Blog - Federal Policy
A truly populist budget would seek to ensure that middle- and low-income families have the resources that they need to get ahead, that the wealthy and corporations are paying their fair share in taxes, and that our country is making the public investments we need to ensure full employment and improve productivity over the long term. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’s (CPC) 2018 budget proposal would make real progress on all of these fronts.
Avocado Toast, iPhones, Billionairesplaining and the Trump Budget
May 30, 2017 • By Jenice Robinson
A couple weeks ago, a billionaire set the Internet ablaze when on 60 Minutes Australia he chided millennials to stop buying avocado toast and fancy coffee if they wanted to buy a home. The backlash was swift and deserved. Twenty- and early thirty-something people rightly took offense to the suggestion that they haven’t purchased homes […]
Congressional Hearing Highlights Problems with the Border Adjustment Tax
May 25, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
The debate over the so-called border adjustment tax (or BAT) took center stage this week when the House Ways and Means Committee held its first hearing on the topic. Despite strong support by the House Republican leadership and the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady, the proposal faced an onslaught of criticism during the hearing from invited witnesses and members of both parties.
23 Million Uninsured Americans Is Too Great a Cost to Finance Tax Cuts for the Rich
May 24, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
The cost to give $1 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations is 23 million uninsured Americans by 2026. This is the bottom-line take away from the much-awaited Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of the American Health Care Act, which House Republicans rushed through the chamber and narrowly passed (217-213) in early May.
ITEP’s Commitment to Being a Voice for Low-, Moderate- and Middle-Income People in Tax Policy Debates
May 22, 2017 • By Alan Essig
A strong voice for working people in federal and state tax policy debates is absolutely critical. Sound, progressive tax policies make all the difference between high-quality educational systems or crowded classrooms with limited resources. They account for the difference between structurally sound roads and bridges or potholes and other crumbling infrastructure. At the federal level, good tax policy means raising enough revenue so the nation can adequately fund child care and early education, health care, food inspection, national parks, and a clean, safe environment among other things.
Tax Avoiding Companies Well Represented at Tax Reform Hearing
May 18, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
Today the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its first tax reform hearing of 2017, which marks the official opening of the tax reform debate in Congress. True tax reform, if the committee sought to achieve it, could create more jobs and ensure companies are paying their fair share by cracking down on the massive offshore tax avoidance that companies engage in. Unfortunately, the panel of witnesses for today’s hearing is largely made up of representatives of various major corporations that are beneficiaries of the loopholes in our current corporate tax laws. Given this, it seems likely that these…
Investors and Corporations Would Profit from a Federal Private School Voucher Tax Credit
May 17, 2017 • By Carl Davis
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being used as profitable tax shelters by high-income taxpayers. By exploiting interactions between federal and state tax law, high-income taxpayers in nine states are currently able […]
Representative John Delaney’s Bills Take the Wrong Approach on Funding Infrastructure
May 9, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
Lawmakers across the political spectrum recognize the need for additional spending to maintain and upgrade our nation’s transportation infrastructure. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there is a backlog of $836 billion in needed repairs and improvements to roads and bridges and an additional $90 billion backlog of public transit projects. Maryland Democratic Representative John […]
President Donald Trump’s tax sketch released in late April is the starting point for federal tax reform discussions. For now, the sketch includes too few details to properly analyze its revenue and distributional impacts, but based on limited information, corporations and the wealthy stand to benefit most. Below are resources ITEP has produced on tax […]
Apple: A Case Study in Why a Tax Holiday for Offshore Cash is Indefensible
May 4, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner
The Apple corporation made waves earlier this week with its disclosure that its worldwide cash now exceeds $250 billion. Less noticed was a separate disclosure on Wednesday that the company’s offshore cash now exceeds $239 billion, meaning that more than 93 percent of the company’s cash is now held—at least on paper—abroad. This represents an […]
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – or FATCA – is a financial disclosure and transparency law designed to crack down on international tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers who hold financial assets offshore. This law, passed in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, provides the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) […]
President Trump’s Corporate Tax Outline: At Least He Didn’t Use a Napkin
April 27, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner
The most complimentary thing that can be said about the corporate tax changes outlined by President Trump earlier this week is that they weren’t scribbled on a napkin. Unlike supply-side architect Arthur Laffer, who infamously sketched out his explanation for why tax cuts can somehow pay for themselves in this manner, the Trump Administration took […]
Does a 15 Percent Corporate Tax Rate Sound Low? For Dozens of Major Corporations, Maybe Not
April 25, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner
President Donald Trump has promised to release new details Wednesday on what he says could be “the biggest tax cut we’ve ever had.” While much is unclear about the shape this plan will take, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that it will include a 15 percent tax rate on corporate profits, less than half […]
The Trump Administration Should Not Reopen Offshore Loopholes Closed by Recent Regulations
April 21, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday asks that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin review significant tax regulations issued in 2016. The broader context of the order is that President Trump is seeking to roll back regulations across the government – many of which he claims are overly burdensome – and could […]
How to Shut Down Offshore Corporate Tax Avoidance, Full Stop
April 7, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
A new bill introduced this week by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), the Tax Fairness and Transparency Act, would rip out the offshore corporate tax avoidance system by its roots. This legislation combines into a single, comprehensive bill elements of three pieces of legislation that Rep. Pocan has proposed in previous years. While many drivers of […]
Two New Bills Would Plug Major Loopholes in Our Offshore Corporate Tax System
April 6, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
A new pair of bills introduced by Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) this week would crack down on loopholes that allow corporations and individuals to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. Rep. Doggett’s Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, which was sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in the Senate, would close a number of the […]
A Comparative Analysis: Tax Rates Paid by Companies for and Against the Border Adjustment Tax
March 30, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
It’s often noted that corporate tax reform is difficult, in part, because it creates so many winners and losers. As Congress turns its attention to federal corporate tax reform, the House GOP’s proposed border adjustment tax, which is intended to raise enough revenue to justify cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, […]
With the failure of legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration and Republicans lawmakers are moving on to corporate tax reform. At the heart of this debate is the problem of corporations shifting their profits to foreign tax havens to avoid U.S. income taxes. A new report by the Institute on Taxation […]
GOP Healthcare Bill Cuts Insurance Coverage for Millions to Pay for Tax Cuts for the Wealthy; ITEP State-By-State Estimates
March 22, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
The House GOP’s American Health Care Act is being pushed quickly through the legislative process, with a vote on the House floor scheduled for as early as Thursday. The Republican legislation seeks to pay for the cost of repealing highly progressive taxes enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act by making substantial cuts to […]
For years, the number one tax policy talking point from corporate lobbyists has been the claim that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. The story then goes that this high tax rate is driving away business and Congress should move to dramatically lower it. A new study by the […]
Thursday, March 8 is International Women’s Day. The day draws attention to the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done in advancing gender equality. Many campaigns on issues like equal pay or paid family leave acknowledge that economic policies impact women and men differently. But we often overlook […]
GOP Obamacare Repeal Would Slash Taxes on the Wealthy At the Expense of Middle- and Low-Income Families
March 7, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
On Monday, House Republicans released legislation that would repeal or modify many of the most significant portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). A central theme of the GOP plan is that it would significantly cut funding for low- and middle-income families’ health care, while eliminating the ACA’s expansion of Medicare taxes on the wealthiest […]
Fact-Checking Tax Policy Points in President Trump’s Address to Congress
March 1, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
Despite some expectations that President Donald Trump would use his address to a joint session of Congress to lay out more details of his plan for tax legislation, the speech was extremely light on details. The few details mentioned were largely misleading or outright erroneous. Below we break down four tax-related statements from President Trump’s […]
What to Watch in the States: State-Federal Relationship Shifting
February 28, 2017 • By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
So far in this series on tax policy topics to watch in 2017, we’ve covered important state debates in areas such as attempts to weaken or eliminate progressive taxes and needed updates to gas taxes and sales taxes. As if those topics weren’t enough to keep state lawmakers up at night, they will be making […]
The Border Adjustment Tax Creates More Problems Than It Solves
February 22, 2017 • By Richard Phillips
In recent weeks, the Republican congressional leadership’s effort to introduce a comprehensive tax reform bill has increasingly faced opposition from major business groups and skeptical lawmakers from across the aisle. The primary source of dissent thus far is that the most prominent tax framework, the House GOP’s “Better Way” tax blueprint, contains a radical provision […]
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