Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

Governing: Voters Lower Cap on Income Tax in North Carolina

November 6, 2018

Still, many worry that locking down North Carolina’s income tax rates will hamstring future policymakers’ ability to raise revenue. North Carolina is one of a handful of states that has prioritized tax cuts over restoring education funding since the recession ended in 2009. It also is among states that saw teacher protests this spring over […]

Washington Post: Threat of Arizona Tax Measure Brings Together Liberals, Koch Brothers

November 6, 2018

(Meg Wiehe, a tax specialist at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, argued the sales tax is passed on to the consumers and that these businesses are not “double taxed.”) Gullett also said that the organization “has received enormous support from the Arizona Association of Realtors,” calling the group “consistent defenders of consumers.” … […]

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Amazon HQ2 Finalists Should Disclose the Financial Incentives They Promised

November 6, 2018 • By Guest Blogger

Amazon HQ2 Finalists Should Disclose the Financial Incentives They Promised

The Crystal City and Long Island City subsidy offers are among the many Amazon HQ2 bids that remain completely hidden. Citizens have no idea what their elected officials have promised to a company headed by the richest person on earth.

The Hill: IRS Sparks New Fight Over School Donations

November 4, 2018

However, other groups at the hearing, including representatives of public schools and the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), defended the application of the IRS guidance to the tax-credit scholarship programs. They argued that there is evidence that these programs had been advertised as tax shelters before the 2017 tax law. “This regulation […]

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Poorest 20 Percent Pays a 50 Percent Higher Effective State and Local Tax Rate than the Top 1 Percent

October 17, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

Poorest 20 Percent Pays a 50 Percent Higher Effective State and Local Tax Rate than the Top 1 Percent

A comprehensive 50-state study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds that most state and local tax systems tax low- and middle-income households at significantly higher rates than wealthy taxpayers, with the lowest-income households paying an average of 50 percent more of their income in taxes than the very rich.

Fiscal Times: What Trump’s Family Finances Tell Us About the Tax System

October 3, 2018

“The key takeaway,” said Alan Essig, director of the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “is that the wealthy and powerful abide by a different set of rules than the rest of us. … During his presidential campaign, President Trump called for closing the types of loopholes that allow some wealthy people to get […]

The New Yorker: The Trump Family’s Tax Dodging Is Symptomatic of a Larger Problem

October 3, 2018

This experience points to an enduring scandal that goes well beyond the Trumps. “The key takeaway from the New York Times article . . . is that the wealthy and powerful abide by a different set of rules than the rest of us,” Alan Essig, the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan […]

The Post and Courier: Some Valuable Downtown Charleston Land Now Comes with Tax Breaks

October 2, 2018

“Even if the tax breaks drive some new investment into low-income areas, this does not guarantee that these investments will ultimately benefit low-income families within the opportunity zones,” said the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “In fact, additional investment driven by opportunity zones could have the unintended effect of fueling higher real estate prices […]

Politico: Morning Tax

October 1, 2018

Today also marks 25 years since the last federal gas tax increase, which was raised to its current 18.3 cents per gallon in 1993. Plenty of people have talked about hiking the gas tax again over the last quarter-century — even potentially President Donald Trump — without much success, as Republicans have largely opposed the […]

NJ.com: Murphy Pushes Plan to Save Property Tax Breaks

September 26, 2018

Only residents of New York, Connecticut, and California deduct more from federal taxes than New Jerseyans, according the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Most of the states hit hardest send billions of dollars more to Washington than they get back in services. Read more

Law360: Permanent Tax Cuts Favor Richest in All But Three States

September 25, 2018

The second round of tax cuts passed Thursday and Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives would overwhelmingly favor the richest Americans, except for those in three high-tax states, according to… Read more

Bloomberg BNA: Understanding the Post-Tax Cuts Buybacks Surge: A Primer

September 21, 2018

But Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the anger over buybacks stems from the idea that, with the passage of the tax law (Pub. L. No. 115-97), Americans “were promised something else” by lawmakers and the administration. Real wage growth, he added, is “flat as a […]

Chicago Magazine: Illinois Is a Few Elections Away From a Graduated Income Tax

September 21, 2018

Illinois has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation — and politicians are taking notice. Under our system, the burden of taxation falls disproportionately on those least able to pay it. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Illinois is one of the “Terrible Ten Most Regressive State & Local Tax Systems,” clocking in […]

The Inquisitor: Amazon Proposal to Cage Warehouse Workers Criticized

September 14, 2018

“For states contemplating tax incentives for Amazon, the salient question is: what do you give a tax avoider who already has everything?,” Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, asked, after explaining how Amazon managed to make more than $5 billion in 2017, without paying a dime of federal income taxes. […]

Politico Morning Tax: Let’s Talk SALT

September 12, 2018

Cuomo is far from the only Democratic governor or lawmaker to unload on the SALT cap as, essentially, a broadside against progressive states. But at least one liberal think tank is calling for the limits to stay in place, even as it continues to denounce the TCJA as a giveaway to the wealthy. “Outright repeal […]

The Washington Post: GOP Pushes for New $2 Trillion Round of Tax Cuts

September 11, 2018

Democrats said the GOP’s second round of tax cuts would punish the poor and the middle class, arguing that they will provide a pretext for later spending cuts to entitlement programs that help the elderly. The richest 1 percent of Americans would see an average $24,130 cut from extending the individual tax cuts, compared with […]

Education Week: How a Proposed Tax Rule Could Hurt School Vouchers

September 11, 2018

Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017, wealthy residents in states such as New York and California face sizable increases in their federal tax bills because of a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions they can make on their federal returns. Democratic lawmakers allege the so-called SALT-cap unfairly targets left-leaning […]

Seattle Times: Is a State Like Washington with No Income Tax Better or Worse?

September 11, 2018

These taxes place an unfair burden on the poor, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The reason is the lowest earners in the state devote the lion’s share of their take-home pay to buying things that are subject to sales taxes. The wealthy, who can save a chunk of their […]

The Journal News: Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Anti-Trump Tax Plan Crumbling in Face of IRS Regulations

September 11, 2018

Similar programs give state tax credits on 100 percent of the donations in states such as Alabama, Georgia, Arizona and South Carolina. It’s a system that has proved profitable for savvy taxpayers, said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

Politico: A SALT Shake up

September 6, 2018

So what happens now after this new clarification? “Under the right circumstances, some business owners are going to keep getting more back in tax cuts than they ever contributed to these tax credit programs,” said Carl Davis of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “They’ll be stacking state tax credits and federal write-offs […]

WRAL: Capping North Carolina’s Top Tax Rate Isn’t Good for Our Communities

September 4, 2018

Following is an excerpt from an op-ed written by ITEP deputy director Meg Wiehe: Earlier this year, teachers across the country staged walkouts or full-on strikes to protest low wages and lack of investment in education. North Carolina public school teachers and their allies participated too, calling for better pay and more overall school spending […]

Philadelphia Inquirer: Why It’s an Unhappy Labor Day for Some Workers

September 3, 2018

Meanwhile, President Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut — like previous massive tax cuts — has failed to trickle down to average workers in a meaningful way, and many of his policies are hurting American workers. Just 4 percent of workers at Fortune 500 companies received a bonus or wage increase as a result of the […]

Atlanta Journal Constitution: IRS Proposal Could Hurt Georgia Rural Hospital, School Tax Credits

August 25, 2018

The change will have no impact on many Georgians because they don’t itemize their deductions when they file their tax returns. “For about 90 percent of people who are just claiming the standard deduction, this (rule) isn’t going to have any impact at all,” said Carl Davis, the research director with the Institute on Taxation […]

The Montgomery Advertiser: IRS Proposes Regulations that Could Impact Alabama Accountability Act Donors

August 24, 2018

Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization, said the regulations “make a lot of sense as far as what is charity and what isn’t.” The graphic shows how the donations to the Alabama Accountability Act benefit donors. The fundamental problem, he added, was that deductions exceeded the […]

CNBC: Cutting SALT–It Could Be the Last Day for This Tax Saving Strategy

August 24, 2018

There are 18 states with private school voucher tax credits, including programs in Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina. A number of them offer credits to contributing taxpayers on a dollar-for-dollar basis. “In a perverse situation, you donate $100 and you get back $137 in the form of state tax credits and deductions,” said Carl Davis, […]