Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

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

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

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, […]

Politico Morning Tax: The Related Note

May 26, 2020

It’s not the first time Biden has called out Amazon on taxes, nor was it the first time the company fired back. “We pay every cent owed,” Amazon tweeted. “Assume your complaint is w/ the tax code, not Amazon.” The liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy regularly details how much or, generally, how little […]

Tampa Bay Times: They Pay Taxes, But There’s No Stimulus Money for Them

May 24, 2020

In Florida, passing the HEROES Act and extending the CARES Act retroactively would help an additional 277,240 people — those living in households where at least one member uses a taxpayer identification number, according to the Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan tax policy organization in Washington, D.C. Read more

Courier Post: NJ should provide COVID-19 aid to undocumented immigrants who pay income tax

May 22, 2020

About 475,000 immigrants without legal status live in New Jersey, according to 2018 figures by the Pew Research Center. Workers who do not have legal status pay more than $11.7 billion in state and local taxes, according to a 2017 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit think tank. Read more

Orlando Sentinel: Is Wall Street Journal right? Is Florida “well-managed?” It depends

May 22, 2020

New York’s tax burdens are relatively even. The effective rate for New York’s poorest is 11.4 percent, compared to 11.3 for the top one percent and 12.4 for the middle. The comparisons are by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which last updated them in 2018. So it’s obvious why the Journal resents New […]

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What Biden Means By No Tax Increases on Anyone “Making Under $400,000”

May 22, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

What Biden Means By No Tax Increases on Anyone “Making Under $400,000”

Presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Friday that under his proposals, no one with income below $400,000 would pay higher taxes than they do now. Does this make sense? It is true that Congress and the next president have many options to raise trillions of dollars from people who have incomes even higher than that. […]

Bloomberg:Energy Companies Reap Tax Breaks As They Brace For Virus Impact

May 21, 2020

But what makes oil and gas companies especially poised to take advantage of this provision is the cyclical nature of the commodity they produce and transport. “It’s not at all surprising to me that liberalizing the use of operating loss carrybacks would disproportionately affect oil and gas,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the […]

Orange County Register: Tax hike on vaping is the wrong priority at the wrong time

May 21, 2020

Compounding all of these problems is that the vaping tax hike would have the largest impact on those who can least afford it. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) notes in its “Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes” that excise taxes like this “fall more heavily on middle- and low-income families than […]

Los Angeles Times:Stop discriminating financially against taxpayers without Social Security numbers

May 20, 2020

All told, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that 4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children were disqualified from the stimulus program. Read more

Orlando Sentinel: Make corporations – not teachers – pay up

May 19, 2020

In fact, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Florida families that make less than $50,000 spend 8-12% of their annual income on local and state taxes while families that make $200,000 or more spend between 2% and 4.5%. Read more

Bloomberg: California Setting Rules for Finding Pot’s Napa Valley

May 19, 2020

The state also has a vested interest in protecting pot’s reputation. California cannabis, both recreational and medicinal, generated $395.4 million in taxes in 2018 and $629.2 million in 2019, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said. California cannabis sales accounted for one-third of the $1.9 billion in tax revenue raised nationwide last year, according […]

Yahoo! Finance: Coronavirus stimulus checks: Here’s what a second round could look like

May 18, 2020

The new bill will provide payments worth nearly $600 billion, with the average payout of more than $3,000 to families in all but the highest income levels, according to The Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Similar to the first stimulus payments, single adults with income up to $75,000 will get the full $1,200 […]

Politifact:House coronavirus bill would aid immigrants, relatives cut out of previous aid package

May 18, 2020

The left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, using IRS data, estimated that this provision would benefit more than 4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children in households of ITIN filers or of mixed immigration status, paying them a total $16.4 billion ($7 billion under the CARES Act and $9.4 billion under the HEROES Act). […]