Blog - Federal Policy
525 posts
New Income Tax Disclosure Rules Mean Halliburton Can No Longer Conceal Its Offshore Tax Avoidance
March 2, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
The company’s latest annual report throws the doors wide open once again on Halliburton’s penchant for offshoring its profits to tax havens, thanks to terrific new disclosure rules introduced by an obscure but vital agency, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
Cheniere Energy Gets $380 Million Gift from Trump’s Treasury Department
February 26, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
Cheniere Energy's latest annual financial report shows the company reaped a cool $380 million in tax cuts from a single regulatory change made by the Trump administration last fall.
Nvidia’s Tax Bill Shows It’s Not Just Zero-Tax Corporations That Hurt Our Budget Deficit the Most
February 26, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
Semiconductor giant Nvidia reported avoiding $6.8 billion in federal income taxes last year. The company did this in a year when it reported greater earnings growth than almost any corporation in history, with U.S. pretax income coming in at an astonishing $123 billion.
Yum! Brands’ Recipe for Tax Avoidance: Trump Tax Cuts with a Dash of Malta
February 24, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
the fast-food multinational that owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut reported this week that it made $1 billion of pretax profits in the U.S. last year—and didn’t pay a dime of federal income taxes on those profits.
Despite a Supreme Court Victory for Middle-Class Americans, Trump’s Disastrous Tariff Policies Are Not Over
February 20, 2026 • By Steve Wamhoff
Today the Supreme Court made the right decision in striking down most of the tariffs President Trump has put into motion during his second term.
Live Nation Entertainment Says Trump Tax Law Drove its 2025 Federal Income Tax Bill to Zero
February 20, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
The company paid zero federal income tax in 2025 despite reporting $145 million of U.S. profits.
Trump Administration Provides Biggest Illegal Tax Cuts Yet for Billion-Dollar Corporations
February 20, 2026 • By Amy Hanauer
The Treasury Department is unilaterally cutting corporate taxes with regulations that ignore the statute they claim to implement, disregarding the separation of powers between the branches of government that has defined how America works for more than two centuries.
Palantir Pays Zero Federal Income Tax Despite Explosive Growth, Largely Due to Trump Tax Law
February 17, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
Palantir reported $1.5 billion of U.S. income but paid exactly zero federal income tax in 2025. Despite explosive growth, tax breaks from the Trump tax law helped Palantir avoid paying even a dime of federal income tax on its earnings.
NCTI is an Important Part of the Federal Corporate Tax. States Should Adopt It Too.
February 12, 2026 • By Carl Davis
Including NCTI in state corporate tax law is an effective way to neutralize much of the tax avoidance that occurs when multinational companies artificially shift their profits into overseas tax havens.
Trump Undermined the Constitution to Give Corporations a $10 Billion Tax Cut
February 10, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
This unilateral corporate tax cut from the Trump administration will cost $10 billion over a decade unless it is reversed.
What Did 2025 State Tax Changes Mean for Racial and Economic Equity?
February 9, 2026 • By Brakeyshia Samms
The results are a mixed bag, with some states enacting promising policies that will improve tax equity and others going in the opposite direction.
Four Big Tech Companies Avoid $51 Billion in Taxes in Wake of One Big Beautiful Bill Act
February 6, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
Four of the corporations whose CEOs flanked President Trump at his 2025 inauguration ceremony have now disclosed that they collectively received $51 billion in federal tax breaks in 2025, much of that likely from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).
Meta’s Federal Tax Rate Hits an All-Time Low Due to Breaks Expanded by Trump Tax Law
February 4, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
The company paid an effective federal income tax rate of just over 3.5% in 2025, the lowest it has recorded since the company went public as Facebook in 2012.
Trust Reform is Needed to Protect States, Especially in the Wake of IRS Enforcement Cuts
February 3, 2026 • By Sarah Austin
Trust use is widespread among the wealthiest households, with reports showing that roughly half of the nation’s wealthiest people rely on trusts for tax avoidance reasons
Tesla Reported Zero Federal Income Tax on $5.7 Billion of U.S. Income in 2025
January 29, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
Tesla enjoyed almost $5.7 billion of U.S. income in 2025 but paid $0 in federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reported $12.5 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million.
Intuit Helped Limit Americans’ Tax Filing Options While Raking in Millions in Tax Breaks
January 28, 2026 • By Joe Hughes
As tax filing season begins, families have fewer options than last year, thanks to the heavy lobbying efforts of big tax-preparation corporations like Intuit (the parent company of TurboTax).
How the Wealthy Exploit the Tax Code: Q&A with Professor Ray Madoff, Author of ‘The Second Estate’
January 26, 2026 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Her timely book, The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy, walks readers through federal tax policy history and the modern-day legal maneuvers the wealthy use to pay little to no taxes
Curbing Tax Deductions for Executive Pay is a Federal Tax Change States Should Get Behind
January 9, 2026 • By Matthew Gardner
This provision in last summer’s tax law could actually make budget-balancing a little bit easier for states if they follow suit.
Don’t Be Fooled by Treasury’s Jekyll and Hyde Approach to Tax Enforcement
December 31, 2025 • By Matthew Gardner
While this guidance is sorely needed to clean up the mess created by a hasty Congress, these notices stand in sharp contrast to the deregulatory, anti-tax approach that the Treasury Department has taken.
From Congressional discussions over the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" to debates on property taxes, ITEP kept busy this year analyzing tax proposals and showing Americans across the country how tax decisions affect them.
His 900-word New York Times op-ed identifies some sensible federal tax reform ideas that would create a fairer, more sustainable tax system.
President Trump Says His Tariffs Aren’t Paid by Americans. Corporations Are Indicating the Opposite.
December 15, 2025 • By Logan Liguore
Corporations have publicly revealed that they are passing the cost of tariffs on to Americans—the opposite of what the executive branch has said is happening.
Congressional Republicans Ignore Tariffs and Instead Talk Up Their Corporate Tax Cuts
December 4, 2025 • By Steve Wamhoff
Instead of discussing President Trump's deeply unpopular tariff policies, House Republicans are making misleading and untrue claims about their tax cuts.
Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting for a Tariff Dividend from Trump
November 12, 2025 • By Steve Wamhoff
Trump gives a promise, with absolutely no plan, to give $2,000 to every American using tariff revenue.
Trump Goes Outside the Law to Give Even More Tax Cuts to the Wealthy
November 12, 2025 • By Steve Wamhoff
Trump's Treasury is overstepping far beyond its constitutional role by giving unlegislated tax cuts to the wealthy.
Blog Categories
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.