Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Citations

ITEP's Citations Research Priorities

Associated Press: Lawmakers in GOP-Led Nebraska Advance Bill To Raise Sales Tax

April 3, 2024

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With no votes to spare, Nebraska lawmakers advanced a bill that would raise the state’s sales tax by 1 cent to 6.5% on every taxable dollar spent — which would make it among the highest in the country.

Capital & Main: Extreme Wealth Is on the Ballot This Year — Will Americans Vote to Tax the Rich?

April 3, 2024

On March 7, President Joe Biden reintroduced proposals to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the nation’s most profitable corporations. The move virtually ensures that the nation’s extreme wealth inequality — more than one in four dollars in the country is held by a tiny sliver of households with a net worth over $30 million — will be part of the national election debate. But excessive wealth may take center stage in at least 10 states, ranging from Democratic bastions such as California, Hawaii and New York to swing states such as Nevada and Pennsylvania.

From the State of the Union on March 7, 2024

His remarks were at a March 21, 2024 House Budget Committee hearing on President Biden’s proposed budget.

To reduce their federal corporate income taxes, every year large multinational corporations shift hundreds of billions of dollars in profits earned in the United States onto the books of subsidiaries formed in foreign tax havens like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Ireland. Because nearly all state corporate taxes are based on the taxable profits a corporation reports on its federal return, each year states lose at least $10 billion — and perhaps as much as $15 billion — of revenue due to this profit-shifting, estimates suggest. This is substantial revenue states could be using to provide K-12 teachers with better…

The tax package designed to lower property taxes paid to local political subdivisions would increase the tax burden on low- and middle-income working families and make it increasingly difficult for cities, counties and schools to provide the services that Nebraskans expect.

The proposal to lower property taxes paid to fund local government services will reduce property taxes paid by property owners, but it’s important to understand how the package that raises the state sales tax rate impacts all consumers and the effect of plans to “front load” the existing tax credit for taxes paid to public schools.

Montana Budget & Policy Center: The Great Tax Shift

March 20, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

The taxes paid by Montana residents and businesses have created and continue to fund an equitable educational system, roads and bridges, and services that keep our communities safe. Unfortunately, over time, responsibility for our tax system has shifted to everyday Montanans, like our teachers, plumbers, and construction workers, and away from the wealthy. Over the […]

The Volcker Alliance: State Tax Cuts After the Pandemic

March 18, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

The Issue Paper by Can Chen and Alex Hathaway, State Tax Cuts After the Pandemic: Strategies to Sustain Fiscal Health, is the latest in a series of Alliance issue papers on state and local budgeting in the COVID Era. Following the unprecedented federal aid issued to offset the impact of COVID-19, state revenues and cash reserves reached […]

Vermont Lt. Gov David Zuckerman: Fair Share

March 14, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

Today, I have an exceptionally important topic to talk about: taxes! Taxes have become a dirty word, and in many ways for good reason. Since the 1980’s there has been a significant shift in how much everyday people pay in taxes. Wealthy and high-income individuals have seen their marginal tax rates drop precipitously, while working […]

Senator Warren’s exchange at a March 12, 2024 Senate Finance Committee hearing entitled: American Made: Growing U.S. Manufacturing Through the Tax Code

The Nation: Biden Should Channel His Inner FDR and Soak the Rich

March 13, 2024

There’s no risk and everything to gain politically. According to a Navigator Research poll from last month, 79 percent of registered voters favor higher taxes on billionaires and corporations. Only 16 percent are opposed. Democrats favor wealth taxes on billionaires by a 94-2 margin, independents by a 78-15 margin, Republicans by a 63-30 margin.

Corporate tax dodging and executive pay packages have both gotten so far out of control that a significant number of major U.S. corporations are paying their top executives more than they’re paying Uncle Sam in federal income taxes.

Mainers work hard to support themselves and their communities. They pay taxes to fund the services communities need to thrive, like education, health care, and infrastructure. But it is increasingly clear that big corporations aren’t holding up their end of the bargain by contributing their fair share. They deploy complicated tax loopholes and accounting schemes to avoid paying what they owe, using their money and power to ensure laws in place don’t expose the tricks they’re playing.

Sacramento Bee: California Families Could Save Thousands of Dollars From Proposed Child Tax Break. Here’s Why

March 12, 2024

President Joe Biden’s child tax credit plan would benefit millions of California parents, saving eligible families an average of $2,980, according to data from Washington’s Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Newsweek: What a Second Trump Term Means for Taxes

March 12, 2024

A second Donald Trump presidency would likely see another round of tax cuts targeted at the wealthy, similar to his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, according to a prominent taxation expert and lawyer.

USA Today: What President Joe Biden Got Wrong (and Right)

March 11, 2024

Though President Joe Biden largely stuck to the facts during his third State of the Union address Thursday, on several occasions he overstated the truth, left out key context or was simply wrong.

Good afternoon, Senator Fonfara, Representative Horn, and members of the Committee, and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Marco Guzman and I'm a senior policy analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, and we’re a nonprofit research organization that focuses on state, local, and federal tax policy issues. 

President Biden is fighting to make the tax system fairer while Republicans continue to push tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. The President’s plan delivers tax cuts for families with children and working Americans, invests in America, and reduces deficits by trillions of dollars by enacting a new billionaire minimum tax and cracking […]

Washington Post: Biden: Ban Deductions for Firms Paying Executives More Than $1 Million

March 7, 2024

President Biden will call for blocking corporations from deducting the costs of paying salaries over $1 million from their federal taxes in Thursday night’s State of the Union address, part of populist-oriented tax proposals in the speech as the 2024 campaign kicks off in earnest. Read more.

Yahoo Finance: Trump-Era Corporate Tax Cuts Boosted Investment, but Did Not Pay for Themselves

March 6, 2024

The corporate tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act helped boost business investment while delivering a small increase in worker pay, according to a new analysis published by the Bureau of Economic Research. The tax cuts did not, however, come anywhere close to paying for themselves, as their Republican proponents in Congress and the Trump administration insisted they would, and instead are costing the federal government more than $100 billion per year in lost revenues.

Common Good Iowa: Killing Democracy by Superminority

March 6, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

Iowa’s tax structure has long favored the wealthiest Iowans and corporations, and tax cuts passed in 2022 are making inequities worse. The average millionaire will see a cut of $62,000 a year. In the middle, Iowans earning $40,000 to $60,000 will see an average cut of $300, or about $6 a week. Most with incomes under $40,000 will see no cut at all. 

Below is written testimony delivered by ITEP Local Policy Director Kamolika Das before the Pennsylvania House Finance Subcommittee on Tax Modernization & Reform on March 1, 2024. Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity to testify. My name is Kamolika Das, I live in South Philly, and I’m the Local Tax Policy Director at […]

Because property taxes are based upon property values, they are not as strongly connected to an ability to pay as the income tax. This can be particularly burdensome when income changes as a result of job loss, divorce, illness, or retirement. As a result, property taxes tend to be regressive. 

Route Fifty: States Move to Cut Grocery Taxes

March 4, 2024

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Tuesday signed a bill to eliminate the state’s sales tax on groceries. With the 4.5% tax gone, that leaves 11 states that impose a grocery tax—a number that is swiftly shrinking. Stitt called it the largest single-year tax cut in state history. Oklahoma will see more than $415 million less in revenue a year.