Ohioans deserve an equitable tax system that supports the public goods and services that enable all of us to thrive. Unfortunately, that is not the system we have today. After two decades of tax handouts to corporations and the rich, our upside-down tax system increasingly perpetuates inequality while failing to adequately fund services like education and health care. This all pales in comparison to the extreme proposal from lawmakers that would eliminate the state’s personal income tax.
ITEP Work in Action
Advocates and policymakers at the state and federal levels rely on ITEP’s analytic capabilities to inform their debates on proposed tax policy changes. In any given year, ITEP fields requests for analyses of policies in 25 or more states. ITEP also works with national partners to provide analyses of federal tax policy proposals. This section highlights reports that use ITEP analyses to make a compelling case for progressive tax reforms.
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ITEP Work in Action June 7, 2024 Policy Matters Ohio: Income Tax Extremism Is a Gift to the Wealthy. Repairing the Damage Would Cost Us All
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ITEP Work in Action June 5, 2024 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: States Should Reverse Course on Defunding Public Education Through Private School Vouchers and Property Tax Cuts
During this year’s legislative sessions, at least one in three states are considering or have enacted school voucher expansions alongside broad, untargeted property tax cuts. Over half of states have already enacted deep personal and corporate income tax cuts in the last three years. These policies will result in under-resourced public schools, worse student outcomes, and, over time, weaker communities.
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ITEP Work in Action May 31, 2024 Colorado General Assembly: HB24-1311 Family Affordability Tax Credit
Gov. Polis of Colorado signed the bill expanding its Child Tax Credit, which cites ITEP’s research on the second page of the bill text. Read the bill and its status. -
ITEP Work in Action May 21, 2024 International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research: The U.S. Federal and State Tax Simplification and Reform for Senior Citizens
The U.S. Federal and many State Governments provide social security tax deductions, either partial or all, for senior citizens. However, tax systems still require those whose incomes exceed standard deductions to report and calculate their income taxes. Usually, senior citizen’s income sources are from social security benefits, 401K retirement funds, IRA, annuities, pensions, and/or others. This paper provides a linear tax rate and tax formula to simplify federal and state social security and retirement taxes compared with the existing complicated tax calculation systems. This research also provides a reform proposal to combine all taxable incomes for qualified seniors who have certain retirement taxable incomes, such as less than $25,000 for Single Filers or $50,000 for Married Filing Jointly, and have no federal or state tax responsibilities. The numbers can be adjusted according to the tax revenue change after the tax reform. Senior citizens with more than standard deductions can simplify their tax returns. The benefits would include tax processing time and cost reductions for those qualified seniors and governments. It will comply with the goal of the IRS to make tax laws easier for senior citizens. In other words, the proposed method could achieve tax efficiency and optimal senior personal income taxation for federal and state governments, which may also be a good application for other countries.
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ITEP Work in Action May 21, 2024 Democrats: President Biden Delivers for Wisconsin While Trump Backs Billionaires Over Working Families
Today, President Biden’s visit to Racine, Wisconsin will underscore how his economic agenda is uplifting Wisconsin families by creating good-paying jobs, cutting costs, and building the middle class. Just last week, Trump spent his short time in Wisconsin lying about President Biden’s economic wins, because he knows that his only defense against President Biden’s successful record is to lie in a desperate attempt to hide how he failed Wisconsin families.
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ITEP Work in Action May 21, 2024 Senate Committee on the Budget: Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Add $4.6 Trillion to the Deficit, CBO Finds
According to the latest report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), extending the Trump tax cuts for the next 10 years—as Republicans have proposed—would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.
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ITEP Work in Action May 16, 2024 Bipartisan Policy Center: Credit Where Credit’s Due: Engaging State and Local Governments in Refundable Tax Credit Design and Administration
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) are two of the most effective anti-poverty tools in the United States, helping to boost household economic security while incentivizing work for millions of Americans each year. Over the past three years in particular, attention increased on the interactions between state and federal tax policy as states grappled with the EITC’s and the CTC’s rapid temporary expansion, as well as changes to complementary federal policies and programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes at the federal level to these two credits highlighted critical challenges facing policymakers and the public including optimal tax policy design and administration.
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ITEP Work in Action May 6, 2024 Economic Policy Institute: The Evolution of the Southern Economic Development Strategy
The Southern economic development model has failed to create shared prosperity in the region. In fact, this model was deliberately designed to do the opposite—to extract the labor of Black… -
ITEP Work in Action May 1, 2024 Center for American Progress: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Failed To Deliver Promised Benefits
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made sweeping changes to America’s tax laws. Signed into law by then-President Donald Trump and approved with only Republican support in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the TCJA permanently slashed corporate tax rates and changed the way the nation taxes the profits of U.S. multinational corporations.1 It also temporarily cut personal income and estate taxes, changes that largely benefited the wealth.
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ITEP Work in Action April 29, 2024 ThinkTennessee: Tennessee’s Working Families Are Paying More Than Their Fair Share of Taxes
A new fact sheet released today by nonpartisan think tank ThinkTennessee finds that while Tennessee has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the nation, its low-income families face a higher effective tax rate than both wealthier families and businesses. The analysis comes on the heels of Tax Day when millions of individual income tax returns are due to be submitted to the federal government.
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ITEP Work in Action April 22, 2024 Liberation in a Generation: Separate & Unequal: Transforming Our Tax Code to Deliver a Liberation Economy
The tax exclusions, exemptions, deductions, and credits in the U.S. tax code aimed at helping all individuals and families build economic security instead provided $1.2 trillion in support to mostly wealthy white households. The U.S. tax code was intended to more evenly collect and distribute the aggregate resources of our nation to care for all, over the course of its 111-year existence, this system has been molded by wealthy, largely white, elites and our policymakers into a wealth-hoarding mechanism for the nation’s most privileged people seeking to amass obscene levels of wealth.
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ITEP Work in Action April 18, 2024 Illinois Fund Our Futures Coalition: Funding Our Futures: The Equitable Revenue Policies Illinois Families Need to Thrive
Read the report here. -
ITEP Work in Action April 18, 2024 OpenSky Policy Institute: Modeling Details How Amended Tax Package Would Impact Nebraskans
Most Nebraskans who claim the state income tax credit on property taxes paid to public schools will see little change in what they pay resulting from the tax package to… -
ITEP Work in Action April 18, 2024 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Black Women Best Framework Points the Way to Equitable and Just State Tax Reform
States and localities can realize more equitable, thriving economies by proactively addressing the historical marginalization and persistent exploitation of Black women through their revenue policies. State tax policy is not… -
ITEP Work in Action April 17, 2024 Scholars Strategy Network: Tax Policy as a Potential Tool for Reducing Infant Mortality
Increased tax revenues and increased tax progressivity need to be further explored as policy solutions in Illinois. More specifically, the adoption of worldwide combined reporting and a state-level child tax credit, could help prevent infant deaths in our state.
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ITEP Work in Action April 15, 2024 New Jersey Policy Perspective: New Immigrants Drive Economic Growth in New Jersey
New Jersey’s fundamental strength lies in the rich tapestry of people who call the Garden State home, reflecting a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds. Nearly one in four residents (2.2 million) are immigrants,[i] who play a pivotal role in shaping the state’s identity. Immigrants bring a wealth of skills and talents that enrich New Jersey’s arts, cuisine, and entertainment, add to the intellectual achievements across various fields, and play essential roles in the private and public sectors. Across the state, immigrants make significant contributions to their local communities and the broader economy through their labor, entrepreneurial endeavors, and tax contributions.
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ITEP Work in Action April 15, 2024 Maine Center for Economic Policy: Tax Fairness — an Explainer
Taxes help pay for things that benefit everyone, like good schools, clean air and water, and safe roads. Businesses also need these things to succeed, along with a healthy, housed, and educated workforce, modern infrastructure, and affordable energy. Fair taxes mean everyone pitches in according to their means, so those who have less pay less, and those who have more pay more. Unfortunately, the vast majority of states still have upside-down tax structures, meaning that families with wealth pay a smaller portion of their income in taxes than families with low income. That’s not fair.
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ITEP Work in Action April 12, 2024 Audio: ITEP’s Joe Hughes on the Need for a Well-Funded IRS
ITEP Federal Policy Analyst Joe Hughes appeared on the Oregon Center for Public Policy’s “Policy for the People” podcast, discussing IRS funding and Direct File. -
ITEP Work in Action April 10, 2024 Oregon Center for Public Policy: Complete Reporting Would Make It Hard for Corporations to Hide Profits Overseas
Oregon can clamp down on multinational corporations shifting profits overseas, create a more level playing field for Oregon businesses, and raise millions in revenue by enacting “Complete Reporting” by large… -
ITEP Work in Action April 9, 2024 ITEP’s Miles Trinidad Testifies Against Weakening Hawai’i’s Estate Tax
HB 2653 would only exacerbate the regressive nature of Hawai’i’s state and local tax system and compound the preferential treatment of income derived from wealth.
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ITEP Work in Action April 8, 2024 Occidental College Urban & Environmental Policy Institute: Measuring LA’s Mansion Tax
In November 2022, 58% of Los Angeles City voters approved Measure ULA to increase the City’s existing real estate transfer tax on property sales over $5 million. The law went into effect on April 1, 2023. In its first year, Measure ULA is on track to raise hundreds of millions of dollars and spend the funds to build more affordable housing, provide emergency rental assistance, protect tenants from eviction, and prevent homelessness. This is all despite efforts by the real estate industry to undermine the new law and a significant shortage of Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) staff to carry out the unprecedented program. Measure ULA has nevertheless proven itself effective in improving housing conditions in Los Angeles, and the city has now joined 16 other cities and counties across the nation that have enacted progressive taxes on high-price real estate sales (i.e. “mansion taxes”).
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ITEP Work in Action April 1, 2024 Video: President Biden Cites ITEP’s Data on Corporate Tax Avoidance at the State of the Union
From the State of the Union on March 7, 2024 -
ITEP Work in Action April 1, 2024 Video: Rep. David Trone Discusses Corporate Tax Avoidance at House Budget Committee Hearing
His remarks were at a March 21, 2024 House Budget Committee hearing on President Biden’s proposed budget. -
ITEP Work in Action April 1, 2024 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: States Can Fight Corporate Tax Avoidance by Requiring Worldwide Combined Reporting
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 pay and smaller class sizes, low-income college students with more adequate financial aid, uninsured individuals with health coverage, residents and businesses with better road maintenance, and other critical services.
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ITEP Work in Action April 1, 2024 Open Sky Policy Institute: Why Proposed Tax Shift is Wrong for Nebraska
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.