Citations
ITEP's Citations Research Priorities
Reuters: Illinois Budget Debate Raises Key Questions on Taxing Retirement Income
February 28, 2019
But the policies of various states are all over the map. Data provided by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that 11 states tax some portion of Social Security benefits, usually mirroring the federal formula. Many others tax pensions and tax-deferred accounts, although some have exemptions that protect lower-income, public sector workers and […]
Chicago Resilient Families Task Force: Big Shoulders, Bold Solutions: Economic Security for Chicagoans
February 25, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
People with low and middle-incomes are financially savvy in ways that are often underestimated, but despite this are on thin ice financially. Despite doing all the right things, they are caught in a trap that is very hard to escape. Wages are falling behind and jobs are increasingly structured in ways that foster precariousness instead […]
Chicago Sun-Times: 47th Ward Candidate for Alderman
January 28, 2019
We need more progressive revenue sources to help address our pension obligations. Our state’s combination of a flat income tax, high sales taxes, and heavy local reliance on property taxes is the basis for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranking of Illinois as having the fifth most regressive tax system in the United […]
Voices for Illinois Children November Newsletter
November 21, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released the sixth edition of its “Who Pays?” report on state tax systems. Voices’ policy analyst John Gordon detailed the findings of the report in a blog post. Illinois ranks #8 among ITEP’s “Terrible Ten” in terms of regressive state tax systems.
Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News: Financial Watchdog: Pritzker’s Spending Promises Would Raise Taxes on Middle Class
November 1, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says Illinois has one of the most regressive taxes in the nation, largely due to its flat income tax. In its annual “Who pays?” report, the institute said the poorest 20 percent of Illinois households pay 14 percent of their income in taxes because of the flat tax in addition to high sales and property taxes.
Voices for Illinois Children: Who Pays In Illinois? Mostly The Poor And Middle Class
October 29, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
A new report from the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows the poorest 20 percent of Illinois households pay nearly twice as much in state and local taxes as the richest one percent. As a result, ITEP ranks Illinois as the eighth most regressive tax system in the country.
News and Tribune: In Indiana and Illinois, Taxes Hit Low-earners Hard
October 25, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
TERRE HAUTE -- Low-earning residents of Indiana and Illinois pay a greater share of state and local taxes than those in all other Midwestern states, and those in most states nationally, according to a new study by a non-partisan think tank.
Chicago Tribune: A Key Issue in Illinois Governor Race — Gov. Bruce Rauner, J.B. Pritzker Have Very Different Plans for State Income Tax
October 18, 2018
Last year, state lawmakers raised income taxes and ended the state’s two-year budget impasse over the passionate objections and veto of Rauner. At the time, the governor called the move “another step in Illinois’ never-ending tragic trail of tax hikes.”
Chicago Magazine: Illinois Is a Few Elections Away From a Graduated Income Tax
September 21, 2018
Illinois has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation — and politicians are taking notice. Under our system, the burden of taxation falls disproportionately on those least able to pay it. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Illinois is one of the “Terrible Ten Most Regressive State & Local Tax Systems,” clocking in […]
Education Week: How a Proposed Tax Rule Could Hurt School Vouchers
September 11, 2018
Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in 2017, wealthy residents in states such as New York and California face sizable increases in their federal tax bills because of a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions they can make on their federal returns. Democratic lawmakers allege the so-called SALT-cap unfairly targets left-leaning […]
Urban Milwaukee: What’s Wrong with Illinois?
May 30, 2018
Although Illinois is widely viewed as a blue state because of its recent record of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, from a “who pays” angle it looks much more like a red state, collecting a much higher proportion of taxes from low earners than high earners. The next chart, based on data developed by the Institute […]
Center for Tax and Budget Accountability: Cutting Taxes for the Middle Class and Shrinking the Deficit
April 30, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
According to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, Illinois ranks as the fifth-most-regressive state and local tax system in the country — and the most regressive in the Midwest. In Illinois, the top one percent of income earners pay just 4.6 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the middle 20 percent of workers pay more than double that, coming in at 10.8 percent of income, and the bottom 20 percent of earners have almost three times the tax burden of the wealthiest, coming in at 13.2 percent.
CBS St. Louis: Metro East Gubernatorial Candidate Wants Progressive Income Tax
January 4, 2018
Democrat Bob Daiber, currently Madison County’s Regional Superintendent of Schools, claims Illinois’ tax system is fifth most regressive in the nation — citing the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “There’s an old saying ‘you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip,’ but we continue to try,” Daiber told reporters during a Chicago news conference. “I […]
The Atlantic: The Big Blue Losers in the GOP Tax Plan
November 28, 2017
Between the mortgage and SALT limits, the bills hit many upper-middle-class taxpayers, especially in blue states. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calculates that by 2027 the Senate bill would raise taxes on about 45 percent of households between the 80th and 95th income percentiles in California, Virginia, New Jersey, and New York; and […]
CNN: GOP Tax Plans Could Fuel the Suburban Revolt Against Trump
November 15, 2017
The bite from the GOP bill is deeper for upper-middle-class families in major metropolitan areas, particularly in Democratic-leaning states where taxes, and usually property values, are higher. While only about one-in-five families between the 80th and 95th income percentiles in most red states would face higher taxes by 2027 under the House GOP bill, that […]
The Chicago Tribune: After the Rush Job to Use Public Money on Private Schools, Now We Wait
August 30, 2017
Third, the Illinois program specifies that donations to scholarship funds — up to $1,000 a year for an individual — are not eligible for the 75 percent state tax credit if the taxpayer also claims that donation as a charitable contribution for federal tax purposes. This provision eliminates the ability of donors in higher tax […]
Illinois Public Radio: Flat Vs. Graduated Income Tax
August 24, 2017
Obviously to be fair to taxpayers, Illinois needs the flexibility to tax lower levels of income at lower rates and higher levels of income at higher rates. The constitutional prohibition against that makes Illinois a national outlier. Of the 41 states in America with an income tax, 33 have graduated rate structures. Illinois is one […]
Chicago Tribune: Put the Brakes on GOP’s Backdoor Voucher Idea
August 24, 2017
Donors to the scholarship funds are also allowed to count that donation as a standard charitable donation for federal income tax purposes, meaning, as one Georgia agency that distributes to schools enthuses on its website, “You will end with more money than when you started.” And the higher your tax bracket, the higher your risk-free […]
Chicago Magazine: What Can Illinois Learn from Other States’ Budget Disasters
June 1, 2017
In 2012, Kansas would go on to enact tax cuts that the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy called ”among the largest” enacted by any state. Under the leadership of recently elected Governor Sam Brownback, the state dropped the top income tax rate by one-fourth, nixed taxes on “pass through” business profits (business profits passed directly to the […]
Crain’s Chicago Business: How Much Do Illinois Companies Pay in Taxes?
April 28, 2017
Illinois’ Fortune 500 companies are paying less and less in state corporate taxes—and sometimes, almost nothing at all. A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found certain corporations are finding ways to shelter much of their profit from state taxes. The eight-year study looked at 240 Fortune 500 companies from 2008 […]
The Register-Mail: Change ‘tax avoidance’ laws
March 22, 2017
However, the practice isn’t unusual. About $2.5 trillion has been held offshore in about 10,000 tax-haven subsidiaries by more than 350 of Fortune-500 companies, according to another report, “Offshore Shell Games 2016,” from the Public Interest Research Group, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and Citizens for Tax Justice. Companies such as Apple and […]
Quad City-Times: Embrace immigrant past, be welcoming community
March 13, 2017
Immigrants are more likely to start a business than native-born Americans and are particularly over-represented in Main Street business — retail, restaurants and neighborhood services — that are crucial to local economies. They also contribute to local tax bases. Even unauthorized immigrants paid $11.74 billion in state and local taxes in 2014 ($758 million just […]
Voices for Illinois Children: Fair Tax Bill Introduced
January 9, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Representative Lou Lang introduced a fair tax rate structure (House Bill 689), which would provide over 99% of income taxpayers with a tax cut while raising $1.9 billion to prevent more harmful budget cuts. Read more here
Chicago Herald: New Chicago bag tax will boost revenue, but will it cut waste?
November 16, 2016
“Meg Wiehe, state tax policy director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group based in Washington, D.C., said these one-off taxes on goods exacerbate income inequality. The tax code can’t correct the problem, she said, but it shouldn’t make the problem worse. What’s more, if the tax works as intended, revenue […]
Standard-Times: Immigrants bring value to nation
October 18, 2016
“And though there are competing analyses about whether unlawfully present immigrants contribute more to the economy than they cost in education and health expenses, what cannot be denied is that, according to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, illegal immigrants contribute more than $11.6 billion to state and local coffers each year and […]
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