
January 31, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
State EITCs are better targeted to people with low income than blanket tax exemptions, so they help to reduce the disproportionate impact of sales and excise taxes. According to new data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a state EITC at 30 percent of the federal credit would reduce the share of income […]
January 30, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
How to untax groceries without costing education a dime It’s crucial to replace the grocery tax revenue without hurting the people who would benefit most from the tax’s elimination. Fortunately, Alabama has a way to untax groceries while protecting both struggling families and education funding. That solution would be to end an unusual tax loophole […]
January 29, 2020
Wealthier Americans tend to pay a smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than lower-income Americans. According to a 2018 report released by The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, the highest-earning 1% of American families pay just 7.4% of their income in state and local taxes […]
January 28, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
To get a sense of a state’s values, one often need look no further than its tax system. What a state spends its tax dollars on and how it acquires those tax dollars typically reveals a lot about the priorities of its people—what they care about and what they stand for. In theory, it’s a […]
January 28, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
The Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) is New Mexico’s equivalent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The WFTC’s eligibility levels and credit amounts are based directly on the EITC, and like most states, the amount is a set percentage of the federal EITC. These tax credits reduce poverty, improve outcomes for children, and […]
January 28, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
While all families in Arizona help pay for health, education and public safety through state and local taxes, low-income and middle-income families pay a larger portion of their income in taxes than do wealthier families. When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales, and property—families with income in the lowest 20 percent […]
January 27, 2020
If the IRS prevails in court, it could cost Facebook up to $9 billion more in taxes, based on estimates in the company’s securities filings. It would be a notable defeat for a company that, when it comes to risky tax avoidance, has been more aggressive “than almost any other US corporation,” said Matt Gardner, […]
January 27, 2020
Virginia would join 31 states that have raised or reformed their gas tax in the last decade, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
January 26, 2020
Bernie Sanders has proposed taxing estates worth more than $3.5 million. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that this would raise more than $30 billion a year. Another reform would generate a good deal more revenue—ending the so-called “step-up” provision of capital gains. When heirs receive an asset, they don’t owe taxes on […]
January 26, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
In Search of State Budget That Creates Opportunity for All When all types of state and local taxes are combined—income, sales, and property—families with income in the lowest 20 percent pay twice what families in the top 1 percent do—$12.95 for every $100 of income and $8.49 for middle income families compared to $5.91 for […]
January 25, 2020
It’s soaring because the government is collecting fewer tax dollars as a result of the cuts. One study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think-tank, released in December suggested corporate taxes are at a 40-year low. Read more
January 25, 2020
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, most states have raised their gasoline taxes over the last several years. Along with the ballot initiatives passed to support highway projects, states could take a bigger role in their own infrastructure destinies. Ironically, more state-level control and funding is one of the tent poles of […]
January 24, 2020
States’ use of tax incentives to lure the filming of movies and television shows is one of those policy ideas that experts of basically all political persuasions are against — believing that the costs in revenue far outweighs the economic benefits generally trumpeted by politicians and Hollywood. (One example: “The competition among states on this […]
January 23, 2020
If the IRS prevails in court, it could cost Facebook up to $9 billion more in taxes, based on estimates in the company’s securities filings. It would be a notable defeat for a company that, when it comes to risky tax avoidance, has been more aggressive “than almost any other U.S. corporation,” said Matt Gardner, […]
January 22, 2020
Microsoft, meanwhile, has continued to reap the benefits of its offshore deals. In 2017, the last year before the new tax law cut the corporate rate from 35% to 21%, Microsoft paid $2.4 billion in taxes on $29.9 billion in income, a rate of 8%. By that point, Microsoft had stored $142 billion in profits […]
January 17, 2020
The figures were developed by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. to project the likely effects if the Democrats’ proposal went into effect in 2022. That’s likely the earliest year when Democrats could have their policies go into full effect if the party takes control of the White House and Congress in 2021. […]
January 16, 2020
And creation of a new Child Tax Credit could provide poor and middle-income residents — even those earning nearly $500,000 per year — as much as $800 to $1,550 on each filer’s annual refund. “The child tax credit has been found to have staggering impacts on poverty reduction,” said Meg Wiehe, deputy executive director for […]
January 16, 2020
More progressive taxes aren’t a panacea for income inequality, either. With a top rate of 12.3%, plus a 1% millionaire tax, California has the most progressive tax code in the country, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It is also the seventh most unequal, with the wealthiest 1% making 30 times […]
January 15, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
Connecticut Voices for Children released a report that examined the state’s income and wealth inequality and the state’s regressive tax system that exacerbates these inequalities.
January 13, 2020
Here’s another reason to complain: Many companies aren’t paying even the lower rate. In 2018, the first year under the new law, 379 profitable companies in the Fortune 500 paid an average effective rate of 11.3%, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank in Washington. Read […]
January 12, 2020
The “circuit breaker” would protect seniors and low income homeowners from paying too high of a percentage of their income on property taxes. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a “circuit breaker” protects taxpayers from property tax overload just like an electric circuit breaker. It kicks in when a property tax bill […]
January 8, 2020
Interview with Matthew Gardner, senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, conducted by Scott Harris
January 6, 2020
While some Americans received a tax cut during the 2018 filing season, it was nowhere enough to substantially improve their lives. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy warns, “The few provisions that targeted working families weren’t ambitious enough to make a notable difference for most working families.” This isn’t lost on the public, who remain opposed […]
January 6, 2020
Promise: “We’re also going to eliminate tax breaks and complex loopholes taken advantage [of] by the wealthy.” – President Trump, November 29, 2017. Reality: The law kept tax loopholes in place and added new ones, including for the commercial real estate industry and wealthy heirs. In 2018, a group of the most profitable corporations paid an effective tax rate […]
January 3, 2020
HELENA, Mont. – During the first year of the Trump administration’s new tax law, 91 Fortune 500 companies didn’t pay a dime in federal income tax. That’s according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Report co-author and Policy Analyst at the Institute Lorena Roque says by using legal loopholes, corporations […]