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Lawmakers Seek to Extend Tax Break for “Research” that Corporations Use to Develop Frozen Foods, New Beer Flavors, Casino Games and Tax Avoidance
• By Steve Wamhoff
If Congress creates a tax break to encourage businesses to conduct research that benefits society, should Netflix be eligible for it? There is no shame in binge-watching Stranger Things or Bridgerton or The Crown, but how many of us really think Netflix deserves a tax break for whatever “research” the company did to provide this […]
Reversing the Stricter Limit on Interest Deductions: Another Huge Tax Break for Private Equity
• By Steve Wamhoff
Private equity is doing fine on its own and does not need another tax break. Congress should keep the stricter limit on deductions for interest payments —one of the few provisions in the 2017 tax law that asked large businesses to pay a little bit more.
Bipartisan Retirement Proposals Are Mostly Just More Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
• By Steve Wamhoff
The EARN Act and SECURE Act 2.0, two bipartisan retirement bills working their way through Congress, are major disappointments. They would mainly provide more tax breaks for the well-off who will most likely retire comfortably regardless of what policies Congress enacts. The bills would provide modest assistance for those who really need help to save.
State Rundown 11/30: ‘Lame Duck’ December Could Have Major Tax Implications
• By ITEP Staff
As federal lawmakers begin their lame duck deliberations, the revival of the expanded child tax credit remains a strong possibility...
Child Tax Credit Expansion Would Shrink the Racial Wealth Gap
• By ITEP Staff
Extending the expanded Child Tax Credit would benefit nearly every child in low- and middle-income families. Under current rules, 24% of white children, 45% of Black children, and 42% of Hispanic children will not receive the full credit in 2023 because their families make too little. These figures would drop to zero if the provisions were extended, helping families of all races and disproportionately helping families of color.
States Can Halve Child Poverty with Child Tax Credits
• By Aidan Davis
State policymakers have the tools they need to drastically reduce child poverty within their borders. A new ITEP report, coauthored with Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, explores state Child Tax Credit (CTC) options that would reduce child poverty by up to 50 percent. Temporary expansion of the federal CTC in 2021 reduced […]
State Rundown 11/10: Midterm Madness
• By ITEP Staff
As states continue to tally the remaining votes and the news stories roll out at a breakneck pace, the unofficial results of the 2022 midterm elections have brought with it significant changes across the state tax policy landscape...
Election Day in the States: Voters Deliver Important Victories for Tax Justice
• By Jon Whiten
Voters in Massachusetts and Colorado raised taxes on their wealthiest residents to fund schools, public transportation and school lunches for kids while making their tax codes more equitable. And voters in West Virginia defeated a proposal to deeply cut taxes, mostly for businesses, and drain the coffers of county and local governments.
Massachusetts Voters Score Win for Tax Fairness with ‘Fair Share Amendment’
• By Marco Guzman
In a significant victory for tax fairness, Massachusetts voters approved Question 1—commonly known as the Fair Share Amendment—Tuesday night with 52 percent of the vote. The new constitutional amendment creates a 4 percent surcharge on income over $1 million, and the revenue will specifically fund education and transportation projects in the Bay State.
Key Republicans Say Negligible Decline in Economic Growth Outweighs Enormous Drop in Child Poverty
• By Joe Hughes
The expanded Child Tax Credit reduced child poverty dramatically and immediately. There is no debate or murkiness on this. Some lawmakers have decided that cutting child poverty in half is not worth the cost if it means an ambiguous and negligible decline in GDP growth. This view is not just cruel, it is bad economics.
State Rundown 11/2: Midterms on the Mind
• By ITEP Staff
Next Tuesday, voters will head to the polls to not only elect local and national leaders, but also let their voices be heard on a range of tax policy issues that could improve or worsen their state tax codes...
Tax Foundation’s ‘State Business Tax Climate Index’ Bears Little Connection to Business Reality
• By Carl Davis, Matthew Gardner
The big problem with the Index is that it peddles a solution that not only falls short of the goal of generating business investment, but one that actively harms state lawmakers’ ability to provide the kinds of public goods – like good schools and modern, efficient transportation networks – that businesses need and want.
Measures on the November Ballot Could Improve or Worsen State Tax Codes
• By Jon Whiten
In a couple of weeks, voters in a handful of states will weigh in on several tax-related ballot measures that could make state tax codes more equitable and raise money for public services, or take states in the opposite direction, making tax systems less fair and draining state coffers of dollars needed to maintain critical […]
State Rundown 10/5: Forecasting Ain’t Easy
• By ITEP Staff
Although the weather is beginning to cool down in parts of the country, the same cannot be said for many state economies, which are still running hot. That, however, doesn’t mean that the good times are guaranteed to last...
Congress Should Not Leave Children Out of Possible Year-End Tax Deal
• By Steve Wamhoff
If lawmakers believe it’s worthwhile to extend corporate tax breaks, then it would be entirely unreasonable for them to not conclude the same about tax provisions that help low-income children.
State Rundown 9/21: Earth, Wind, Fire & Taxes Edition
• By ITEP Staff
Do you remember/the big tax news innn September? Well, if not, we at ITEP got you covered...
Census Data Shows Need to Make 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion Permanent
• By Joe Hughes
The Child Tax Credit expansion led to a 46 percent decline in childhood poverty. That it could be accomplished during the largest economic disruption in most of our lifetimes underscores a basic fact: thoughtful, decisive government action to combat poverty works.
Billionaires Should Pay Taxes on Their Income Every Year Like the Rest of Us
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden last month will crack down on corporate tax dodgers and strengthen enforcement of tax laws already on the books, raising hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent on climate, health and other priorities. But these reforms will not directly raise taxes on even the wealthiest individuals. […]
State Rundown 9/7: Labor Day Week Provides Sobering Reminder of Steps Forward, Back
• By ITEP Staff
Though Labor Day has passed, advocates on the ground in states across the country are continuing to uphold the spirit of the labor movement...
Romney Child Tax Credit Plan Would Leave Millions of Children Worse Off and Raise Taxes for the Average Black Family
• By Steve Wamhoff
Sen. Romney’s plan would expand the Child Tax Credit and offset the costs by scaling back other tax benefits. All told, it would raise taxes on a fourth of all kids in the U.S. This includes about a fourth of the children among the poorest fifth of U.S. families.
Four Tax Policy Wins in the Inflation Reduction Act and Four More That Can Build on This Progress
• By Joe Hughes, Jon Whiten
With four major tax policy provisions, the IRA takes a huge step toward a fairer tax code and a more equitable economy. But as always, there are more steps lawmakers should take to build on this progress.
Putting Cleveland and the Nation on a Path Toward Tax and Climate Justice
• By Amy Hanauer
Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. When I left Cleveland to work on federal tax policy after 20 years running Policy Matters Ohio, I knew Ohio would stay in my heart and fuel my work. Accustomed to an America that often ignores our toughest problems, I understood […]
The Case for More IRS Funding
• By Jon Whiten
Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in The Hill. Though the Inflation Reduction Act is enormously popular, some politicians and pundits are trying to generate hysteria about one feature: Funding for the IRS. All the false claims are distracting us from two important things: how necessary the funding increase is to reverse […]
Gimmicky Sales Tax Holidays Are Short-Term and Ineffective
• By Marco Guzman
Everyone loves a deal, so it’s no surprise why the appeal of the state sales tax holiday continues to persist. This year, 20 states will forgo more than $1 billion in combined revenue to enact a variety of sales tax holidays that—like most things that are too good to be true—will do little to provide meaningful benefits and instead undermine funding for public services.
Lawmakers Must Choose Between Funding the IRS or Protecting Wealthy Tax Cheaters
• By Steve Wamhoff
Grasping for some way to criticize the popular Inflation Reduction Act as it approaches final passage, Congressional Republicans have decided to attack its provisions that will reverse a decade of budget cuts to the IRS and instruct the agency to crack down on tax evasion by big corporations and individuals making more than $400,000. Of […]
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