Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Philadelphia Inquirer: Why It’s Not as Simple as ‘New Jersey Is a High-Tax State’ or ‘Texas Is a Low-Tax State’

March 10, 2019

A recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analyzed the burdens of state and local taxes across the nation. The results were eye opening, though hardly surprising. Nationally, households in the lowest 20 percent income group spent 11.4 percent of their income on state and local taxes. In comparison, the top 1 […]

Marketwatch: Trump’s Tax Cuts Are Punishing States that Voted for Clinton

March 7, 2019

MarketWatch looked at the calculations conducted by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, an independent Washington, D.C. think-tank. Bottom line: States that voted for Trump will get 56% of the tax cuts, or an extra $35 billion. Yet according to the Internal Revenue Service’s most recent data, those states were only paying 48% of […]

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House Members Want Some Answers before Voting on DeWine’s Gas Tax Hike

March 6, 2019

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 27 states have raised their gas taxes since 2013, including every state adjacent to Ohio. The gas tax affects what people pay at the gas pump, but the effect is not always obvious. Read more

Washington Post: State and Local Tax Laws Are Making the Rich Richer

March 6, 2019

State and local taxes effectively redistribute national income from the poor to the very rich, according to data released this week by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank. Many state and local governments are heavily reliant on sales taxes, rather than income taxes. Lower-income households tend to spend a greater […]

The Hill: Time Is Long Overdue for Congress to Address Marijuana Banking

March 6, 2019

According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion — a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Yet there remains a significant regulatory hurdle facing players and consumers who engage in this market. Read more

Law 360: Mich. Gov. Offers 45-Cent Gas Tax Hike For Urgent Road Fixes

March 5, 2019

Since 2013, 27 states have approved gas tax increases, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more (subscription)

CBS News:Some of America’s Biggest Companies Paid Little to No Federal Income Tax in 2018

March 4, 2019

Its 10-K estimates its federal income tax liability at $-22.176 for 2018 — hence ITEP’s conclusion that it won’t pay the government any money for the year. “When I say they paid zero, really what I mean is they reported a $22 million income tax rebate, so they have a negative income tax,” Gardner said. […]

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Tax Avoidance Might Make Financial Sense, but Is It Fair?

March 1, 2019

One feature of sales taxes is that they cost lower-income people a bigger chunk of what they take in than is the case for more affluent people. In Minnesota the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers by family income only pay about 8.7 percent of their income in state and local taxes. In Florida the poorest […]

Bloomberg: Democrats In the Home of Hedge Funds Are Divided Over Tax Plans Sparing Rich

March 1, 2019

“Most public finance experts will tell you if you have sales tax it should be applied to a broad base,” said Carl Davis, the research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “If people are no longer going to Blockbuster and now they’re downloading movies, that’s created a gap in the […]

Fortune: Why Amazon May Pay No Federal Income Taxes This Year

March 1, 2019

Amazon’s expected tax avoidance comes despite it nearly doubling its U.S. profits to $11.16 billion in 2018, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan tax policy-focused think tank. In fact, instead of paying any federal income taxes, the company received a $129 million tax rebate from the government. The data […]

Vox: Undocumented immigrants pay millions of dollars in state taxes — even in the reddest states

March 1, 2019

While it’s impossible to get the exact numbers because of the limited data available, researchers at the left-leaning Institute for Taxation & Economic Policy estimate that undocumented workers paid a total of $11.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2014, the most recent year of data, according to their 2017 report. That includes $7 […]

Miami Community Newspapers: Marijuana Justice Act Introduced in Both Houses of Congress

February 28, 2019

Specifically, a 2017 report estimates that over 149,000 Americans are now working full-time in the cannabis industry. According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion – a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Further, numerous studies have identified an association between cannabis […]

New York Times: Betsy DeVos Backs $5 Billion in Tax Credits for School Choice

February 28, 2019

Carl Davis, the research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, noted that the new tax credit would be extremely generous in providing a 100 percent tax break, especially because the new tax law eliminated some incentives for charitable giving. “Now they want to put a supersized one back into the code,” he […]

Marketplace: Devos Proposes $5B in Tax Credits for Scholarship Donations

February 28, 2019

This new segment features ITEP’s research director Carl Davis:

Bloomberg Tax: Tax Executives Fear Overhaul Impermanence as Dems Mull Tweaks

February 28, 2019

The GILTI income subject to the tax is the income earned through a controlled foreign corporation that exceeds 10 percent of the value of the CFC’s tangible, depreciable assets, such as machinery and other equipment. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank, said in a June 2018 post that this measurement […]

Reuters: Illinois Budget Debate Raises Key Questions on Taxing Retirement Income

February 28, 2019

But the policies of various states are all over the map. Data provided by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that 11 states tax some portion of Social Security benefits, usually mirroring the federal formula. Many others tax pensions and tax-deferred accounts, although some have exemptions that protect lower-income, public sector workers and […]

Napa Valley Register: Congress Must Address Marijuana Banking Issue

February 25, 2019

According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion – a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Annual excise tax revenues on adult-use cannabis sales ($1.04 billion) rivaled those for all forms of alcohol ($1.16 billion). Here in California, […]

The Hill: Pollster Says Most Americans Feel It’s Not Fair That Corporations Pay Lower Taxes

February 15, 2019

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Amazon, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income taxes due to unidentified “tax credits” in their disclosure. The report also found that the company will get a $129 million federal income tax rebate, making their tax rate -1 percent. A Politico/Morning Consult poll released earlier […]

CBS News: After Amazon’s HQ2 Hunt, Some States Target Corporate Tax Breaks

February 13, 2019

While it’s common for corporations to seek tax breaks in exchange for moving to a particular location, Amazon’s solicitation was unusual in how public it was. Corporate location experts say tax considerations are rarely a deciding factor in where a company chooses to locate. And it’s not certain this type of interstate warfare creates genuinely […]

Cheddar: Netflix’s Tax Hack

February 11, 2019

Following is link to a video featuring Matt Gardner, ITEP senior fellow, discussing Netflix’s zero-tax bill.    

NJTV: Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Fully Restore SALT Deduction

February 11, 2019

But analysts with the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy say it’s inaccurate to isolate the SALT deduction. In reality, the average taxpayer in New Jersey will pay less. On balance, New Jersey will pay $8.1 billion less in federal taxes due to the GOP reform. Their figures show 82 percent of taxpayers will […]

Forbes: Why Some of the Rich Want to Pay More in Taxes

February 11, 2019

Those with the very highest incomes have benefited disproportionately from tax cuts, and that lost revenue is driving the federal deficit ever higher. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that since 2001, “significant federal tax changes have reduced revenue by $5.1 trillion, with nearly two-thirds of that flowing to the richest fifth of […]

Morning Tax: The Latest in Wealth Taxes

February 11, 2019

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted recently that Netflix logged record profits in the U.S. in 2018, some $845 million, and ended up not owing any federal taxes. (Not only that: The video streamer got a $22 million rebate.) Over at The Guardian, Gene Marks uses an educated guess to predict that Netflix […]

KFDM (CBS Affiliate): Shrinking Tax Refunds Stir Controversy

February 11, 2019

With the benefits of the tax cut spread out across 52 weeks, the gain may have been hard to spot, especially if workers saw increases in health insurance premiums or other costs. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the middle 20 percent of income earners received an average of about $33 more […]

Newsweek: We Shouldn’t Wait for Washington to Tax the Rich: We Can Begin at the State Level

February 11, 2019

Following is an excerpt from an op-ed by ITEP deputy director Meg Wiehe published in Newsweek Magazine: The historic role tax and other policies have played in exacerbating the wealth divide and discussions about how to remedy this injustice is a national conversation that is long overdue. Examining the federal policy landscape is a logical […]