Blog
1,405 posts
SALT Cap Repeal Has No Place in COVID-19 Legislation: National and State-by-State Data
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Trump-GOP tax law enacted at the end of 2017 includes a $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that people can deduct on their federal tax returns, and this is one of the few limits the law places on tax breaks for high-income people. Unfortunately, it is also the provision that some Democrats are most determined to remove.
State Rundown 7/16: States Still Reluctant to Talk Taxes
• By ITEP Staff
With tax day finally coming at the federal level and in many states this week, policymakers in Nevada and New Jersey began to talk about revenue solutions to their revenue shortfalls, even if they fell well short of wholeheartedly backing needed reforms. Like their counterparts in most states, they remain primarily focused on temporary solutions to their short-term emergencies. Still, advocates in these and other states continue to push for more fundamental fixes to their…
New Prosperity Now Report Identifies Upside-Down Tax Incentives
• By Jessica Schieder
Ahead of this year’s delayed Tax Day, our partners at Prosperity Now released a powerful report providing a comprehensive overview of many of the ways our federal tax system privileges wealth over work, while also lifting up several provisions which could serve as a template for improving progressivity within the tax code. The report makes […]
Adequately Funding the IRS Would Be One Small Step Toward Racial Equity in the Tax Code
• By Jenice R. Robinson
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig vowed to work with Congress to explore how the federal tax system contributes to the racial wealth gap. There are at least two ways this can happen: tax policies enacted by Congress and IRS enforcement of these policies.
Congressional Budget Office Confirms That IRS Budget Cuts Lose Money and Benefit the Rich
• By Steve Wamhoff
Lawmakers often claim that they are “saving” taxpayers money by slashing federal spending, but the truth is that these cuts often are counterproductive and costly in the long-term. One type of budget-cutting has costs that are immediate and obvious—cuts to the IRS, the agency that collects the revenue that pays for federal spending. A new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms that lawmakers’ anti-government, IRS funding-cuts zeal has increased the deficit.
State Rundown 7/8: Many State Legislatures Reconvene for Special or Resumed Sessions
• By ITEP Staff
Local leaders in the District of Columbia and Seattle, Washington, approved progressive tax changes to raise needed funding this week for priorities such as coronavirus relief, affordable housing, and mental health. Arizona advocates submitted signatures to place a high-income surcharge on the ballot for November. And as a number of states made decisions on how to use federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds, North Carolina decoupled from costly business tax cuts…
State Rundown 7/1: Happy New Year?
• By ITEP Staff
As ITEP analyst Kamolika Das wrote today, July 1 is typically the beginning of state fiscal years and “a point when one can take a step back and reflect on the wins and disappointments of the past state legislative sessions.” Not so in 2020, she writes, as uncertainty surrounding the virus, state revenues, and potential federal action give state lawmakers no such time to relax and reflect. Although most recent state actions, such as those…
New Fiscal Year Brings New Challenges and Opportunities in the States
• By Kamolika Das
July 1—the start of the new fiscal year in most states—typically marks a point when one can take a step back and reflect on the wins and disappointments of the past state legislative sessions. 2020 is markedly different. Nationwide business closures and stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19 have led to unprecedented spikes in unemployment, decreased demand for consumer spending, and increased demand for vital public services. As a result, states face incredibly uncertain financial…
State Rundown 6/26: States Take Varying Fiscal Approaches While Awaiting Federal Action
• By ITEP Staff
State policymakers this week took a variety of approaches to their fiscal situations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Tennessee lawmakers chose to balance their budget through $1.5 billion in cuts to public services, but not before adding to those cuts by going forward with planned tax cuts. California legislators also passed a budget but relied on a number of temporary measures and delays to do so. Their counterparts in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island opted…
Beyond SCOTUS: States Recognize Need for More Inclusive Immigrant Policy
• By Marco Guzman
The U.S. Supreme Court last week halted an effort by the Trump administration that would have stripped DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients of their lawful status in the country. The 5-4 ruling is a significant victory for immigrant rights advocates and over 643,000 Dreamers—as they’re known—who were brought here as children and have […]
McSally “Travel Tax Credit” Is an Invitation for Tax Avoidance
• By Matthew Gardner
Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced the “American TRIP Act,” a bill ostensibly designed to encourage Americans to boost the economy by traveling within the United States. The bill is certainly a trip in the colloquial sense of the word.
ITEP supports Black Lives Matter
• By Amy Hanauer
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy stands with activists who are guiding the movement to transform America, dismantle systemic racism in policing, and envision a better justice system. Committed protestors in big cities, small towns, and suburban enclaves have spurred a sea change in public opinion and policy possibility on policing and incarceration. Their work and activism builds on years of action by Black Lives Matter and other leaders.
State Rundown 6/18: States Work to “Finalize” Budgets in Uncertain Times
• By ITEP Staff
Despite uncertainty all around the nation, a few states passed budgets this week and many more are negotiating to enact theirs before fiscal years close at the end of June. Colorado notably pared back some of its own tax breaks and limited the potential damage on its budget from new federal breaks. California also passed a budget but few in the state actually think the dealing is done. Iowa quietly enacted its budget too, though…
National and State-by-State Estimates of House-Passed Improvements in Tax Credits for Workers and Children
• By Steve Wamhoff
Among other important provisions, the HEROES Act includes reforms to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) to make these tax credits more effective in helping working people and helping parents afford the costs of raising children.
Tax Justice and Racial Justice: Transformative Change Is Overdue
• By Amy Hanauer, ITEP Staff
Progressive tax policy can spur deep investments in communities, help families afford childcare and college, provide healthcare for everyone, re-imagine energy consumption to stop heating the planet, expand parks and bike lanes and public transit. Economic justice can give workers a greater voice than corporations in our democracy. People are protesting because the moment for transformative change in policing and our economy is long overdue.
State Rundown 6/11: Fiscal Debates Continue Amid Turmoil
• By ITEP Staff
As calls to defund the police demonstrate, state and local decisions about funding priorities and how those funds are raised are deeply embedded in racial justice issues. Tax justice is also a key component in advancing racial justice. Racial wealth disparities are the result of countless historic inequities and tax policy choices are certainly among […]
COVID-19 Unveils Need for Fair Taxation at the State Level
• By Guest Blogger
Most people assume that the federal government is the main—if not only—agent for ensuring economic stability and recovery in response to COVID. Yet, the fight for tax fairness at the state level will have a dramatic impact on economic recovery.
White House Incredibly Still Believes Tax Cuts Are the Answer to America’s Problems
• By Steve Wamhoff
White House officials continue to discuss tax cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Wamhoff provides a roundup of these terrible ideas that would do little to boost investment or reach those who need it most.
Trump-GOP Tax Law Encourages Companies to Move Jobs Offshore–and New Tax Cuts Won’t Change That
• By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
New tax cuts to incentivize bringing jobs back to the United States will fail. No new tax provisions can be more generous than the zero percent rate the 2017 law provides for many offshore profits or the loopholes that allow corporations to shift profits to countries with minimal or no corporate income taxes.
Trump Administration Stops Pretending to Care About the Economy with Its Capital Gains Tax Proposal
• By Steve Wamhoff
Proponents of capital gains tax breaks have always offered a weak argument that they encourage investment and thereby grow the economy. But the Trump administration is now floating a temporary capital gains tax break, which is supported by no argument at all. It would only reward investments made in the past while doing nothing to encourage new investment.
State Rundown 5/27: Some States Finally Talking Revenue Solutions to Revenue Crisis
• By ITEP Staff
This week the immense scale and uneven distribution of economic and health damage from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to come into focus, hand in hand with greater clarity around pandemic-related revenue losses threatening state and local revenues and the priorities—such as health care, education, and public safety—they fund. Officials in many states, including Ohio and Tennessee, nonetheless rushed to declare their unwillingness to be part of any solution that includes raising the tax contributions of…
What Biden Means By No Tax Increases on Anyone “Making Under $400,000”
• By Steve Wamhoff
Presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Friday that under his proposals, no one with income below $400,000 would pay higher taxes than they do now. Does this make sense? It is true that Congress and the next president have many options to raise trillions of dollars from people who have incomes even higher than that. […]
State Rundown 5/20: State Revenue Crisis Getting Clearer…and Scarier
• By ITEP Staff
State policymakers are navigating incredibly uncertain waters these days as they attempt to get a firmer grasp on the scale of their revenue crises, identify painful budget cuts they may have to make in response, and look for ways to raise tax revenues coming from the households and corporations still bringing in large incomes and profits amid the pandemic—all while hoping that additional federal aid and greater flexibility in how they can use federal CARES…
The HEROES Act Would Correct CARES Act Business Tax Mistakes
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Health Economic Recovery and Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act includes important changes to business tax provisions in the CARES Act, the most recent COVID-19 legislation enacted by Congress and the president. The House-passed plan would undo CARES Act changes that make it easy for businesses to claim losses to reduce or avoid all taxes. […]
A Dimon Memo Will Buy You a Dime’s Worth of Social Change
• By Matthew Gardner
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in a May 19 memo to employees, outlines steps the company is taking to help its customers, small businesses and communities stay afloat. The part of the public relations memo that has received the most attention, however, is Dimon’s call for “rebuilding a more inclusive economy.” “It is my fervent […]
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.