Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

CNBC: How Trump could force a payroll tax holiday without waiting for Congress

August 3, 2020

The poorest 20% of people — those with income below $24,200 — would see their taxes fall by an average of $250, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The president could skew the benefit away from the highest income earners, Moore and Kerpen said. “Mr. Trump could cap it at, say, $75,000 […]

The Hill: Stimulus checks debate now focuses on size, eligibility

August 2, 2020

An analysis from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that the HEROES Act would provide more assistance to low- and moderate-income families than the HEALS Act and would do more to address racial and ethnic wealth and income gaps. Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at ITEP, said single parents […]

The Globalist: Economic shame haunts hard-working Americans. They ask themselves why they can’t do as well as their parents.

August 2, 2020

The second root cause is tax holidays for unearned income — i.e., income on wealth that was earned some other time, some other place, and usually by somebody else. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated the middle 20% of Americans paid 25.4% of their income — almost all of it earned income — in […]

CNBC: Receiving unemployment payments? Why tax season might cost you next year

August 1, 2020

Unemployment benefits aren’t considered earned income. “When you calculate your 2020 earned income tax credit, if your 2019 earned income tax credit would’ve been larger, you’d have the option to take that credit,” said Meg Wiehe, deputy executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “This is a situation where it’s less about […]

Newsweek: Tax-Paying Undocumented Immigrants Should Get Stimulus Checks, Democrats Tell McConnell

July 31, 2020

Their provision would benefit roughly 7.8 million people—4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children—according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Roughly 4.4 million undocumented immigrants who are ITIN holders paid $23.6 billion in taxes in 2015, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Democrats included the same provision in the House-passed HEROES Act. […]

Bloomberg: States Eye Anti-Poverty Tax Credit to Ease Covid Impact

July 29, 2020

The various state programs differ widely with the key distinction being refundability. Twenty-three of the 29 EITC states have made their credits refundable—widely considered an important check against regressivity. “Almost every state has an upside-down tax code, where the lowest-income taxpayers pay a much higher share of their income in state and local taxes than […]

Politico Morning Tax: Another View

July 27, 2020

Meg Wiehe of the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted that most states, with just a couple of exceptions, have budgets lined up for fiscal 2021 — but added that she expects most or all of them will have to take another look at those budgets in the fall or winter once they […]

Forbes: Rubio Renews Stimulus Check Eligibility Push; 1.7 Million U.S. Citizens Currently Excluded

July 26, 2020

The 1.7 million American citizens is only a subset of individuals excluded from receiving stimulus checks. The CARES Act had excluded undocumented immigrants, who do not have a Social Security Number (SSN), from receiving stimulus checks, despite the fact that some of these individuals pay taxes using an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). The left-leaning […]

Motley Fool: 3 Reasons Why Trump’s Payroll Tax Cut Won’t Be in the Senate’s Coronavirus Stimulus Bill

July 24, 2020

With a complete payroll tax cut — meaning, no Social Security or Medicare taxes taken out of paychecks at all — 64% of the benefit would be reaped by the country’s wealthiest 20%, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Leaving out the top 5% of earners from that top quintile (their savings […]

Alternet: As laid off workers face a financial cliff, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos grows $13 billion richer in one day

July 24, 2020

While Amazon reported $13.9 billion in income in 2019, Bezos’ company managed to pay just $162 million in federal taxes last year—a 1.2% tax rate despite the United States’ 21% federal tax rate for corporations. The previous two years, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Amazon paid $0 in federal income tax. Read more

Forbes: Why You Won’t See A Payroll Tax Cut In Second Stimulus Round

July 24, 2020

But the financial benefit to taxpayers is so disproportionate toward the wealthy that most economists agree a payroll tax cut is not a logical choice during the pandemic. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated in March that 65% of the benefits of a payroll tax cut would go to the richest 20% of […]

New York Times: 16 States Go Ahead With ‘Back to School’ Sales Tax Holidays

July 24, 2020

Still, the drain on state revenue, combined with the incentive to crowd into stores looking for bargains when coronavirus cases are surging, suggests that 2020 may have been a good year for states to skip the tax holidays, said Dylan Grundman, senior state policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “They should […]

The Hill: Congress cannot ignore the need for COVID-19 relief

July 23, 2020

Following is an excerpt from an op-ed by Amy Hanauer published in The Hill. Yet, the economy is keeping afloat because Congress put cash in people’s pockets all spring, with direct payments and expanded unemployment insurance benefits. The CARES Act, passed in March, contained much to criticize, including tax cuts to the richest and $500 […]

Axios: Why economists don’t like the idea of a payroll tax cut

July 23, 2020

“The White House’s latest economic policy trial balloon leaves out the most important solutions and floats some policies that are diametrically opposed to what the country needs,” Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said in a recent analysis. Read more

Bloomberg: Biden Attacks $50 Billion Real Estate Tax Break in Jab at Trump

July 22, 2020

On its merits, the like-kind exchange — sometimes referred to as a “1031” exchange for its tax code designation — is difficult to defend, according to some tax experts. “There are big real estate investors who are very comfortable with the idea that they don’t pay taxes,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy […]

CNBC: These are the taxpayers who benefit most from Trump’s call for a payroll tax holiday

July 22, 2020

The wealthiest 20% of taxpayers would reap the most from a suspension of this levy, according to a recent analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The non-partisan tax policy organization modeled the impact of eliminating both the employer and employees’ shares of these taxes from Sept. 1 through the end of the […]

Forbes: Here’s Who Gets The Money On Further Covid-19 Relief

July 22, 2020

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) performed an analysisto estimate who would benefit most for the cut. An elimination of payroll taxes from September through December 2020 would be worth $336 billion. Read more

11 Alive (Atlanta): President Trump signs memo to keep undocumented immigrants from participating in census

July 22, 2020

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found undocumented immigrants pay eight percent of their incomes in state and local taxes each year. Advocates worry Tuesday’s memo will deter immigrants from responding to the census, and therefore lead to less funding. Read more

Forbes: Would A Second Stimulus Check Or Payroll Tax Cut Be More Effective?

July 22, 2020

The left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), calculated that eliminating the 7.65 levy on employees between April 1 and December 31, 2020 would distribute 47 percent of the benefits to the richest 20 percent of taxpayers. Conversely, “another round of stimulus payments would give proportionally larger benefits to low-income households, because a flat $1,200 represents […]

Newark Star-Ledger: Murphy plea for federal aid blocked by McConnell as some in GOP don’t want to help blue states

July 22, 2020

Trump has championed a payroll tax cut, which would not help those currently without jobs under the pandemic-induced recession nor assist states in balancing their budgets. Almost two-thirds of the benefits of a payroll tax cut, 64%, would go to the richest 20% of Americans, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a […]

Business Insider: Trump is doubling down on a payroll tax cut which has slim GOP support and would do virtually nothing to help jobless Americans

July 20, 2020

A disproportionate share of the aid would go toward the wealthier segment of Americans. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that 65% of the benefits would be drawn by the richest 20% of taxpayers. Read more

Forbes: Is Trump Using Next Stimulus Package To Undermine Funding Of Social Security And Medicare?

July 20, 2020

In 2011, when President Obama and a Republican Congress compromised on a temporary 2 percent payroll tax holiday, the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), calculated that 48 percent of the benefits went to the richest 20 percent of taxpayers, which is problematic if you are trying to help low- and middle-income households. […]

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Trade Deals Aren’t Enough: Fixing the Tax Code to Bring American Jobs Back

July 16, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer

We all need the public sector to protect public health, keep us safe, educate our children, and much more. Companies, particularly multinational corporations, could not function without the legal, infrastructure, financial, regulatory, health, and transportation resources that the government provides.

KPFA: Death and taxes! or, why the rich get richer

July 16, 2020

Why and how the wealth of the very rich has grown, while all other public and private wealth has shrunk during COVID 19. Detailed analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. With host Kris Welch.

USA Today: Biden wants Amazon to ‘start paying their taxes’

May 26, 2020

Amazon’s position is that it pays what it owes according to the tax code. A recent analysis by the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said that, despite reporting $29 billion of U.S. income over the last three years, the company has reported a total of zero current federal income taxes over the same period. “In fact, […]