Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Salon: Elizabeth Warren cornered by billionaire: “I shouldn’t get Social Security”

July 28, 2021

According to the senator’s website, the law would require that corporations making over $100 million in yearly profits would pay a 7% tax on any money made after the $100 million cutoff. These corporations, she told Langone, “should have to pay a tax on what they report. Not on what happens after they’ve done a […]

CNBC: Stimulus checks and child tax credit payments help prompt calls to expand another credit benefitting workers

July 27, 2021

The stimulus checks and monthly child tax credit payments have helped increase the understanding of how money can serve as a tool to help people who are struggling, he said. “When you give people cash, you give people the tools to solve their own problems,” Ruben said. Without any further changes, the enhanced EITC will […]

Fox: Here’s how much taxpayers can get in added federal benefits

July 26, 2021

The average American in the lowest 20% of income earners has the potential to collect a total of $3,590 from a combination of direct payments, the expanded Child Tax Credit and the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The analysis is based on policies […]

CNBC: Between stimulus checks and expanded tax credits, here’s how much federal money you could get

July 23, 2021

Between cash hitting bank accounts — in the form of stimulus payments and advance child tax credits — and the expanded earned income tax credit, the value is an average of $3,450 for the bottom 60% of earners (making $65,000 or less per year), according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. […]

CNBC: Between stimulus checks and expanded tax credits, here’s how much federal money you could get

July 22, 2021

t looks like the combination of stimulus checks and at least two expanded tax credits will be a boon to most U.S. households. Between cash hitting bank accounts — in the form of stimulus payments and advance child tax credits — and the expanded earned income tax credit, the value is an average of $3,450 […]

Bloomberg: Intercompany Accounting—A Target For Tax Scrutiny

July 21, 2021

The IRS also feels significantly short-changed by dozens of big, profitable companies. Just as the Biden administration is pushing to raise corporate tax, a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that at least 55 American giants paid zero corporate income tax last year, despite raking in billions in profits. However, […]

The Washington Post: Despite paying little or no income tax, some companies have big plans to profit from infrastructure deal

July 21, 2021

Jacobs was among 55 large companies included on an annual list of firms that don’t pay U.S. income taxes put together by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

Bloomberg: TurboTax Maker Intuit Opts Out of IRS Free File Program

July 16, 2021

Carl Davis, director of research at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said he supports such an idea. The shift would mean the IRS could work directly with taxpayers, rather than “putting our faith” in corporations, he said. Read more

Yahoo! Money: Millions of American families plan for ‘life-changing’ Child Tax Credit payments

July 15, 2021

“This is super targeted to lower income families,” Aidan Davis, senior policy analyst at the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), told Yahoo Money. “The families that are being targeted through this enhancement are families that are struggling to pay for rent, keep up with necessities, or they’re having trouble paying for things like […]

Newsweek: Joe Biden’s Stimulus Is Financing GOP’s Billionaire Tax Cuts

July 15, 2021

“We saw that many states are using better-than-expected revenue outlooks as an excuse to cut personal and corporate income taxes,” Marco Guzman, state policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told The Daily Poster. “Unfortunately, the people that will be benefiting most from these cuts are not the people who were most […]

Washington Post: As IRS audits waned, big businesses racked up unapproved tax breaks

July 14, 2021

One challenge for the IRS is that each company tends to interpret tax laws differently, says Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning Washington nonprofit organization. Corporate accountants are “exercising their own judgment about what constitutes [an unrecognized tax benefit] and what is not,” Gardner said. Read […]

Napa Valley Register: California’s progressive tax system proved its worth during the pandemic

July 8, 2021

In fact, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that California’s tax system does the most of any state to alleviate inequality — while taxes in most states serve to widen the gap between rich and poor. Read more

Politico: As Bezos called for tax hikes, Amazon lobbied to keep its tax bill low

July 8, 2021

“It’s very likely they’re getting hundreds of millions of dollars a year in R&D tax credits,” said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, who’s studied the tax habits of Amazon and other big companies. Amazon declined to comment. The tax breaks themselves aren’t at risk, but the deduction […]

New York Post: Jeff Bezos openly embraces tax hikes, but Amazon lobbied against them

July 8, 2021

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, who’s studied the tax habits of Amazon and other big companies, told Politico that Amazon is likely “getting hundreds of millions of dollars a year in R&D tax credits.” Read more

Yahoo! Finance: Biden’s tax plan would cost richest Americans an extra $1.5M next year, analysis finds

July 6, 2021

In all, the changes proposed by the Biden administration would generate about $88.4 billion in new tax revenue, according to a separate analysis conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

CNN.com: States are so flush with funds, many are cutting taxes

July 1, 2021

This means that the state’s wealthiest 5% of taxpayers will receive nearly 60% of the benefits, while the bottom 80% will get only 23%, according to an analysis for Policy Matters Ohio by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

NBC News: Billionaire investor Peter Thiel has $5B in his tax-free retirement account, report finds

June 25, 2021

“It’s a wildly inappropriate use of the Roth IRA, even if it’s legal,” said Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and a former tax policy analyst for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “Lawmakers said that they were trying to encourage retirement savings and make it easier […]

news release  

ITEP: Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Must Be Accompanied by Bolder Legislation

June 24, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

Following is a statement by Amy Hanauer, executive director of ITEP, regarding the bipartisan deal announced today by senators and the White House.   “While the bipartisan infrastructure deal announced today may do some good, on its own, it is not enough, as President Biden said today during a press briefing. Congress must also enact additional […]

The Hill: Even Jeff Bezos should pay income taxes

June 15, 2021

According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 55 of the largest corporations in America — including Archer Daniels Midland, FedEx and Nike — paid no federal income taxes last year, despite racking up almost $41 billion in pre-tax profits. At 21 percent, their total tax bill would have been $12 billion. Instead, […]

VOA News: IRS Data Leak Reveals How Little America’s Wealthiest Pay in Taxes

June 11, 2021

“I think it’s a big wake-up call,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “It tells us things that tax experts have already known for a long time. But it’s the amount of detail, the specific names, that we don’t normally see,” Wamhoff said. […]

Sacramento Bee: White, Asian families have most to gain if Congress restores tax break Trump capped, report says

June 10, 2021

“Outright repeal of the SALT cap without an adequate replacement would exacerbate racial inequities in this country,” said a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Carl Davis and Jessica Schieder. The report noted that property taxes tend to be a big component of state and local taxes, which could “disproportionately benefit home-owning […]

Politico: How much companies that paid no corporate income tax spent on lobbying

June 10, 2021

ProPublica’s bombshell report on Tuesday showing that some of the wealthiest Americans routinely pay little or no taxes, a new report from watchdog group Public Citizen today dives into the lobbying expenditures of 55 corporations that paid no federal corporate income tax in 2020, according to an analysis from the liberal Institute on Taxation and […]

Market Watch: How would Biden’s tax hikes hit the wealth of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other billionaires? First, they’d have to die, experts say

June 10, 2021

“The whole exposé is really an argument for the Biden proposal to tax unrealized capital gains at death,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, speaking about the ProPublica investigation. “I do think if you tax gains at death, it would be a huge step […]

Fortune: Biden’s plan will stop Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk from avoiding billions in taxes

June 9, 2021

Following is an excerpt of an opEd by Steve Wamhoff published in Fortune: It is no surprise that billionaires pay little in federal taxes relative to their incomes, but the level of detail provided by ProPublica Tuesday about how 25 billionaires pulled this off is astonishing. It is also an argument for one of President […]

New York Times: Investors Fret as Biden Takes Aim at a 100-Year-Old Tax Loophole

June 8, 2021

In this congressional session, Democrats appear to be placing enormous emphasis on creating a fairer tax code along with investing in infrastructure and social programs, said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit group in Washington that advocates equitable revenue-raising measures. Read more