Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Citations

ITEP's Citations Research Priorities

Newark Star-Ledger: GOP lawmakers shouldn’t skew our numbers to defend Trump’s tax cuts

January 31, 2018

Below is an excerpt of an op-ed by ITEP deputy director Meg Wiehe. It’s well known that the GOP tax law approved in a rush at the end of last year provides a small tax cut for most working people and a bonanza for the wealthy. Attempting to make this historically unpopular bill more agreeable, […]

Colorado Fiscal Institute: Effect of Federal Tax Law on Revenue for Colorado and Colorado Taxpayers

January 31, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

The Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI) has a long-time partnership with the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and their estimate of the impact on state revenue is significantly smaller than the current amounts predicted by the Colorado Legislature and the Colorado Governor’s Office. This brief explains the various components of the ITEP estimate.

Here’s Why Arkansas Needs a State EITC

January 31, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

Arkansas is part of a shrinking group of states that haven’t started using tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), to build their middle class and help people move permanently out of poverty. Arkansas remains among the worst states for overtaxing the poor. 

HuffPost: Companies Are On A Cheap Charm Offensive For Trump’s Tax Bill

January 30, 2018

Meanwhile, Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, announced it would spend an additional $700 million over the next two years on employee pay, thanks to the tax bill. That’s less than 5 percent of the company’s most recent annual profit. Walmart announced the closure of 63 Sam’s Club stores, which will result in hundreds of […]

Economic Progress Institute: Budget Matters: Making Rhode Island’s Tax Structure More Equitable and Adequate

January 30, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

For Rhode Island to achieve its potential as a first-class place to live and do business we need to ensure that we have the public services and amenities that enhance the quality of life and work in our state. Rhode Islanders make a collective investment through taxes, fees, and other forms of revenue to fund the services that businesses and residents count on.

Colorado Fiscal Institute: Colorado State Tax Basics

January 29, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

The Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI) promotes tax and budget policies that are effective, efficient, equitable, transparent and accountable. Each year, CFI takes positions on new legislation that affects the sustainability and equity in Colorado's state budget and tax system.

Tulsa World: Legislative Action Preventing Federal Income Tax Change from Blowing a $375 Million Hole in State Budget

January 28, 2018

December’s federal income tax reform bill would have decreased Oklahoma’s state income tax revenue by $375 million had legislators not “decoupled” from the federal standard deduction last year, analysts say. “Had we not decoupled, the state would have been bringing in $375 million less this year,” said David Blatt of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, citing […]

Third and State: Fact Check: Undocumented Immigrants like the Dreamers are not a Drag on State and Local Governments

January 27, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

A recent study by the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the estimated 137,000 undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania pay our state and local governments almost $135 million in taxes each year. (They pay $11.7 billion in state and local taxes nationwide.) Read more here

Michigan League for Public Policy: The EITC: The Good, The Great And The Unfortunate

January 26, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

According to modeling by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2019 about 1,400 fewer filers (about 0.4%) will qualify for the credit, resulting in $7 million in fewer federal credits being distributed to the state. By 2027 about 14,500 fewer filers (about 2%) will qualify for the credit, resulting in a loss of $96 million of federal credit value. The same filers who lose their federal EITC will also lose their ability to claim their state EITC, resulting in a loss of additional local economic support.

NJPP: A Grain of ‘SALT’: New Jersey Needs More Than Workarounds to Respond to GOP Tax Plan

January 25, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

That’s because these workarounds would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest households in New Jersey, to make no mention of the fact that the Trump administration is unlikely to allow them to stand.

Albany Times Union: Schumer Points to Layoffs to Counter GOP’s Rosy Tax-Law Forecast

January 25, 2018

In Schumer’s estimation, those with plenty of cash on hand will spend less of their tax windfall on bonuses and wages than on shareholder dividends and stock buybacks — which ultimately show up in corporate hierarchy bonuses. Among the major announcers of buybacks: MasterCard, Bank of America, Pfizer and Wells Fargo. With so much cash […]

CBS News: Trump’s Economic Score: After Tax Cuts, Not too Much

January 23, 2018

The tax plan aims to pump $1.5 trillion worth of breaks into the nation’s economy over the next 10 years. Although the bulk of the benefits go to companies and the wealthy, ordinary folks will get something, too. The average tax reduction for the middle fifth of American taxpayers by income will be $800 in […]

Washington Examiner: New Tax Law Means Tax Hikes in Iowa Unless State Intervenes

January 23, 2018

he timing is auspicious because, for years, some conservatives in the state have resisted the idea of eliminating the deduction out of a fear that doing so would be a tax increase. But such worries don’t apply now, because the federal tax cuts are lowering the deduction’s value to the tune of $130 million to […]

DCFPI: As High-Income DC Taxpayers Reap Large Federal Tax Windfalls, DC Can Make Our Tax Code More Progressive

January 22, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

According to recent estimates from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), District of Columbia residents can expect to receive an $850 million federal tax break this year.

MassBudget: What Does the Federal Tax Law Mean for Massachusetts and How Might the Commonwealth Respond?

January 22, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

The tax cuts are also skewed toward high-income tax filers when measured as a portion of their own incomes.

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center: The Pennsylvania Promise: Making College Affordable and Securing Pennsylvania’s Economic Future

January 22, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

Three recent briefs by the Keystone Research Center laid out the case for more affordable access to post-secondary education in Pennsylvania. The global race for raising incomes and increasing opportunity hinges critically on access to post-secondary education and training. If Pennsylvania does not expand access to higher education to more of its citizens, the Commonwealth’s economy will suffer and living standards will lag behind growth elsewhere. With a modest and smart investment, Pennsylvania can build a more prosperous future for its citizens and reinvigorate the American Dream in every corner of the keystone state. “The Pennsylvania Promise,” outlined below, shows…

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In Assessing the Fairness of Tax Cuts, Don’t Forget Income Inequality

January 20, 2018

The basic problem, the Post said, was McCaskill’s use of the phrase “in the long run.” Next year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the vast majority of Missourians will see a tax cut. The middle 20 percent of households will see an average cut of $830, which is why Republicans can […]

NPR’s All Things Considered: More States Turning To Toll Roads To Raise Cash For Infrastructure

January 18, 2018

“I think the states over time have lost hope in the federal government enacting a real, long-term infrastructure package” says Carl Davis, research director for the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “And so they’ve taken matters in their own hands and boosted funding on their own.” Davis notes that 26 states have increased […]

Fortune: States Are Trying to Fix the New Tax Law, But They May Make It Worse

January 18, 2018

Below is an excerpt of an op-ed that was published in Fortune by ITEP Senior Fellow Steve Wamhoff Two wrongs don’t make a right. But some state officials, incensed by the new federal tax law’s $10,000 limit on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), appear to have forgotten this sage advice and are considering […]

New York Times: Apple, Capitalizing on New Tax Law, Plans to Bring Billions in Cash Back to U.S.

January 18, 2018

By shifting the money under the new terms, Apple has saved $43 billion in taxes, more than any other American company, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group in Washington. Other tech giants are set to follow suit in the coming months. Companies like Microsoft, Alphabet and Cisco also shifted […]

BBC: Apple to Pay $38 Billion on Foreign Cash Pile

January 18, 2018

Apple is to bring billions of dollars back to the US, and pay a $38bn tax bill as a result. We get analysis from Thomas Brennan, a law professor specialising in tax policy at Harvard University, and Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Washington research group the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

City & State: Cuomo’s Tax Work Arounds Would Be Challenging

January 17, 2018

Steve Wamhoff, senior fellow for federal tax policy at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, gave the example that if a person gave $100 to a public radio station and received a mug in return, they would have to subtract the value of the mug when listing the deduction on their federal taxes. […]

Albany Times-Union: States Release Plans to Shift from Income to Payroll Taxes

January 17, 2018

But the concept has sparked questions from both sides of the political spectrum. “You are making the state code increasingly complicated and for what?” said Steve Wamhoff, a senior tax policy fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington D.C. progressive-leaning group that looks at tax issues such as fairness. Wamhoff notes […]

Charleston Post-Courier: An Abuse of Charitable Giving?

January 14, 2018

Under the new law, some wealthy South Carolinians may actually make a 37 percent profit, risk-free, by making charitable contributions to Exceptional SC, a nonprofit fund created by the state Legislature to administer scholarships to students with disabilities attending private schools. That’s according to a recent report by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. South Carolina has […]

New York Times: Walmart’s Bumpy Day: From Wage Increase to Store Closings

January 12, 2018

Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research group, said it was difficult to forecast precisely how much Walmart would save. But based on the company’s average annual United States earnings over the past five years, he said, savings from the cut in the corporate tax rate […]