Select Media Mentions
Wall Street Journal: Zero-tax companies could remain
September 24, 2021
Mr. Biden’s often-cited list of 55 companies comes from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, a progressive group that publishes a regular report on the zero-tax-company phenomenon. This year’s list included companies such as VeriSign Inc., Sealed Air Corp. and DTE Energy Co. Amazon.com Inc., often the political poster child for light […]
The Motley Fool: House Democrats Push for Expansion of Tax Credit Designed for Low Earners
September 19, 2021
Now, House Democrats want to make the expanded EITC a permanent fixture of the tax code. If they get their way, the increased credit could provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, impacting 19.5 million workers, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the same time, Democratic lawmakers are pushing to keep […]
The Hill: Lessons from Occupy Wall Street for today’s tax fight
September 17, 2021
Following is an excerpt from an opEd by Amy Hanauer, ITEP’s executive director, published in The Hill. Right now, Congress is debating President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a plan that would make a meaningful dent in the key questions the Occupy movement raised. Who is the economy for? How can it work for all of us, not just […]
CNBC: About 1 Million More Kids Could Get the Child Tax Credit in the Future Thanks to This Change in Plan From Democrats
September 17, 2021
One major change in the current proposal is allowing children with individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, to receive the credit. These kids, who are often undocumented children growing up in the U.S., were left out of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Thus, their parents have not been able to claim the child […]
The Sun: Nearly one million kids could get child tax credits in new plan… are you in line for cash?
September 17, 2021
Researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy think this change could benefit up to one million children. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act prevented families with ITINs to claim the stimulus payment. Read more
Boston Now: Housing, commuting and medical care pushes 9.4% of Bay Staters into poverty, Census data shows
September 14, 2021
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy also pointed to the stimulus payments as a reason why there was no commensurate spike in poverty in 2020 to go with the deepest unemployment spike since the Depression era. “At the start of the health and economic crisis, we knew that we needed deep government investments to […]
Houston Chronicle: Stimulus checks saved many from poverty, Census data show
September 14, 2021
“At the start of the health and economic crisis, we knew that we needed deep government investments to alleviate widespread hardship,” said Aidan Davis, a senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in a statement. “The last year and a half demonstrates that the nation can make a significant dent in […]
Los Angeles Times: Democrats are ready to raise taxes, but not by nearly enough
September 14, 2021
They write off executive stock options, take advantage of federal research and development subsidies, and use accelerated depreciation schedules to write off the decline in the value of equipment faster than the equipment actually loses value. According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 26 profitable corporations paid no income tax or recorded a […]
The Hill: House Democrats take step back from Biden on tax hikes
September 14, 2021
Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said the committee’s proposal would be a “huge improvement” over the current tax code. But he also said that a lot of the income of very wealthy people would not be taxed at all, because the committee didn’t adopt Biden’s […]
CNBC: House Democrats push for permanent EITC expansion
September 14, 2021
A permanent expansion may cost $135 billion over the next decade, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates. If enacted, the increased credit may provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, affecting 19.5 million workers, research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows. Read more
Marketwatch: Biden v. House Democrats: How their proposed tax hikes differ on Roth IRAs, capital gains
September 14, 2021
But the Ways and Means Committee proposals do “not go as far as the Biden administration proposals go,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The committee’s proposal comes months after Biden unveiled his own proposal for tax hikes, which include a higher top income […]
Daily Tax Report: House Democrats’ International Tax Plan More Modest in Aim
September 13, 2021
“It’s definitely more corporate-friendly than the Biden plan,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy for the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. But in big-picture terms, he added, it’s also “a big improvement over the tax code as it exists now.” Read more
Huffington Post: How Farms Became Wealthy Heirs’ Anti-Tax Mascot
September 8, 2021
The tax proposals in question do not actually target family farms. The White House has called for higher taxes on capital gains, like the profits from buying a stock and later selling it at a higher price, for people with annual incomes above $1 million. Capital gains currently enjoy special lower tax rates that top […]
Business Insider: Biden is picking a fight on corporate taxes with Disney, Fedex, and others. Senate Democrats may go easier.
September 8, 2021
He also ripped into 55 large companies that paid no federal income taxes in 2020, per a report from the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Those firms who paid nothing included household names like FedEx and Nike. Read more
The Intercept: Companies Lobbying Infrastructure Tax Increase Have Avoided Paying Billions in Taxes
September 8, 2021
A 2016 report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Citizens for Tax Justice, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Bristol Myers Squibb held $25 billion across 23 tax haven subsidiaries. In 2012 the company set up a tax haven subsidiary in Ireland, which the IRS later described as an “abusive” […]
Wall Street Journal: Heirs, Estates and the Step-Up in Basis Rule
September 8, 2021
Following is an excerpt from a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal by Steve Wamhoff, ITEP federal policy director. Under current law, America’s wealthiest people can avoid paying taxes on a substantial share of their income. Most of what Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos make is appreciation on their assets, also […]
The Nation: The New New Deal
September 6, 2021
Amy Hanauer, the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, sees the budget as a “long overdue” opportunity to achieve fairer taxation. Biden and Senate Democrats have highlighted the need for a plan to reverse the Trump administration’s giveaways to corporations and the billionaire class. If the pandemic taught us anything, Hanauer […]
The Hill: Progressives prepare to launch counterattack in tax fight
September 2, 2021
“Clearly what is happening is that some lawmakers are responding to a lobbying campaign by corporations and very wealthy people, and that campaign is really kicking into gear now,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
Salon: Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp now lobbies for tax loophole she called “one of the biggest scams”
September 2, 2021
Amy Hanauer, executive director of the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, told Salon that the current loophole “unfairly allows billionaires like Jeff Bezos to avoid paying income tax on most of their real income,” because it comes from appreciation on his assets, which are now worth $99 billion more than they were 10 years ago. […]
Bloomberg Law: Wyden Plan Retains Tax Boost But Mulls Foreign Tax Credit Perk
August 25, 2021
But public opinion supports the idea of companies paying higher taxes on their offshore profits, said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and he sees Congress approving a significant package of changes. “At the end of the day, the need for revenue to pay for investments, […]
Newark Star-Ledger: U.S. House paves way to increase property tax breaks after delay spurred by N.J. Democrat
August 24, 2021
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive research group, said 80% of the 1.9 million New Jerseyans who would benefit from removing the cap had an average income of $216,000 or less, even though 72% of the benefits would go to the richest 5%. The House’s August recess had been temporarily short-circuited and […]
The Motley Fool: Low-Income Americans Will Get an Average of $3,590 in Stimulus Money in 2021
August 20, 2021
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest-earning Americans will receive more financial relief this year than some of their higher-earning counterparts. Specifically, those who have a household income of $21,300 or less will get an average of $3,590 in stimulus money and tax credits this year. On average, this includes: $2,210 […]
Mississippi Today: Mississippi tax laws place higher burden on people of color
August 19, 2021
“Black households pay an average of 8.7% of their income in state and local tax while Hispanic families pay 9.1%,” according to a recently released study by non-profit One Voice, based on data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “Those rates are significantly above the statewide average tax rate of 8.4% and […]
CNBC: States boost earned income tax credits for pandemic relief
August 17, 2021
President Joe Biden proposed making these changes permanent in the American Families Plan, which could provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, affecting 19.5 million workers, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
Motley Fool: Middle-Class Americans Will Get an Average of $2,910 in Stimulus Money in 2021
August 13, 2021
Although there’s no specific data detailing exactly how much stimulus money people within this income range will receive on average, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that those with household incomes between $65,000 and $111,300 will receive an average of $3,540. This range is a pretty close overlap with families who are considered […]
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].
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.