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Senate Health Care Reform Bill Just as “Mean” as the House Version
June 26, 2017 • By Alan Essig
The Congressional Budget Office today released its score of the Senate Health Care proposal and the news is not good. It’s no wonder a narrow group of 13 lawmakers cobbled together the bill behind closed doors. Now that the measure has seen the light of day, we know that it epitomizes Robin Hood in reverse policies by snatching health coverage from 22 million people by 2026 (15 million in 2018) while showering tax cuts on the already wealthy.
Rather than being known for its pioneering pharmaceuticals, Mylan is increasingly becoming infamous for its pioneering tax avoidance strategies. In 2015, Mylan used an inversion to claim that it is now based in the Netherlands for tax purposes. It is a Dutch company only on paper because ownership of the company was mostly unchanged and it continues to operate largely out of the United States. This maneuver has allowed the company to avoid millions in taxes on its earnings in the U.S. and abroad. But that’s not the end of Mylan’s innovation when it comes to tax planning. A new…
Explaining our Analysis of Washington State’s Highly Regressive Tax Code
June 22, 2017 • By Carl Davis
Supporters of creating a local personal income tax in Seattle are rightly concerned about the lopsided nature of their state’s tax code. In a 50-state study titled Who Pays?, produced using our microsimulation tax model, we found that Washington State’s tax system is the most regressive in the nation.
West Virginia Lawmakers Settle on Imperfect Budget, Delay Tax Debate for Next Session
June 21, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
West Virginia’s roller coaster ride of a session is nearing its tumultuous end. In a press conference this morning, Gov. Jim Justice announced that he will let the legislature’s most recent budget bill become law without his signature.
State Rundown 6/21: Crunch Time for Many States with New Fiscal Year on Horizon
June 21, 2017 • By Meg Wiehe
This week several states rush to finalize their budget and tax debates before the start of most state fiscal years on July 1. West Virginia lawmakers considered tax increases as part of a balanced approach to closing the state’s budget gap but took a funding-cuts-only approach in the end. Delaware legislators face a similar choice, […]
The GOP Health Plan Cuts Medicaid to Lower Taxes for the Richest 3 Percent
June 16, 2017 • By Alan Essig
The bill passed by the House of Representatives last month to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most unpopular legislation in decades. Lawmakers should reverse course and take the necessary time to put together legislation that would preserve or, better yet, improve access to health care. But this isn’t likely to happen because at its core, the American Health Care Act isn’t truly health care reform. It is tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich shrouded in legislative provisions that would weaken the existing health care law.
Which States Benefit from the Tax Cuts in the GOP Health Plan?
June 15, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
Congressional Republicans’ plans to repeal the two largest tax increases on individuals that were enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would disproportionately benefit residents of Connecticut, New York, the District of Columbia and 10 other states. The remaining states would receive a share of the tax cuts that is less than their share of the total U.S. population.
State Rundown 6/14: Some States Wrapping Up Tax Debates, Others Looking Ahead to Next Round
June 14, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week lawmakers in California and Nevada resolved significant tax debates, while budget and tax wrangling continued in West Virginia, and structural revenue shortfalls were revealed in Iowa and Pennsylvania. Airbnb increased the number of states in which it collects state-level taxes to 21. We also share interesting reads on state fiscal uncertainty, the tax experiences of Alaska and Wyoming, the future of taxing robots, and more!
Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax experiment in Kansas was a failure. His radical tax cuts for the rich eventually had to be partly paid for through tax hikes on low- and middle-income families and also failed to deliver on promises of economic growth. Meanwhile, the tax cuts decimated the state’s budget, diminished its credit rating, and compromised its ability to meet the state’s constitutional standard of adequacy for public education.
One of the supposed selling points of the House GOP’s “Better Way” tax plan is that it will make the tax system so simple that you could do your taxes on a postcard. The reality, however, is that their promised postcard is a deception that would require numerous additional pages of worksheets to fill out. A better solution to making tax preparation simpler is called “return-free filing.” It does not just reduce your work to filling out a postcard, it could eliminate it altogether.
Sitting in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, hidden in the jumble of Americana like Thomas Jefferson’s desk, Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown and the ruby slippers worn in the Wizard of Oz, is a napkin with a drawing on it. Probably one of the least known exhibits in the museum, this napkin, quietly hiding behind glass lest some child wandering from a school group wipe his nose on it, has on several occasions destroyed the finances of the federal government and several state governments, most recently in Kansas.
This week, we celebrate a victory in Kansas where lawmakers rolled back Brownback's tax cuts for the richest taxpayers. Governors in West Virginia and Alaska promote compromise tax plans. Texas heads into special session and Vermont faces another budget veto, while Louisiana and New Mexico are on the verge of wrapping up. Voters in Massachusetts may soon be able to weigh in on a millionaire's tax, the California Senate passed single-payer health care, and more!
Oklahoma’s Budget Signed by Governor, but Long-Run Challenges Remain
June 2, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
On the last day of their legislative session, Oklahoma lawmakers finalized a $6.8 billion budget bill that was later signed by Gov. Mary Fallin. In the governor's statement on the bill, she noted that state agencies will be hard hit by the agreement--"it leaves many agencies facing cuts for the sixth year in a row"--and that while it does include some recurring revenue, it does not address the state's long-run structural budget challenges.
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.
State Rundown 5/31: Budget Woes Spurring Special Legislative Sessions
May 31, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, special legislative sessions featuring tax and budget debates are underway or in the works in Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico, and West Virginia, as lawmakers are also running up against regular session deadlines in Illinois, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Meanwhile, a legislative study in Wyoming and an independent analysis in New Jersey are both calling for tax increases to overcome budget shortfalls.
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 […]
Besides Eviscerating the Safety Net, Trump Budget Would Put States in a Fiscal Bind
May 26, 2017 • By Misha Hill
There has been considerable discussion about the human impact of the Trump budget’s draconian cuts to what remains of the social safety net. A long-standing conservative talking point in response to such criticism is that states can pick up the tab when federal dollars disappear. But at a time when many states are facing budget shortfalls and the effect of federal tax reform is yet to be determined, it is outlandish to suggest that states are flush with cash to make up for federal spending reductions.
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.
This week, Kansas lawmakers continued work on fixing the fiscal mess created by tax cuts in recent years, as legislators in Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and West Virginia attempted to wrap up difficult budget negotiations before their sessions come to an end, and Delaware lawmakers advanced a corporate tax increase as one piece of a plan to close that state's budget shortfall. Our "what we're reading" section this week is also packed with articles about state and local effects of the Trump budget, new 50-state research on property taxes, and more.
Trump Budget Plan Would Eliminate Child Tax Credits for Working Families Due to Parents’ Immigration Status
May 23, 2017 • By Misha Hill
As ITEP has detailed, undocumented immigrants are taxpayers, contributing close to $12 billion a year in state and local taxes while also paying federal payroll, income, and excise taxes. In spite of these facts, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, has spread erroneous information to validate the administration’s cruel proposal to strip a proven anti-poverty benefit from undocumented immigrants and their children.
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.
This week saw tax debates heat up in many states. Late-session discovered revenue shortfalls, for example, are creating friction in Delaware, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, while special sessions featuring tax debates continue in Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Meanwhile the effort to revive Alaska's personal income tax has cooled off.
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 […]
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