August 17, 2017
Lower-income Pennsylvanians pay nearly three times as much of their income in taxes as higher-income residents (those making more than $426,000/year). The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has ranked Pennsylvania as the 6th most unfair state tax system in the country. In other words, Pennsylvania’s poor and middle class families are already paying more […]
August 17, 2017
“You can never really know if they’re changing people’s behavior,” said Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Gardner pointed me to a quote from Paul O’Neill, President George W. Bush’s first Treasury secretary, who told a Senate committee at his 2001 confirmation hearing: “If you want to […]
Today, the economic climate is starkly different, but it seems GOP leaders are relying on messaging and luck to push through the biggest tax package since 1986. The White House, Republican leaders and anti-tax advocates all have been toeing the same erroneous line: their plans to cut individual and corporate taxes will benefit middle class families and grow the economy. This is, of course, baloney.
August 17, 2017
Those selling often see no choice but to take a loss. Under Trump, detentions of immigrants in the country illegally rose 37 percent over the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2016. The administration says it is focused on those with criminal records, but the number of detainees who […]
August 16, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), here are the seven worst offenders when we’re talking about the working-age population. Specifically, these are the seven states where inequality increases to the greatest degree from pre-state-tax income to post-state-tax incomes, as calculated by ITEP’s formula. Read more
August 15, 2017
All in all, undocumented working Oregonians contribute about $81 million in state and local taxes per year, according to recent estimates by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). To put that in perspective, that is enough to hire 925 Oregon teachers. And these figures do not include the federal income taxes undocumented workers […]
August 14, 2017
But one tax policy expert said future lawmakers will eventually find ways around the super majority requirement. Matt Gardner, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said voters expect elected officials to make financial decisions without such a mandate. “What they’re trying to do is artificially limit the amount of […]
August 13, 2017
“There’s been more and more awareness that actually C-corporations are not paying 35 percent in taxes,” said Steven Wamhoff, a tax expert at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-of-center think tank. His group has highlighted that corporations as a group pay much lower than 35 percent of their profits in taxes, thanks […]
August 11, 2017
Mr. Walker, who has made promises of job creation a centerpiece of his two terms in office, has pushed lawmakers to move quickly in approving the bill, which would offer Foxconn, a producer of flat-panel display screens for televisions and other consumer electronics, close to $3 billion in state tax credits. The subsidies for the […]
August 11, 2017
The AAA Scholarship Foundation Inc. which runs programs in Nevada and five other states, says it doesn’t give tax advice but has, when asked, shared an IRS memo on the matter. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy say loopholes in the tax code would allow contributors to both eliminate their state tax bill and […]
A month ago, the Seattle City Council passed an income tax measure, which has garnered a lot of attention as well as volumes of supportive and opposition commentary. Haven’t had a chance to dive into the details yet? We’ve got you covered. What is the new income tax law and who does it impact? The […]
August 9, 2017
The tax would bring in about $140 million every year for the city. The money would be used to fund affordable housing, education and transit services, and replace federal funding that might be lost because of federal budget cuts. Backers of the tax say they want the rich to pay their fair share. The state […]
August 7, 2017
As Suarez Serrato pointed out in the IBT interview, the study also highlighted the gulf between statutory and effective corporate tax rates. While the federal corporate rate stands at 35 percent and the average state rate is just over 6 percent, two studies by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that, taking loopholes into […]
August 4, 2017
For more than a decade after New York started the modern trend in 1997, the number of states with annual sales tax holidays grew steadily. But the count peaked at 19 in 2010, and this year’s tally is one fewer than last year. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that states lost $300 million […]
August 4, 2017
We also turned to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which found that Fortune 500 companies — a slightly smaller pool — report $2.6 trillion offshore. ITEP included total untaxed earnings, not just indefinitely reinvested ones, in their studies of Apple and Pfizer, as these companies provide a disclosure allowing for a fuller estimate of […]
August 3, 2017
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Matthew Gardner, senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, who discusses his group’s analysis of the Trump administration’s tax reform plan, and what a progressive reform plan focused on reversing growing economic inequality would look like. Read more
August 1, 2017
Two reports on effective federal and state corporate tax rates by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that, for dozens of profitable Fortune 500 companies, it has, on occasion, been zero.) Trump’s White House has recently backed off its 15-percent corporate-tax-rate goal, with a plan to implement something closer to 20 percent. Read […]
August 1, 2017
An analysis of data from the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that if 10 percent of undocumented immigrants leave Texas, the state would forfeit about $190.7 million in federal tax revenue and $223.5 million more in state and local taxes. The disappearance of those […]
July 31, 2017 • By Alan Essig
Until GOP leaders put forth a detailed tax proposal, we will not know for certain whether the plan will focus on the middle-class and create jobs. But what we do know is that unless the plan is a radical departure from the principles outlined by President Trump earlier this year or laid out by Paul Ryan last year in his “Better Way,” plan, GOP-led tax “reform” efforts will be a tax break bonanza for the wealthiest Americans while delivering a pittance to working people.
July 31, 2017
The Trump administration’s tax proposals would not benefit all taxpayers or states equally, according to new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Matt Gardner, a senior fellow with the institute, says the richest 1 percent of taxpayers would receive more than 60 percent of the tax benefits. He adds that poorer states, largely […]
July 29, 2017
Many tech companies have avoided taxes by placing intangibles such as patents and copyrights in subsidiaries in low- or no-tax countries, then attributing income likely generated elsewhere to those subsidiaries. Pharmaceutical companies have also employed this strategy, said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research and education. […]
July 28, 2017
Big companies like Foxconn possess leverage to extract concessions from state governments that smaller firms cannot, said Carl Davis, research director at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “This is not a comprehensive strategy for economic development,” he said. “If Wisconsin were going to offer this kind of subsidy for every […]
July 28, 2017
Plus, states rarely seem to consider whether the money they lavish on corporations might be better spent elsewhere—on public goods like bridges, say, or educational initiatives for their work forces. “If offering more tax incentives requires spending less on public education, congestion-relieving infrastructure projects, workforce development, police and fire protection, or high technology initiatives at […]
July 27, 2017
In California, the bottom line would be even more unfair. The 1 percent with the highest incomes – an average of more than $2.7 million a year – would get nearly two-thirds of the total tax cut, an average of nearly $150,000 each in 2018, the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated this […]
July 26, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
Unless the administration takes a radically different direction on tax reform from what it has already proposed, its tax plan would be a monumental giveaway to the top 1 percent. The wealthiest one percent of households would receive 61 percent of all the Trump tax breaks, and would receive an average of $145,400 in 2018 alone.