Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

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Newsweek: Income Tax Ban Could Be Reality for Millions

March 4, 2024

Supporters of a Washington resident-backed initiative trying to officially eliminate personal income taxes in the state got their first hearing before the legislature on Tuesday. Washington residents haven't paid personal income taxes in almost a century thanks to a 1933 decision by the state Supreme Court, but those backing Initiative 2111 want to make sure that things stay that way, cementing the existing practice into law. I-2111 would prohibit state, counties, cities, and other local jurisdictions from imposing or collecting income taxes.

HuffPost: America’s Largest Companies Dodged Nearly $300 Billion In Taxes, Report Finds

March 4, 2024

The country’s largest companies dodged more than $275 billion in federal corporate income taxes from 2018 to 2022, a new report from the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds. The report examined corporate income taxes paid by 342 of the country’s largest companies from 2018 to 2022, the latest year for which companies have reported their earnings. All of them were profitable in all five years covered by the report.

The Guardian: Trump Gave Top US Firms Staggering Tax Cuts, With Some Paying $0 or less – Report

March 4, 2024

Some of the US’s most profitable corporations, including General Motors, Citigroup and Netflix, have slashed their tax bills in the years since the passage of the Trump tax cuts, with nearly a quarter paying rates in the single digits and 23 paying nothing, a report has found. The 2017 law cut the top corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. But the new assessment of corporate tax avoidance, published on Thursday by the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (Itep), found that during the first five years the law was in effect, many profitable public companies in the US paid a…

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: PNC Bank, PPG Industries Among Companies Paying Less Than the Federal Tax Rate

March 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen Pennsylvania companies — including a handful in the Pittsburgh area — paid less than the 21% federal corporate income tax rate from 2018 to 2022, according to a study released Thursday by a progressive research group.

NPR: A Tech Billionaire Is Quietly Buying Up Land in Hawaii. No One Knows Why

February 28, 2024

Over the last couple of years, a mystery has been brewing in this small mountain town. Someone has been quietly buying hundreds of acres of land — stirring worries about rising housing prices and speculation among locals about what exactly is going on.

Mother Jones: It’s No Secret Our Tax System Punishes Low-Income People. It Doesn’t Have To

February 26, 2024

Oregon taxpayers will become some of the first in the nation to have the option to self-identify their race and ethnicity when they file their tax returns this year. The reason is both simple and complex: Especially at the state level, taxes worsen America’s yawning wealth gaps rather than easing them. A growing number of advocates and policymakers are trying to do something about that. 

The Hill: Trump Tax Cuts on the Line in 2024 Election

February 21, 2024

The 2017 Trump tax cuts are on the line in the election this year, with Republicans hoping a sweep of Congress and the White House will allow them to extend the former president’s signature law. Democrats opposed the law when Trump was in power but have supported extending certain cuts, such as the decreased tax rates for people making less than $400,000 a year. Democrats do not want a blanket extension, which would cost nearly $4 trillion over the next decade.

Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Talks to Ohio Newsroom About That State’s Upside-Down Tax Code

February 20, 2024

Ohio’s poorest residents pay a greater percentage of their income to state and local taxes than the richest Ohioans, according to a recent report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It found that Ohio has the 15th most unequal tax system in the country.

Roll Call: Rule for ‘SALT’ Bill Goes Down, Likely Sealing Its Fate

February 20, 2024

The House rejected a rule that would provide for floor consideration of a bill to double the cap on state and local tax deductions for married couples earning up to $500,000, striking a blow to legislation championed by blue-state Republicans. The House voted 195-225 Wednesday on the rule, falling well short of the majority needed to proceed to a floor vote on the bill and an unrelated resolution criticizing President Joe Biden’s energy policies.

LA Times: Taxpayer ‘Protection’ or Taxpayer ‘Deception’? A New Ballot Measure Aims to Destroy State and Local Budgets

February 14, 2024

It’s indisputable that the decline of state fiscal management in California began with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. The tax-cutting initiative upended the tax structure that provided most of the revenues needed by localities and school districts, undermining the locals’ control of their own spending.

Stateline: If You Can Buy a ‘Mansion,’ You Can Pay a Tax for Affordable Housing, These States Say

February 12, 2024

To create a long-term revenue stream, Berg has proposed raising taxes on the most expensive real estate transactions, an increasing nationwide trend sometimes dubbed a “mansion tax.” Her legislation would increase the state’s tax on property sales above $3 million while decreasing the tax rate for less expensive sales. The change is estimated to create an additional $300 million in revenue each biennium, said Berg, chair of the House Finance Committee.

Center for Public Integrity: More Tax Cuts Put States’ Revenue At Risk

February 12, 2024

At least a dozen proposals for income tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy residents and big companies are already on the table for state legislatures to consider in 2024 — and more are likely to come. Read more. 

Semafor: Immigration ‘Will Boost US Economy by $7 Trillion’ Over Next Decade

February 12, 2024

The ongoing surge of immigration to the United States will boost its economy by $7 trillion over the next decade by expanding the labor force and increasing consumer demand, a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found.

Yahoo Finance: Low-Earners in These 3 Low-Income Tax States Are Paying 5x More than the Rich in Taxes

February 6, 2024

The disparity between the rich and poor keeps growing with the disproportionate burden carried by low- and middle-income families. A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to tax policy, sheds light on the regressive nature of state and local tax systems in the United States.

MinnPost: Minnesota’s ‘Most Progressive’ Tax State Designation Explained

February 5, 2024

Minnesota is now the state with the nation’s most-progressive tax system in the U.S., as calculated by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its data-driven assessment looks at the share of state taxes that are borne by various income groups. Progressive is defined not in partisan terms but to describe tax systems that have higher income taxpayers devoting a larger percentage of their incomes to taxes than lower-income taxpayers.

The Hill: Tax Deal Likely Much More Expensive than Official Estimate, Experts Warn

January 31, 2024

“The $600B figure … is consistent with earlier estimates of the 10-year costs of these provisions if made permanent,” Joe Hughes, a policy analyst with Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told The Hill.

Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses Idaho’s Regressive Tax System

January 30, 2024

Idaho has the 36th most regressive tax system in the nation, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Who Pays report says that low- and middle-income families in Idaho pay more in taxes than the wealthy, and the institute also says that disparity has only gotten worse over the last five years. May Roberts, Policy Analyst at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, and Carl Davis, Research Director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, joined Idaho Matters to break down the study.

Video: ITEP’s Neva Butkus Discusses Wisconsin’s Tax Code on ABC News

January 29, 2024

"What this really comes down to is fairness," Neva Butkus, a state policy analyst for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said. She contributed to "Who Pays?," the seventh edition of a periodic analysis offered by ITEP of tax policies in all 50 states.

AP News: Kansas Governor Vetoes Tax Cuts She Says Would Favor ‘Super Wealthy’

January 29, 2024

But the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that even with the changes designed to benefit poorer taxpayers, 70% of the savings in raw dollars will go to the 20% of filers earning more than $143,000 a year.

Fatherly: What the New Child Tax Credit Would — and Wouldn’t — Do for Families

January 29, 2024

Various efforts have been made to revive the 2021 tax credit, which was wildly popular and is considered the “gold standard,” to CTC advocates, according to Joe Hughes, a Federal Policy Analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. It’s also popular across party lines: A poll from Zero to Three and Morning Consult found that 85% of respondents want Congress to reinstate the 2021 CTC — 94% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans. But no effort in that direction has yet been successful.

CBS News: Vermont Wants to Fix Income Inequality by Raising Taxes on the Rich

January 29, 2024

Across the U.S., the rich generally pay a lower share of their income in taxes than low earners, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). A recent analysis by the left-leaning think tank found that the average effective state and local tax rate paid by residents to their home state is 7.2% for the top 1% of earners; for the lowest-earning 20%, that rate tops 11%.

CBS News: 14 States are Cutting Individual Income Taxes in 2024. Here are Where Taxpayers are Getting a Break

January 29, 2024

The reductions represent a continuation of "tax cut fever," as termed by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The drive to cut state taxes began during the pandemic when many states found themselves flush with tax revenue. With coffers fat, lawmakers sought to provide some relief to their constituents, typically through tax rebates or rate reductions.

New York Times: Vermont Becomes Latest State to Propose Wealth Taxes

January 23, 2024

Lawmakers in Vermont are introducing legislation this week that would impose new taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, joining a growing national campaign being pushed by Democrats who believe that the measures will gain traction as states reckon with post-pandemic budget squeezes

Editorial: Florida Shines at Favoring the Rich, Punishing the Poor

January 23, 2024

But there’s one category in which Florida is unarguably first — first of the worst. The state has the nation’s most regressive state and local tax structure. That’s the judgment of ITEP, the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which ranks states every five years

Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses North Carolina’s Upside-Down Tax Code

January 23, 2024

Ever since Republicans took control of the North Carolina legislature in 2011, they’ve passed income tax cut after income tax cut and bragged repeatedly of the supposed enormous benefits this has afforded to average North Carolinians

Members of the media rely on ITEP for analysis and insight about how tax policies affect people. If you’re a reporter looking to talk to one of our experts, contact Jon Whiten at [email protected].