Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

ITEP's Research Priorities

New York Times: Republican Tax Plan Puts Corporations over People

November 16, 2017

The plans also differ on their treatment of state and local tax deductions. The Senate would kill them entirely. The House would maintain them only for property taxes and cap the deduction at $10,000 a year. Economists generally say that those tax breaks are inefficient. But eliminating them, in the context of the House bill, […]

Vox: Republicans Are Weaponizing the Tax Code

November 16, 2017

The Republican tax plan supercharges these changes. To a striking degree, the changes are about benefiting not just the well-off but those who are well-off because they own capital, as the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy notes in its analysis of the Senate bill. That’s because the plans are tilted toward corporate income tax […]

Denver Magazine: How the House and Senate Tax Plans Would Affect Coloradans

November 16, 2017

To pay for its extensive perks for the wealthy, the House bill adds $1.5 trillion to the national deficit over 10 years, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). It also cuts or caps popular middle-class tax deductions for homeowners, families, and students, and intentionally excludes millions of low-income children from modest […]

Los Angeles Times: A Tax Bill No Responsible California Lawmaker Should Support

November 16, 2017

But the bill’s cuts in personal tax rates, its increase in the standard deduction and other benefits for individual taxpayers are partially offset by reductions in some popular tax deductions — including those for state and local taxes and mortgage interest payments, many of whose beneficiaries live in states with high income or sales taxes […]

Teen Vogue: How Proposed Tax Reform Would Impact Young People

November 16, 2017 • By Meg Wiehe

Meg Wiehe, deputy director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), tells Teen Vogue that caring about social policy requires understanding tax policy. “What I want people to understand is that this touches every part of their lives… this is the fight. This is a health care fight. This is an immigration fight. […]

Fast Company: The Republican Tax Bill Is Great If You’re a Rich, Jobless Heir

November 16, 2017

Of the $1.5 trillion in proposed cuts in the House version of the bill, about $1 trillion will go to corporations and businesses over the next decade. About $500 billion will go to individuals. Of that second amount, the top-1% of earners will get 31% of revenue in 2018 and 48% by 2027, according to the […]

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Senate Tax Plan Is a Conflagration That Attempts to Address Ideological Grievances

November 15, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Senate Tax Plan Is a Conflagration That Attempts to Address Ideological Grievances

There are a few things that have been clear since this tax bill’s inception. It was never a plan to help the middle class. Now, the legislation being considered before the Senate Finance Committee is no longer a tax bill. It is an ACA repeal bill.

Washington Post: GOP Tax Cuts Would Be Tax Hikes for Some Families

November 15, 2017

A separate analysis released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that District-wide, about 39 percent of households earning between $77,220 and $131,900 would see their taxes increase next year under the House plan. Read more

The Guardian: Trumps Tax Breaks for the Rich Won’t Trickle Down to Help Working Americans

November 15, 2017

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the richest 5% of households will receive 61% of the tax cuts in 2027 under the House plan. The middle fifth of households would get 8% of the cuts, just one-sixth of the 48% share going to the top 1%. The bottom 60% of Americans would […]

CNN: GOP Tax Plans Could Fuel the Suburban Revolt Against Trump

November 15, 2017

The bite from the GOP bill is deeper for upper-middle-class families in major metropolitan areas, particularly in Democratic-leaning states where taxes, and usually property values, are higher. While only about one-in-five families between the 80th and 95th income percentiles in most red states would face higher taxes by 2027 under the House GOP bill, that […]

Rolling Stone: The GOP Tax Plan Just Became an Assault on Obamacare

November 15, 2017

The Senate tax bill is now skewed toward millionaires. In 2027, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the Republican plan provides the richest one percent of Americans an average tax break of $43,300, compared to just $190 for the poorest 20 percent. With another $300 billion or so to […]

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The Bottom 40 Percent Has Grown Poorer, So Why Are Tax Cut Plans Focused on the Rich and Corporations?

November 14, 2017 • By Jenice Robinson

The Bottom 40 Percent Has Grown Poorer, So Why Are Tax Cut Plans Focused on the Rich and Corporations?

The bottom line is that the rich and corporations are doing fine. We don’t need legislative solutions that fix non-existent problems. Only in a world of alternative facts does the top 0.2 percent of estates need to be exempt from the estate tax, for example.

Washington Post: Republican Tax Bill Would Be Paradise for Plutocrats

November 14, 2017

As Thomas Frank wrote in the Guardian, these “tax havens are not a sideshow” to the global economy; “they are a central reality.” And that reality makes a mockery of the Republican case for their tax cuts. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that the most recent data from the IRS in 2012 […]

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Senate Tax Plan Reserves Greatest Benefit for Richest Americans, Millions Face an Increase

November 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

Senate Tax Plan Reserves Greatest Benefit for Richest Americans, Millions Face an Increase

A 50-state analysis of the Senate tax proposal finds that not only would greatest share of benefits go to the richest Americans, but also more than one in 10 taxpayers would face a tax hike, with a large number of those taxpayers residing in states where residents pay higher state and local taxes.

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Senate Tax Plan Includes Some Changes but Maintains Focus on Tax Cuts for the Rich

November 9, 2017 • By Alan Essig

Following is a statement by Alan Essig, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, regarding the Senate tax plan released today. While it will take a complete analysis to determine how each income group is affected by the Senate’s proposal, an initial overview of the plan leads ITEP’s analysts to conclude that […]

U.S. News&World Report: The Rot at the Heart of the GOP’s Tax Bill

November 9, 2017

Let’s take the second part first. Republicans have been promoting their tax “reform” plan – which is really more of a big tax cut with some modest reforms chucked in – as helping mostly the middle class. Per analyses from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the Tax Policy Center and former Treasury official […]

NPR’s All Things Considered: After Working To Avoid Taxes, What Could New Legislation Mean For Apple?

November 8, 2017

ITEP Senior Fellow Matthew Gardner talks to All Things Considered reporter Jim Zarroli about Apple’s tax avoidance schemes. JIM ZARROLI: Apple has made hundreds of billions of dollars around the world, and it has sometimes taken extraordinary measures to avoid paying taxes on it. Last year, the European Union fined Apple $14 billion because of […]

New York Times: Want Kids, a Degree or a Home? The Tax Bill Would Cost You

November 8, 2017

That is why taxes would go up for about 45 percent of middle-class taxpayers by 2026 under the House bill, according to an analysis by The Times. By contrast, the people in the top 1 percent of income will get an average tax cut of $64,720 a year by 2027, according to the Institute on […]

Bloomberg: Tax Bill Offers Uneven Benefits and Hikes for Some, Analysts Say

November 8, 2017

President Donald Trump’s promised tax cut for the middle class comes with some extra baggage in the bill House Republicans are considering: a much larger tax cut for the top 1 percent.  That’s not just a political talking point for Democrats who oppose the House bill. It’s the consensus from two recent independent analyses: one […]

CBS News Money Watch: 5 Groups Who May Get No Relief from The GOP Tax Bill

November 8, 2017

Republicans say they want their tax code to give middle-class Americans a break, but some analysts are warning a few vulnerable groups may not get relief. The biggest winners under the GOP tax plan, released on Thursday, are corporations and the rich, according to both the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Center […]

Mother Jones: Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Would Give Nearly 50 Percent of Tax Cuts to the Top 1 Percent

November 8, 2017

Another report, released Monday by the the Institute on Taxation on Economic Policy (ITEP), a liberal think tank, also finds that nearly half the benefits would go to the top 1 percent. The reports come as President Donald Trump sells his tax cut as a “big, beautiful Christmas present” to the American people. While it has been clear for […]

Washington Post: What Is Carried Interest and Why It Matters in the GOP Tax Bill

November 7, 2017

Critics argue that these wealthy financiers should be paying more. The preferential tax treatment gives the wealthy an unfair advantage and deepens the divide between the rich and poor, they say. “If you thought that this tax plan would reflect populist goals, it was very strange that repealing carried interest is not in it,” said […]

MarketWatch: Paradise Papers’ Are a Timely Reminder Not to Overlook Your Own Tax Breaks

November 7, 2017

“As with last year’s Panama Papers, these papers will help shed light on the astonishing breadth of corruption facilitated by tax havens and law firms that work with elite clients and corporations,” wrote Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., in a […]

The Washington Post: Guess What? Republicans May Be About to Raise Your Taxes

November 7, 2017

Now let’s look at an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its data shows that in 2018, 8 percent of taxpayers will see a tax increase. Since some provisions are set to expire, by 2027, 18 percent of taxpayers will be paying more than they do now. But that’s only part of the […]

Vanity Fair: Tax Bill Would Help a Very Specific, Very Orange Type of Rich Rerson

November 7, 2017

On Monday, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released its preliminary findings of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and if you’re an elected official trying to sell this thing as great for the little guy, the findings aren’t likely to help. According to the report’s authors, almost one-third of the tax plan’s benefits […]