutting the top tax rate from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent would cost the state $138 million annually. […]

Yahoo! Finance: Democrats’ tax plan makes ‘baby steps’ toward racial wealth equity

October 6, 2021

By lifting up families at the bottom through tax credits and taxing affluent households more, Democrats can help narrow the racial wealth gap. But their latest plan may not be ambitious enough, according to experts, after they scaled back some of President Joe Biden’s initial proposals. “It’s baby steps,” Carl Davis, research director at the […]

Truthout: Elizabeth Warren Probes “Corrupt” Link Between Tax System and Private Sector

October 6, 2021

A report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy earlier this year found that 55 large corporations, including FedEx, Nike and American Electric Power, paid $0 in federal income taxes in 2020. In fact, the effective tax rate was in the negatives for many of these companies, partially thanks to the 2017 tax cuts […]

news release  

How State Income Tax Reforms Can Narrow the Racial Income and Wealth Gaps

October 4, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

This report is second in a series that will examine how state tax codes impact the racial income and wealth gaps and offer policy recommendations for addressing those inequities. Currently, all but five state tax systems are upside down, meaning they tax the top 1 percent at a lower rate than the poorest 20 percent. Longstanding economic and social injustices, including unequal access to education and job discrimination among other things, have created an economy in which white families are more likely to thrive and build wealth and be in the highest-income brackets. So, state tax systems that rely more on regressive…

Galen Hendricks

September 29, 2021 • By Galen Hendricks

Galen Hendricks joined ITEP in 2021. As a data analyst, he supports ITEP’s microsimulation model and analyzes the impacts of tax policy changes. Prior to joining ITEP, Galen worked at the Center for American Progress, where he conducted research on federal fiscal policy and labor market trends.

Maine Beacon: Analysis: Dems’ budget plan would raise taxes on rich, cut rates for 80% of Mainers

September 25, 2021

A report released this week by a national policy group found that proposed changes to the tax code advanced by the House Ways and Means Committee to pay for the sweeping expansion of the social safety net within Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget bill could result in a tax cut for 80% of Mainers while only […]

Wall Street Journal: Zero-tax companies could remain

September 24, 2021

Mr. Biden’s often-cited list of 55 companies comes from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, a progressive group that publishes a regular report on the zero-tax-company phenomenon. This year’s list included companies such as VeriSign Inc., Sealed Air Corp. and DTE Energy Co. Amazon.com Inc., often the political poster child for light […]

The Motley Fool: House Democrats Push for Expansion of Tax Credit Designed for Low Earners

September 19, 2021

Now, House Democrats want to make the expanded EITC a permanent fixture of the tax code. If they get their way, the increased credit could provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, impacting 19.5 million workers, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the same time, Democratic lawmakers are pushing to keep […]

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New ITEP Report Reveals a Trove of Data that Support the Case for a Higher Corporate Tax Rate

September 17, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

Media contact A new report from ITEP highlights multiple data sets that reveal how U.S.-based multinational corporations are avoiding taxes and debunks claims that a higher tax rate would make firms less globally competitive.  The report, Why Congress Should Reform the Federal Corporate Income Tax, comes as Congress is weighing a budget plan that would increase the statutory corporate […]

The Hill: Lessons from Occupy Wall Street for today’s tax fight

September 17, 2021

Following is an excerpt from an opEd by Amy Hanauer, ITEP’s executive director, published in The Hill. Right now, Congress is debating President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a plan that would make a meaningful dent in the key questions the Occupy movement raised. Who is the economy for? How can it work for all of us, not just […]

CNBC: About 1 Million More Kids Could Get the Child Tax Credit in the Future Thanks to This Change in Plan From Democrats

September 17, 2021

One major change in the current proposal is allowing children with individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, to receive the credit. These kids, who are often undocumented children growing up in the U.S., were left out of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Thus, their parents have not been able to claim the child […]

The Sun: Nearly one million kids could get child tax credits in new plan… are you in line for cash?

September 17, 2021

Researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy think this change could benefit up to one million children. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act prevented families with ITINs to claim the stimulus payment. Read more

Boston Now: Housing, commuting and medical care pushes 9.4% of Bay Staters into poverty, Census data shows

September 14, 2021

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy also pointed to the stimulus payments as a reason why there was no commensurate spike in poverty in 2020 to go with the deepest unemployment spike since the Depression era. “At the start of the health and economic crisis, we knew that we needed deep government investments to […]

Houston Chronicle: Stimulus checks saved many from poverty, Census data show

September 14, 2021

“At the start of the health and economic crisis, we knew that we needed deep government investments to alleviate widespread hardship,” said Aidan Davis, a senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in a statement. “The last year and a half demonstrates that the nation can make a significant dent in […]

Los Angeles Times: Democrats are ready to raise taxes, but not by nearly enough

September 14, 2021

They write off executive stock options, take advantage of federal research and development subsidies, and use accelerated depreciation schedules to write off the decline in the value of equipment faster than the equipment actually loses value. According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 26 profitable corporations paid no income tax or recorded a […]

The Hill: House Democrats take step back from Biden on tax hikes

September 14, 2021

Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the committee’s proposal would be a “huge improvement” over the current tax code. But he also said that a lot of the income of very wealthy people would not be taxed at all, because the committee didn’t adopt Biden’s […]

CNBC: House Democrats push for permanent EITC expansion

September 14, 2021

A permanent expansion may cost $135 billion over the next decade, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates. If enacted, the increased credit may provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, affecting 19.5 million workers, research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows. Read more

Marketwatch: Biden v. House Democrats: How their proposed tax hikes differ on Roth IRAs, capital gains

September 14, 2021

But the Ways and Means Committee proposals do “not go as far as the Biden administration proposals go,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The committee’s proposal comes months after Biden unveiled his own proposal for tax hikes, which include a higher top income […]

news release  

ITEP: House Ways and Means Revenue Proposals Are a Promising Start, Leave Some Crucial Work Undone

September 13, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

Earlier this year, the Biden administration put forth a transformative tax proposal that would raise significant revenue, reduce corporate tax avoidance, and substantially increase taxes paid by the wealthiest individuals. The Ways and Means Committee has kept some of these important reforms but has diluted others in ways that would leave some of the work of tax reform undone.