Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Investopedia: How Fortune 500 Companies Avoid Paying Income Tax

September 28, 2020

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that over the eight-year period from 2008 to 2015, 258 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid an average effective federal income tax rate of 21.2%—while the federal tax rate was 35% for all those years.1 Over that same period, 18 companies, including General Electric, International Paper, Priceline.com, and PG&E […]

Salon: Obamacare lawsuit heading to Supreme Court would slash taxes for top 0.1%

September 25, 2020

The lawsuit was filed after Senate Republicans unsuccessfully tried to repeal Obamacare despite campaigning on the issue for years. “Repealing ObamaCare has always been about tax cuts for the rich,” Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, wrote in an op-ed during the repeal push. […]

Route 50: Why States and Localities Should Increase—Not Decrease—Spending

September 23, 2020

As the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) wrote in an April report, “Even with more federal support, states will need home-grown revenue solutions in the short, medium and long terms as the crisis and its fiscal fallout intensify, subside, and eventually give way to a new normal.” Read more

Politico Morning Tax: Digging in on SALT

September 21, 2020

Matt Gardner of the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy thought this particular portion of the SALT debate had a number of layers to it. Among them: Deductions for charitable giving have a more direct motivation than SALT — you know, to spur more donations. Plus, Gardner added, there’s the issue that Washington finds […]

New York Times: Morning Newsletter

September 18, 2020

Many states have tax systems that are regressive: They take a greater share of income from the poor than the rich. And because a disproportionate share of the richest taxpayers are white, these state tax systems also widen racial wealth gaps. In Illinois, for example, the lowest-earning fifth of the population pays 14.4 percent of […]

Black Enterprise: Study Shows Illinois Tax System Harder on Black, LatinX Taxpayers

September 18, 2020

A study released Thursday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) showed Illinois’ flat tax system disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic taxpayers. According to the study, the state’s flat tax system has resulted in Black and Latinx taxpayers paying $4 billion more in income taxes than they would have under a fair tax […]

WREX Rockford: National research group: Flat tax structure favors wealthier Illinoisans

September 18, 2020

Another group has weighed in on the graduated income tax ballot questions voters will decide on in November. A research study conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found the state’s current flat tax structure creates a subsidy for wealthier residents. The institute is a national nonprofit group that analyzes tax systems. Their […]

Bloomberg: Stimulus Strategizing as Election Nears

September 18, 2020

Flat Tax Pitfalls: Illinois’ flat income tax perpetuates inequities that force minority communities to pay a large chunk of their earnings to the state, while permitting upper-income taxpayers to retain their wealth, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Yesterday’s analysis comes two months before voters will decide whether the […]

Chicago Tribune: Fair Tax or Hike?

September 18, 2020

And on Thursday, Yes for Fairness promoted a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, that said it found the long term effects of the flat tax over the past two decades deepened economic disparity, significantly impacting minority populations. Read more

Yahoo! Finance: Salt Cap Isn’t Scaring Away Blue State Millionaires

September 15, 2020

The $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions imposed as part of the 2017 Republican tax law is not causing high-income taxpayers to flee high-tax blue states, according to Carl Davis, research director at the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. In a blog post last week, Davis said that new IRS data […]

The Colorado Sun: Amendment B puts spotlight on Gallagher’s mixed legacy of budget cuts, tax relief and inequality in Colorado

September 15, 2020

Notably, property taxes are regressive — though not as much as sales tax, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

Bloomberg: DeVos-Backed School-Choice Groups Hurt by SALT Rules Crackdown

September 14, 2020

Critics of state tax credits say the IRS workaround rules were a common-sense effort to address donors double-dipping on tax credits — essentially collecting state and federal tax benefits on the same contributions. “They were stacking up state and federal tax cuts larger than what they ever donated,” said Carl Davis, research director, at the […]

Politico Morning Tax: They’re back, but stalemate continues

September 8, 2020

Carl Davis of the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy wrote a piece last week using new IRS data that specifically focused on the $10,000 cap on state and local deductions put into place by the 2017 tax law and whether it caused a migration away from high-tax blue states. The short answer, according […]

news release  

Trump’s Payroll Tax Executive Order Creates Problems, Fails to Help Those Most in Need

August 31, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

Media contact Following is a statement by Steve Wamhoff, federal policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding President Trump’s executive order that would suspend the employee side of the federal payroll tax from Sept. 1 through the end of the year.   Read Wamhoff’s recent blog that outlines the policy and logistical […]

New York Times: Letter to the Editor

August 25, 2020

It’s not surprising that millionaire and billionaire donations to President Trump’s re-election campaign have tapered off. Yes, he promised — and provided — billions in tax cuts for the wealthiest. Read more

Bloomberg: Tax Code Inequities Fuel Call for IRS to Collect Race-Based Data

August 20, 2020

The structure of the Child Tax Credit, for instance, “leaves behind some of our lowest-income children of color,” because of the way the credit is phased in as earnings increase, said Meg Wiehe, deputy director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, citing a 2019 report from the Columbia University Center on Poverty and […]

Newark Star-Ledger: Nearly 100 economists wrote Gov. Murphy a letter. They said, we must raise taxes

August 20, 2020

According to analyses by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and New Jersey Policy Perspective, modest adjustments to income tax rates on those earning $250,000 and more would raise approximately $1.5 billion in new revenue each year while making the overall tax code fairer. Extending the temporary corporate tax surcharge of 2.5% on businesses […]

New York Times: Apple reaches $2 trillion in value

August 20, 2020

Apple has increased its buybacks since it used the Trump administration’s 2017 tax law to bring back most of the $252 billion it had once held abroad. (The law saved it $43 billion in taxes on the move, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group in Washington.) Apple has $194 […]

Louisville Business First: Apple is worth $2 trillion, punctuating Big Tech’s grip

August 20, 2020

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Miami Herald: If Florida Modernized Its Tax Code, It would bring Millions In Revenue

August 20, 2020

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that closing this loophole would bring in $477 million in revenue. Read more

Patriot News: How Much Has Your Life Improved in the Last Four Years?

August 20, 2020

How did you make out with the big Trump tax bill? According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy, they cut the corporate tax rate by fourteen percent. Most of that money went to investors in dividends and stock buybacks. Households in the top one percent got a $48,000.00 tax cut while people at […]

Fox Business: Will Joe Biden back Kamala Harris’ push for $2,000 monthly stimulus checks?

August 14, 2020

The cost of the $2,000 stimulus checks would dwarf any other proposal passed by Congress so far; according to one estimate from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the payments would cost roughly $5.7 trillion. Read more

Politico Morning Tax: All about the payroll tax executive order

August 10, 2020

Experts say there would still be a slight hit to the Social Security trust fund if the payroll tax payments don’t end up getting excused. That would mean companies would “basically receive an interest-free loan from the government, which means the Social Security program is losing that interest income,” said Steve Wamhoff of the liberal […]

Forbes: Six Reasons Not to Celebrate the Payroll Tax Cut

August 9, 2020

The amount of payroll tax deferred depends on how much one makes. Based on analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the four month deferral would amount to $1,060 for those making between $43,400 and $69,800. In good times and bad, $1,060 is a lot of money. Stretched over four months, and keeping in mind […]

The Center Square: Washington clearing backlogged unemployment claims as jobless residents set to see end to pandemic assistance

August 4, 2020

A 2018 study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy further found Washington to have the most regressive tax system in the country. Washington workers in the bottom 20th percentile can pay up to six times more in taxes as their wealthier peers because of how the state’s high gas and sales taxes disproportionately hits […]