Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

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Circuit Breakers Are a Better Option for Property Tax Relief

March 13, 2025 • By Brakeyshia Samms

To curb the impact of property taxes on working families, lawmakers should improve or implement a property tax circuit breaker program. The program works like this: when families are overloaded with their property taxes, the circuit breaker kicks in and helps alleviate the pressure these taxes put on family budgets.

New York Times: Musk Suggests His Team Will Scrutinize Social Security and Entitlement Spending

March 11, 2025

Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, suggested on Monday that his government cost-cutting team would scrutinize Social Security and other entitlement spending, describing the expenditures as rife with fraudulent transactions and repeating a conspiracy theory that Democrats were using the programs as a “gigantic magnet to attract illegal immigrants and have them stay in the […]

Economic Policy Institute: What You Need to Know About Immigrant Workers

March 10, 2025

New fact sheets from the Economic Policy Institute illustrate the positive economic impact of immigrant workers in every state–and cite recent research on how much President Trump’s mass deportation agenda could cost states in tax revenue. Read more.

American Journal of Managed Care: Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Fuels Health Crisis: Detention, Depression, Deportation, and Disease

March 6, 2025

The Trump administration’s stringent immigration policies are causing a public health crisis, marked by severe mental and physical health consequences for detained immigrants in overcrowded and unsafe detention centers, which places a substantial financial burden on the US health care system. Read more.

ProPublica: How DOGE’s Cuts to the IRS Threaten to Cost More Than DOGE Will Ever Save

March 5, 2025

The Trump administration claims gutting federal agencies will save money, but cutting the IRS means the government collects less taxes. “If you’re interested in the deficit and curbing it, why would you cut back on the revenue side?” one expert asks. Read more.

Sen. Sanders Delivers Livestreamed Response to President Trump’s Congressional Address

March 5, 2025

As most Americans know, we are living in a pivotal moment in American history – facing unprecedented challenges. How we respond to this moment will impact not only OUR lives, but the lives of our kids and grandchildren and, in terms of climate change, the very health and well-being of our planet. Read more.

Associated Press: Groceries Around the Country Remain Expensive. That’s Why More States Want to Stop Taxing Them

March 5, 2025

The number of states imposing sales taxes on groceries has shrunk over the years, and the number may decrease further in the coming months as lawmakers hear complaints about high prices for eggs and other household staples. Read more.

Testimony: ITEP’s Miles Trinidad on Maryland’s Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025

March 4, 2025

This testimony was delivered to a joint session of Maryland’s House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees on February 27, 2025. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025. My name is Miles Trinidad, and I’m a state analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a […]

New Jersey Senator Singleton and Senate President Scutari Resolution Condemning Federal Efforts to Cut Funding

March 4, 2025

In response to the recent passage by the House of Representatives of a budget resolution that seeks to cut hundreds of billions in funding for programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee has passed a resolution from Senator Troy Singleton and Senate […]

Video: ITEP’s Matt Gardner Discusses Worldwide Combined Reporting with Yes! Magazine

March 3, 2025

ITEP Senior Fellow Matt Gardner recently spoke to Sonali Kolhatkar about how worldwide combined reporting can be used to crack down on corporate tax avoidance. You can watch the full video here.

Nashville Pride: Lawmakers Push to Repeal Tennessee Grocery Tax, Citing New Report

March 3, 2025

A new in-depth report is strengthening the push to eliminate Tennessee’s state sales tax on groceries without cutting essential public services. The analysis shows that closing corporate tax loopholes could generate nearly $900 million in revenue—enough to offset the cost of repealing the grocery tax entirely. Read more.

Audio: ITEP’s Neva Butkus Discusses Louisiana’s Tax System on Louisiana Public Radio

February 27, 2025

In a special legislative session late last year, Louisiana passed a sweeping overhaul to its tax system year that saw the state income tax slashed to a flat tax rate and increased the rates of the state sales tax. Some have said the new tax system is a very modest improvement, while others find it […]

Testimony: ITEP’s Matt Gardner Discusses How to Improve Maryland’s Tax Code at House Ways & Means Committee Hearing

February 27, 2025

ITEP Senior Fellow Matt Gardner submitted the written testimony below to Maryland’s House Ways & Means Committee on February 20, 2025. Video of his oral testimony is at the bottom of this post. Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony. My name is Matthew Gardner. I am a senior fellow at the Institute […]

Hawai’i Worldwide Combined Reporting Bill Cites ITEP Data

February 25, 2025

House Bill 116 in this year’s state legislative session in Hawai’i cites ITEP data on the revenue potential of worldwide combined reporting (WWCR). (For more on WWCR, read our recent report here.)

Maine Center for Economic Policy: Proposed Medicaid Cuts Put Maine Families’ Incomes At Risk

February 22, 2025

Proposed Medicaid cuts could affect over 400,000 Mainers, especially children, older adults, and families with low income, reducing access to essential health care and economic stability. Read more.  

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Let’s End Corporate Tax Avoidance in Maryland by Enacting Worldwide Combined Reporting

February 22, 2025

Conservative revenue estimates released this week by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) project hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenues for Maryland once you close the loophole that allows a small group of the world’s most aggressive global giants to dodge their responsibility to the people of Maryland. Read more.

NPR: Trump Aims to Cut Benefits for Those Without Legal Status. Most Already Don’t Qualify

February 20, 2025

President Trump issued an order Thursday aimed at preventing taxpayer money from supporting immigrants without legal status. Read more.

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States Could Raise $19 Billion a Year with One Policy Change Targeting Corporate Tax Avoidance

February 20, 2025 • By ITEP Staff

Worldwide combined reporting negates the tax benefits of shifting corporate income offshore Public polling has consistently shown for decades that most people believe big multinational corporations are paying too little in taxes. Closing the loopholes these corporations use to avoid taxes is one of the most effective – and popular – solutions to this problem. […]

Video: ITEP’s Miles Trinidad Talks Maryland Tax Reform on WUSA9 TV

February 11, 2025

ITEP State Analyst Miles Trinidad spoke to WUSA9 TV about Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed tax reform package. Video is embedded below, and link to the story is here.    

Video: ITEP’s Kamolika Das on Revenue and Fines & Fees Reform

February 5, 2025

ITEP Local Policy Director Kamolika Das discussed revenue and the reform of fines and fees at this webinar hosted by the Fines & Fees Justice Center.

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Policymakers Could Consider Using Tax and Transfer Policy to Reduce the Racial Retirement Wealth Gap

February 3, 2025 • By Brakeyshia Samms, Carl Davis

As we show in our recent study, this is, in part, due to longstanding discrimination shaping racial differences in economic wellbeing in the U.S. Moreover, aspects of federal and state tax policies have helped create the vast racial retirement wealth gap in place today. For this reason, we evaluate how tax and transfer policy reforms could help shrink racial retirement wealth inequality. To inform lawmakers as they approach the 2025 debates, below we offer several guiding principles.

Roosevelt Institute: Taxing Excessive Profits: Designing a Pro-Competition Corporate Tax System

February 1, 2025

This brief—originally presented as a discussion guide to the October 2024 convening “Promoting Equity and Efficiency: Rethinking Corporate Taxation to Address Market Power,” hosted by the Institute for Macroeconomic & Policy Analysis and the Roosevelt Institute—establishes a groundwork for developing a truly pro-competition corporate income tax system, focusing in particular on the economic case for […]

Center for Law and Social Policy: The Earned Income Tax Credit Should be Expanded for Workers Without Children

February 1, 2025

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal tax credit for workers with low and moderate incomes. The EITC helps to bolster their incomes and offset taxes owed; it is effective at reducing poverty and has traditionally received bipartisan support. But the EITC available to workers without dependent children in the household is small […]

Every Texan: Current Border Militarization Operations Are a Wasteful Attempt at Deterrence

January 31, 2025

There is little return to show on past border militarization investments. Beginning in 2021, the Governor launched a multi-year campaign called Operation Lone Star that, in part, allowed his Trusteed Programs office to distribute billions of dollars in grants to once resource-starved border communities. SB 1 prepares to double down on this failed investment with […]

Video: ITEP’s Marco Guzman Discusses the Tax Contributions of Undocumented Immigrants on Telemundo

January 27, 2025

ITEP Senior Policy Analyst Marco Guzman discusses the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants in this TV clip.