Select Media Mentions
Insider: The Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax on Stock Buybacks Isn’t a Perfect Solution to Close the Wealth Gap — But It’s a Step in the Right Direction
August 14, 2022
One last-minute addition to the IRA received relatively little attention, and it could stand to be one of the most transformative policies in the bill. Read more.
Common Dreams: ‘Biggest Win for Tax Fairness’ in Decades: Progressives Cheer Reforms in IRA, Demand More
August 14, 2022
Following House Democrats’ passage of the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday, progressives applauded the most significant changes to the federal tax code since 2017, when Republicans’ highly regressive and deeply unpopular Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enthusiastically welcomed by corporations and the wealthy. Read more.
Washington Post: With Sinema’s Help, Private Equity Firms Win Relief from Proposed Tax Hikes
August 11, 2022
Senate Democrats agreed Sunday to protect firms owned by the private equity industry from a new minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations, bowing to pressure from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who insisted on making the change to the Democrats’ sprawling climate, health-care and tax package. Read more.
Time: Some of America’s Largest Corporations Pay Zero Taxes. Here’s How Congressional Democrats Aim to Change That
August 11, 2022
Progressive Democrats have been grousing for what seems like eons about the fact that some of the nation’s wealthiest corporations avoid paying their fair share in taxes. This weekend, the Senate inched a step closer to a fix when it approved a historic $370 billion climate and healthcare spending package that would be paid for almost […]
Los Angeles Times: Tax Provisions May Be Democrats’ Most Unexpected Victory in the Inflation Bill
August 11, 2022
The budget reconciliation bill just passed by the Senate and heading for final congressional approval offers dramatic improvements in American policies aimed at fighting global warming and improving healthcare. Read more.
Washington Post: The Corporate Minimum Tax Could Hit These Ultra-Profitable Companies
August 11, 2022
The House is expected to approve the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday that includes a minimum tax rate of 15 percent on highly profitable companies — a levy that could hit Amazon, Verizon and others. The tax would help pay for large investments across climate and health care. Read more.
U.S. News: What the Inflation Reduction Act Means for You
August 11, 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act requires certain large corporations to pay a minimum income tax of 15% and a 1% tax on stock buybacks. The bill also allocates an additional $80 billion in funding to the Internal Revenue Service for enforcement efforts like conducting audits and uncovering instances of tax fraud. Read more.
Bloomberg Tax Op-Ed: Manchin-Schumer Deal Takes Sensible Aim at Corporate Tax Dodging
August 2, 2022
Revenue-raising provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act would bring long-overdue fairness to a tax system that for decades has been eroded by special breaks for the powerful and well-connected, says Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more.
The Washington Post: How the Schumer-Manchin Climate Bill Might Impact You and Change the U.S.
July 28, 2022
“This would certainly be the biggest corporate tax increase in decades,” said Steve Wamhoff, a tax expert at Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “We’ve had decades of tax policy benefiting the rich, but this is really the first attempt to raise revenue in a progressive way that would begin to combat wealth and income […]
Reuters: Biden Pledge to Tax Wealthy, Companies Revived with Manchin-Led Bill
July 28, 2022
Biden said during a speech on Thursday that the deal would “for the first time in a long time begin to restore fairness to the tax code – begin to restore fairness by making the largest corporations in America pay their fair share without any new taxes on people making under $400,000 a year.” The […]
CNBC: Millions of Calif. families to get ‘inflation relief’ stimulus checks of up to $1,050
July 5, 2022
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders agreed on a $17 billion relief package that includes $9.5 billion in inflation relief funds. Those estimated 23 million California taxpayers will receive between $200 and $1,050 by early next year. California has more flexibility to send these kinds of payments because its budget is one of the […]
Bloomberg Tax: Flat Income Tax Revival Draws Sharply Mixed Reviews (Podcast)
June 14, 2022
With cash cushions plump with federal pandemic relief dollars and a surge in tax revenues, state legislatures across the country have cut taxes aggressively this year. But several states went further, converting their tiered income tax structures to flat-rate systems. Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, and Mississippi have committed to the flat tax in recent weeks, and […]
TheStreet.com: Amazon’s Biggest Rival Isn’t Walmart, It’s Congress
June 2, 2022
Over that period the company paid $1.9 billion in U.S. corporate income taxes, according to a 2021 analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Those payments gave Amazon an effective tax rate of just 4.3%, about a fifth of the 21% statutory U.S. corporate income tax rate. Read more
Wall Street Journal: States Help Business Owners Save Billions in Federal Taxes
June 2, 2022
“That’s logical from any individual state’s perspective, but in the big national scheme of things, it’s hard to see how this is a good thing,” said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive group. Read more
Bloomberg: Some States Are Offering Sales Tax Holidays for Shoppers in 2022
June 2, 2022
Last year, sales tax holidays cost states and local governments more than $550 million in lost revenue—that’s according to an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) survey of cost estimates from state tax expenditure reports, fiscal notes, revenue departments, and academic studies. Those numbers are up from an estimated $300 million in 2020. Read […]
The New York Times: State Lawmakers, Step Up and Govern
May 17, 2022
Below is an excerpt of a letter to the editor by Aidan Davis: The overarching theme that ties most of them together is that they are a default reaction among leaders who lack an ambitious, positive vision for the role of government. Read more
The Hill: Biden, Bezos Feud Escalates
May 17, 2022
Between 2014 and 2018, Bezos reported $4.22 billion income and paid $973 million in taxes. In that period, the Amazon founder and then-CEO’s wealth grew by $99 billion, according to the report. “I think he doesn’t want the public talking about the fact that wealthy people should pay taxes on their earnings, just like middle-class […]
MarketWatch: Jeff Bezos accuses Biden of ‘misdirection’ over inflation causes and solutions
May 16, 2022
A report earlier this year said Amazon avoided paying about $5.2 billion in corporate income taxes in 2021 as it reported record profits. The report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Amazon paid about $2.1 billion in federal taxes, an effective tax rate of about 6%. Read more
CNN: Fact-checking the Biden vs. Rick Scott argument over Scott’s tax proposal
May 10, 2022
Another analysis, from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy think tank, tested a different hypothetical policy that would satisfy Scott’s proposal to have all Americans pay some income tax. Under that policy, the institute found that the poorest fifth of Americans would face an average tax hike of just over $1,000. Read more
Washington Post: Corporate America takes first battle over future of Trump tax cuts
May 10, 2022
“That’s a fair trade,” said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, a left-leaning group that has along with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy voiced opposition to the incentive being restored. “It’s a deal, whereas this is not a deal.” Read more
The Center Square: States That Legalized Marijuana Are Bringing in More Tax Revenue on Marijuana Sales than Alcoho
May 10, 2022
A majority of the states that legalized recreational marijuana for recreational use are collecting more tax revenue from pot sales than alcohol sales. The first two states to legalize pot are profiting the most, Colorado and Washington. Across the country, the total revenue for taxes on weed amounted to nearly $3 billion, according to a report on […]
Politico: Checking for research opposition
May 9, 2022
The progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy followed up with a post shortly thereafter, calling it an “incredible reversal” that Democrats would consider a net corporate tax cut in the competitiveness measure after pushing so far unsuccessfully for a broader measure to hike taxes on the rich and corporations. Read more
Salon: Taking the Amazon union battle to the C-suite
May 7, 2022
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently reported that Amazon “avoided” about $5.2 billion in corporate federal income taxes in 2021 while reporting record profits of more than $35 billion (75% higher than its 2020 record haul) and “paid just 6 percent of those profits in federal corporate income taxes.” According to the nonprofit, […]
The Hill: Pot taxes surpass those from alcohol in legalization states
April 27, 2022
The report, from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, found the 11 states where marijuana is legal pulled in just shy of $3 billion in excise taxes on pot in 2021, compared with about $2.5 billion they made on alcohol excise taxes or liquor store profits. “This is still a small part of state […]
Bloomberg: Musk’s Untaxed Wealth Opens a Path to Twitter, Riling Democrats
April 27, 2022
“If you look at Musk’s ‘income’ as defined by our tax code, you see that the guy is really rich, but not rich enough to buy Twitter,” Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said. “When you look at a more complete definition of his […]
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