Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: Tax chemicals industry to help curb pollution internationally, experts propose

December 2, 2020

Past research has shown how some of the largest chemical producers such as the German giant BASF or the American company DuPont have used sophisticated tax planning strategies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in the countries where they operate. In the U.S. alone, the industry enjoyed one of the lowest effective federal […]

The Hill: Biden’s Treasury pick will have lengthy to-do list on taxes

November 27, 2020

Key to Yellen’s ability to help Biden implement his agenda on taxes will be the relationships she develops with lawmakers. Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, noted that many Senate Republicans are up for reelection in 2022, and some GOP positions on taxes do not […]

Motley Fool: One Big Change Kamala Harris Wants to Make to Increase Your Income by $500 a Month

November 24, 2020

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, as many as half of all workers and two-thirds of children in the U.S. would benefit from the LIFT the Middle Class Act. The act was introduced two years ago but is more relevant than ever. The extra cash would benefit those who are struggling financially […]

The Hill: Progressive tax reform should top Biden’s list of priorities

November 19, 2020

“President-elect Joe Biden won over 78 million votes, more than any presidential candidate has ever received, while unabashedly vowing to raise taxes on the wealthiest individuals and on corporations. Progressive tax reform should be among his early and top priorities.   Read the full opEd by ITEP ED Amy Hanauer in The Hill.  

Marketplace: Could the success of ballot measures to legalize marijuana add pressure for federal legalization?

November 16, 2020

Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, studies states’ cannabis tax structures and he said one problem is that most states’ excise tax is based on price not weight. “In the states that have built their system around prices, if you see a big price cut happen, there’s going to […]

Yahoo! Finance: Most Americans are unlikely to see a tax hike under Biden’s presidency

November 12, 2020

If fully implemented, Biden’s tax plan would be a direct tax hike for just the top 1.9% of the U.S. population, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). But it remains uncertain which of Biden’s proposals — if any — could become law. Read more

Washington Post: Fact-checking the ‘final arguments’ of Biden and Trump

November 2, 2020

This statistic on 91 companies comes via the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). In a 2019 report, ITEP concluded that 91 profitable companies in the Fortune 500 did not pay any federal income tax, largely as a result of the 2017 tax law, such as through deductions for investment that Trump promoted […]

Yahoo! Finance: Here’s How the Biden Tax Plan Would Affect Each State

October 30, 2020

Biden’s plan would generate over $289 billion in tax revenue, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). About 1.9% of the U.S. population would see an increase in taxes. The ITEP data broke down the impact by state. Population has a major impact on the overall total in tax increases. […]

New York Times: Say Yes to Progressive Taxation

October 29, 2020

California is at the top of that list, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. But there is room for improvement. For the last four decades, property taxation in California has been constrained by Proposition 13, the seminal anti-tax ballot initiative passed in 1978. The measure limits property taxation in California to 1 […]

Newsweek: Joe Biden Tax Calculator—How Democrat Candidate’s Plan Will Affect You

October 29, 2020

A report earlier this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., noted: “Just 1.9 percent of taxpayers would see a direct tax hike (an increase in either personal income taxes, payroll taxes, or both) if Biden’s tax proposals were in effect in 2022. The […]

Fox Business: Trump vs. Biden’s tax plans: How much would you pay?

October 29, 2020

According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on the overall impact of Biden’s proposed personal income tax and payroll tax increases for 2022, taxes would be projected to go up by around $289 billion overall and about $279 billion, or 97%, would be paid by the richest 1%. Read more

CBS News: Comparing Trump and Biden’s Tax Plans

October 27, 2020

ITEP Senior Fellow appeared on CBS News to discuss President Trump and Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden’s Tax Plan. Watch

Forbes: The Tax Credit That Could Produce Rare Agreement On Pandemic Relief

October 27, 2020

The TCJA changes moved the needle for approximately 550,000 children living in poverty by lifting them above the poverty line, according to a 2019 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), but changes to the credit could improve the situation for more children. Read more

Yahoo! Finance: Ex-Trump adviser Gary Cohn would back Biden’s proposed 28% corporate tax rate

October 27, 2020

The Trump administration’s tax overhaul has come under criticism given persistent loopholes that allow corporations to drive the effective rate well below the statutory level. In 2018, the work arounds helped a group of 378 consistently profitable Fortune 500 companies to pay an average federal rate of 11.3% on their 2018 income, according to a […]

Rolling Stone: How Trump Took the Middle Class to the Cleaners

October 26, 2020

The Christmas present Trump promised the middle class turned out to be a trinket. The tax cut’s benefits to middle-wage earners worked out to about $65 a month, according to numbers crunched by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As passed, the income tax cuts will begin to phase out in 2025, and […]

In These Times: Billionaires Are Fighting the Fair Tax Because They Don’t Want to Pay up

October 26, 2020

The Insti­tute on Tax­a­tion and Eco­nom­ic Pol­i­cy recent­ly released a study look­ing at how Illi­nois’ cur­rent flat tax struc­ture amounts to a mas­sive racial­ized wealth trans­fer from the poor­est work­ers to the ultra-rich. They found that if the grad­u­at­ed rates pro­posed in the Fair Tax had been in place for the last 20 years, the wealth­i­est 3% would […]

DailyKos: All Those Wild Trump Economic Promises Were Just More Ruinous Trickle Down

October 26, 2020

The Christmas present Trump promised the middle class turned out to be a trinket. The tax cut’s benefits to middle-wage earners worked out to about $65 a month, according to numbers crunched by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. As passed, the income tax cuts will begin to phase out in 2025, and by […]

City Watch: Biden Tax Plan Would Make America More Equal

October 24, 2020

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy  has crunched the numbers: In 2022, under Biden’s plan, the nation’s top 1 percent would bear 97 percent of the direct tax increases Biden is proposing. The next most affluent 4 percent would bear the remaining 3 percent. Read more

The American Independent: Trump swears he’s bringing jobs back to the US. He’s done the opposite

October 23, 2020

Additionally, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy notes, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed taxes for the superwealthy and benefited large businesses, included a loophole offering a 0% tax rate on a large proportion of profits generated by U.S. corporations overseas, creating added incentives for them to relocate their operations to […]

New York Times: Fact Checking Trump and Biden Town Halls

October 16, 2020

Data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal research organization in Washington, show that 91 profitable Fortune 500 companies did not pay taxes on the income earned in the United States in 2018. That included companies that reduced their tax liability through deductions for investment, a key aim of the tax […]

MSNBC:Trump is eyeing another corporate tax cut

October 16, 2020

And as Biden noted, many corporations aren’t even paying taxes at the current rate. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a detailed study in 2018 that found of the Fortune 500 companies, about 400 paid an average tax rate of about 11% — roughly half of the current rate of 21% — thanks […]

Center for Public Integrity: The Heist

October 15, 2020

“It’s pretty clear that the PPP process was run in a way that pushed needy small businesses to the back of the line while prioritizing the influential,” said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the non-profit, left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “That’s not at all the way it was built, certainly not at […]

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A Conservative Supermajority on the Supreme Court Could Be a Boon to Wealthy Tax Cheats

October 14, 2020 • By Carl Davis

By early next year, the Supreme Court could be operating under a 6-3 conservative supermajority that may unwind hard-fought progressive reforms across every area imaginable. While reproductive rights and health care are at the forefront of public discourse, the Court’s impact will extend far beyond these two areas. Voting rights, the battle against climate change, anti-discrimination laws, the separation of church and state and yes, even progressive taxation, are all at risk.

WGLT: What To Know About Illinois’ Graduated Tax Amendment

October 14, 2020

Proponents of the amendment, including Pritzker, cite a breakdown which shows the bottom 20 percent of Illinois earners pay 14.4 percent of their total income to state and local taxes, while the top 1 percent of earners pay 7.4 percent of their income in taxes. That’s according to a report by the left-leaning Washington D.C.-based […]

Washington Times: Spending plans by Biden, Trump would hike federal debt by $5 trillion over 10 years

October 13, 2020

Under his plan, 97% of the tax increases would fall on the top 1% of earners, according to new projections from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Only 1.9% of taxpayers will see their income taxes or payroll taxes rise under Biden’s plan, and they will certainly not be the Americans who face […]