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Netflix Posts a Record $5.3 Billion in Profits and a Federal Tax Rate of Just 1.1 Percent
February 1, 2022 • By Matthew Gardner
Netflix's 2021 financial report shows it doubled its profits to $5.3 billion from the previous year and reported an effective federal corporate income tax rate of 1.1 percent.
Build Back Better’s Tax Provisions Would Help Advance Racial Equity
January 31, 2022 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Build Back Better can help ensure that all people are provided with the chance to lead healthy lives, have access to quality education, are treated fairly and justly, and thrive in today’s economy.
State Rundown 1/26: States Offering Preview of Tax Themes and Trends for 2022
January 26, 2022 • By ITEP Staff
Governors and legislators are beginning to settle on and advance tax bills that could drastically shape the future of their states and several trends and themes are beginning to emerge...
In this country, wealthier than any other and wealthier than we’ve ever been, we can create a smarter, more equitable tax code that better taxes those most able to pay.
State Rundown 1/20: Governors Eyeing Tax Cuts in Yearly Addresses
January 20, 2022 • By ITEP Staff
A common theme is emerging out of states, as governors around the U.S. begin the year with their annual state speeches, and the news does not bode well for long-term growth and sustainable budgets...
Mississippi Is the Latest in a String of States Pursuing Short-Sighted, Top-Heavy Tax Cuts
January 19, 2022 • By Kamolika Das
Not only is Mississippi's latest tax proposal deeply inequitable, the state simply cannot afford it.
The Compelling Data and Moral Case for Continuing the Child Tax Credit Expansion
January 14, 2022 • By Alex Welch, ITEP Staff, Jenice Robinson
In just six short months, the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), decreased the number of children living in poverty by 40 percent. ITEP estimated that the lowest-income 20 percent of households with children would receive a 35 percent income boost from this policy alone in 2021. This is a meaningful, life-changing sum.
State Rundown 1/13: The Tax Cuts Cometh, But There Is a Better Way
January 13, 2022 • By ITEP Staff
As expected, with the start of many new legislative sessions around the country, lawmakers have introduced a slew of tax cut plans following better-than-expected budget outlooks that have, so far, weathered the impact of the pandemic...
The Problem with Returning to a $2,000 Non-Refundable Child Tax Credit
January 13, 2022 • By Joe Hughes
Prior to last year, more than one in three children lived in households with incomes too low to receive the full $2,000 credit because it is not fully refundable. This means earnings requirements and other limits reduce the amount tax filers can receive as a refund. In fact, the maximum refundable portion is reduced to $1,400 (less than half of the maximum refundable credit available in 2021).
School’s In: Tackling College Affordability Through State Tax Codes
January 11, 2022 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Given that a sweeping federal solution to the college affordability crisis does not appear to be on the immediate horizon, it is even more important that states take whatever steps they can to expand college access and affordability. While most of that effort will need to occur on the spending side of the ledger—such as through lowering tuition costs, expanding financial aid, or perhaps even funding free college outright—tax policy also has a role to play.
The New Trend: Short-Sighted Tax Cuts for the Rich Will Not Grow State Economies
January 10, 2022 • By Neva Butkus
The same legislators who touted tax cuts for the rich as solution to our problems before the pandemic are also saying tax cuts for the rich are a solution during the pandemic. Tax cuts cannot be a solution to everything, especially at a time when the richest Americans are amassing more wealth than ever.
Rather than resorting to tax cuts, which can eventually create revenue shortfalls, lawmakers should determine whether they have adequately invested in people and communities. There are better ways to leverage tax systems to help those who need it most.
The Pendulum Is Swinging Toward Tax Justice
January 5, 2022 • By ITEP Staff, Jenice Robinson, Kamolika Das
Tax justice is deeply connected to the movements for equality and racial justice. Progressive tax policy can ensure more of us share in the prosperous economy that our collective tax dollars make possible. It can mitigate economic disparities by class and race. And it can make sure the government has the resources it needs to function for all of us.
The new year often brings with it a reinvigorated commitment to new goals and a fresh perspective on how to accomplish them, but it seems like lawmakers in states around the country are giving up already...
Why Treasury’s Pending Race-Based Analysis of Stimulus Payments is Important
December 21, 2021 • By Emma Sifre
One important data inadequacy is the lack of demographic information in tax data. While the IRS data offers rich data on taxpayer income, it does not collect information on important demographic characteristics like race and ethnicity. This presents a challenge for researchers interested in the racialized impacts of the U.S. tax system and has prompted many researchers and organizations to advocate for public-use tax data that is disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
Pandemic Policies Demonstrate Government Can Address Widening Economic Inequality If Policymakers So Choose
December 17, 2021 • By ITEP Staff, Jenice Robinson, Joe Hughes
We are surrounded by evidence that economic inequality is spinning out of control, yet we also see straightforward examples of how government can stop the downward spiral should it choose to do so. The Build Back Better Act, which invests in communities and ensures the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, is one such example. Congress should pass it.
State Rundown 12/15: Making Our State Tax Naughty or Nice List & Checking it Twice
December 15, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
As the holiday season kicks into full gear, we’re putting the finishing touches on our State Tax Naughty or Nice list, and it looks like some late entrants are making a good case to be included...
ITEP Data on Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit Provisions Before Congress
December 14, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff
Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). The additional benefits that millions of families and workers received under that law will end this month if Congress does not act soon. The CTC expansion boosted the annual tax credit […]
The EITC and CTC are proven poverty-fighting tools. The monthly CTC payments alone kept 3.6 million people out of poverty in October. This policy success is worth repeating.
Latest Proposal from Senate Democrats Would Bar the Rich from SALT Cap Relief
December 7, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff
Richest taxpayers would receive $0 benefit under new compromise compared with 51 percent of the benefit of House-passed SALT provision DOWNLOAD NATIONAL AND STATE-BY-STATE ESTIMATES In the latest chapter of the saga over SALT, some Senate Democrats are discussing a new compromise that would amend the House-passed provision providing relief from the SALT cap to […]
Here at ITEP we want to give thanks and say we’re grateful for all of the hard work that advocates in states across the country are doing to secure progressive tax policy victories...
Key Reform in Build Back Better Act Would Close Loophole Used by the Rich To Avoid Funding Healthcare
November 18, 2021 • By Joe Hughes
The proposal in the Democrats’ Build Back Better proposal applies the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax to all profit distributions from partnerships and S-corporations so that this income of wealthy pass-through business owners no longer escapes.
Tax Credit Reforms in Build Back Better Would Benefit a Diverse Group of Families
November 18, 2021 • By Aidan Davis
The CTC and EITC provisions would have a particularly profound effect on the poorest 20 percent of Americans, who all will have incomes of less than $22,000 in 2022. Taken together, the EITC and CTC changes would lift the average income of these households by more than 10 percent.
Report Illustrates How 70 Corporations Could Be Affected by Minimum Tax Proposal in the Build Back Better Act
November 18, 2021 • By Matthew Gardner
Amazon, Bank of America, Facebook, FedEx, General Motors, Google, Netflix, PayPal, T-Mobile and Verizon are just a few of the 70 corporations that would have paid more taxes under the Democrats’ proposed Corporate Profits Minimum Tax (CPMT) if it had been in effect in 2020 according to a new report from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office with estimates verified by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
State Rundown 11/10: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like…Election Season?!
November 10, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
If the leaves are turning colors and you find yourself walking out of the office into pitch-black darkness, it only means that time of the year is upon us—and no, I'm not talking about the holiday season. Before that, it’s the equally important election season...
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