Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

ITEP's Research Priorities

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 […]

New York Times: Republican Plan Would Raise Taxes on Millions

November 7, 2017

Few independent economists find evidence to support that claim. Analyses published since the plan was introduced last week have consistently found that some middle-class families would see their taxes go up immediately, compared with existing law. One such analysis, from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, found that 8 percent of middle-income earners would […]

New York Times: Republican Tax Rewrite Helps Some Millionaires but Hurts Other

November 7, 2017

The independent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said on Monday that the top 1 percent of income earners, those who make just under $500,000 a year or more, would receive nearly half of the bill’s tax benefits a decade from now. That group of taxpayers would consistently see income gains from the bill, and […]

Washington Post: Welcome to the New Gilded Age

November 7, 2017

As the corporate welfare is doled out, the same bill widens the gap between the rich and everybody else. The liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy concluded that the middle fifth of Americans would get a modest tax cut of $460 (1.4 percent of their income) in 2018, while the richest 1 percent would […]

Washington Post: No Doubt About Who Wins Under GOP Tax Proposal

November 7, 2017

In another study, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds: The middle 20 percent of income-earners in America, the group that is quite literally the “middle-class,” would receive 10 percent of the benefits in the U.S. in 2018 and just 8 percent of the benefits in 2027.  In other words, in 2027 the middle […]

Mother Jones: New Estimate Confirms That Republican Tax Plan Favors the Very, Very Rich

November 6, 2017

Here’s another estimate of who gets what from the Republican tax plan. This one is from the Institute on Taxation and Public Policy: This is fairly close to the estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation with the exception of the far-right bar in 2027. ITEP estimates that millionaires will retain a pretty fat 2.5 […]

Australian Broadcasting Corp: The Surprising Journey Your Money Takes after Buying a Pair of Nikes

November 6, 2017

Tax activists ask why it is that Australia makes $2 in profit from that $100 but Nike in America makes about $14 in profit. “That’s a pretty good indication that there’s some income shifting going on,” says Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

New York Magazine: The Richest One Percent of America Gets Half the Trump Tax Cuts

November 6, 2017

Well, now the House GOP has filled in all the missing details, and the result … would overwhelmingly benefit the rich. An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank whose calculations are broadly respected, finds that the highest-earning one percent of households would receive nearly half the direct benefit […]

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New Analysis: Wealthy Will Receive a Growing Share of Tax Cuts in House Tax Plan Over Time

November 6, 2017 • By Alan Essig

New Analysis: Wealthy Will Receive a Growing Share of Tax Cuts in House Tax Plan Over Time

A national and 50-state distributional analysis of the House tax plan released late last week reveals that not only would the wealthiest 1 percent receive the greatest share of the total tax cut in year one, but their share would grow over time due to phase-ins of tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich and the eventual elimination or erosion in value of provisions that benefit low- and middle-income taxpayers.

Salon: The Election Is All About Casting Aside Trumpism

November 5, 2017

In New Jersey, undocumented  immigrants paid close to $600 million in state and local taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. In 2013, analysts at the Social Security Administration calculated that undocumented immigrants had paid $13 billion into the system in the year 2010, and earned $34,000 a year, on average, at the time. […]

Huffington Post: Trump’s Exit From Anti-Corruption Pact Helps Big Oil Hide How Much It Pays In US Taxes

November 4, 2017

The secrecy underscores the generous subsidies and tax credits afforded to the oil and gas industry. Nearly half of all untapped oil reserves in the U.S. would be unprofitable without subsidies, a study published last month in the journal Nature found. Exxon Mobil alone received $12.8 billion in subsidies and paid a tax rate of […]

Roll Call: Tax ID Used by Immigrants Targeted in GOP Tax Bill

November 3, 2017

Meg Wiehe, deputy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the provision would harm more than 5.1 million children — the majority of whom are U.S. citizens or young “Dreamers” brought to the country illegally when they were children. “Their undocumented parents are hard-working taxpayers, paying not only state and local taxes […]

CNNMoney: Broadcom Moving Legal Headquarters Back to U.S.

November 3, 2017

Matthew Gardner, a fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, pointed to several additional reasons Broadcom might want change its address. Broadcom is in the middle of a $5.5 billion merger with Brocade, a networking company. That deal has been held up because of a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in […]