Select Media Mentions
Marketplace: IRS’ Direct File is Free for Millions of Taxpayers, but Not Everyone Wants to Keep It Around.
April 15, 2025 • By Joe Hughes
April 15 is Tax Day. If you haven’t filed yet, one option could be the IRS’ Direct File program, which lets some taxpayers electronically file their returns directly with the agency for free, as opposed to through third-party providers.
Los Angeles Times: IRS Plan to Give Data to ICE Could Wallop California, Where Many Immigrants Pay Taxes
April 14, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Also like many of her clients, she has routinely paid U.S. taxes in the past using what’s known as an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, in lieu of a Social Security number. The process seemed pretty straightforward, she said, until recently, when Trump administration officials announced that IRS data would be shared with ICE agents and used to target undocumented taxpayers for the first time.
MSNBC: Trumps Social Security Team has Reportedly Marked More than 6,000 Immigrants as Dead
April 14, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The New York Times was first to report on the administration’s cancellation of immigrants’ lawfully obtained Social Security numbers — essentially listing individuals as dead — as a means to impede their ability to make money or access government services and to pressure them to leave the country.
Times Union: Editorial: Honesty Ought to Pay
April 14, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The administration of President Donald J. Trump has decided to have the Internal Revenue Service share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on undocumented immigrants who have been diligently paying taxes on the promise that their files would be confidential.
Arizona Daily Star: Trump’s Deportation Net Widens to Migrants with Legal Status, Taxpayers
April 13, 2025 • By Marco Guzman
The Trump administration has moved to revoke parole protections issued under President Joe Biden and deport migrants like Doralis, who followed all the rules and used CBP One to enter the U.S. Read more.
NPR: 4 Takeaways from the Week: In a World That Craves Stability, Trump Brings the Chaos
April 11, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The IRS agrees to share tax information of immigrants in the country without permanent legal status. The IRS previously didn't in an effort to get immigrants to pay taxes. They paid about $97 billion in taxes in 2022, including about $60 billion to the federal government, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Newsweek: Florida Wants to Cut Property Taxes—But California Has a Warning
April 10, 2025 • By Rita Jefferson
As state lawmakers consider cutting and even abolishing property taxes in Florida, California—which passed major reform in the late 1970s protecting homeowners against significant hikes—offers a cautionary tale of how well-intended tax revolts can backfire against those they should benefit. Read more.
NBC News: IRS to Share Info with ICE About Some Undocumented Immigrant Taxpayers
April 8, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The Department of Homeland Security has sought to use tax filing information to find people in the U.S. without legal status in support of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. Read more.
Delaware Business Times: Dover Democrat Amends Income Tax Bill to Reflect Meyer’s Proposal
April 8, 2025 • By Miles Trinidad
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Delaware has the 40th most regressive state and local tax system in the country. That means those who earn the most will pay the least taxes, between property taxes, income and excise tax and more.
WGBH Boston: Immigrant Taxpayers Hesitate, Delay Filing Amid Fears of Deportation
April 8, 2025 • By Amy Hanauer
Elgardo, an undocumented immigrant in Boston, has paid taxes like clockwork for the past seven years with an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN. The nine-digit tax processing number is available to some immigrants who want to comply with tax law but can’t access a social security number. Read more.
National Catholic Reporter: Editorial: Tax Battle a Referendum on Moral Clarity
April 7, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Let us be plain: What is being proposed is not tax reform. It is not aimed at fairness, economic stability or the public good. It is a redistribution of wealth — upward, deliberate and vast, from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich. And more than just poor policy, it is a profound moral failure. These proposals violate the very heart of Catholic social teaching.
Missouri Independent: Missouri Lawmakers Set to Pass Capital Gains Tax Cut with Questions about Its Total Cost
April 7, 2025 • By Carl Davis
The bill nearing passage could reduce state revenues by $600 million or more, IRS data suggests, instead of the $111 million loss in official estimates Read more.
Associated Press: Mississippi and Kentucky Aim to End Personal Income Taxes
April 6, 2025 • By Neva Butkus
About 45 years have passed since a U.S. state last eliminated its income tax on wages and salaries. But with recent actions in Mississippi and Kentucky, two states now are on a path to do so, if their economies keep growing. Read more.
NPR’s Marketplace: Millions of Undocumented Immigrants File Taxes. Now Their Data Could Be Used to Deport Them.
April 4, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Millions of undocumented immigrants pay taxes every year. And the confidentiality of the addresses and other personal data submitted to the IRS by taxpaying undocumented immigrants has remained protected for decades. But the Donald Trump administration is looking to change that, challenging a decadeslong firewall around taxpayer data. Read more.
Audio: ITEP’s Rita Jefferson Talks Property Tax Reform with KKFI-FM in Kansas City
April 4, 2025 • By Rita Jefferson
The Kansas legislature failed to place an amendment on the ballot that would cap property valuations. ITEP Local Analyst Rita Jefferson joined the Heartland Labor Forum live to discuss responsible ways to control soaring property taxes. (Her segment begins around the 30-minute mark.)
New York Times: Assessing Elon Musk’s Misleading Claims About Fraud in Government Spending
March 29, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The world’s richest man made inaccurate claims about entitlement fraud, how a government payment system works and government survey costs. Read more.
Clarion Ledger: Mississippi Governor Signs Income Tax Elimination Bill. How Are You Affected?
March 28, 2025 • By Neva Butkus
With a stroke of a pen, and a few light-hearted jokes, the Build Up Mississippi Act, the largest total tax cut in state history was signed into law on March 27.
The American Independent: Trump’s IRS Cuts Will Make It Easier for Rich Americans to Avoid Paying What They Owe
March 25, 2025 • By Joe Hughes
Experts say staffing cuts at the Internal Revenue Service will make it easier for wealthy tax evaders to avoid paying what they owe to the U.S. Treasury each year. In addition to costing the government billions of dollars in owed revenue, they say cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration will likely mean more audits for […]
Newsweek: ICE Could Use IRS Data to Track Undocumented Immigrants
March 25, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Federal immigration authorities may soon gain access to Internal Revenue Service data under a pending agreement that would allow them to verify the names and addresses of individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, according to multiple reports.
Axios: The Fiscal Hit from the IRS Sharing Immigration Information
March 25, 2025 • By Carl Davis
The more afraid immigrants are that the IRS will report them to immigration authorities, the less they may pay in taxes, experts warn.
Vanity Fair: IRS Prepares to Provide Addresses of Some Undocumented Taxpayers to Immigration Enforcement
March 24, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
“It is a complete betrayal of 30 years of the government telling immigrants to file their taxes,” one former IRS official told The Washington Post, who chose anonymity out of fear of retribution. The partnership between the IRS and ICE is one of the latest moves from President Donald Trump’s administration in their unprecedented onslaught against immigrants, especially ones without documentation.
Missouri Independent: Proposed Tax Credit Boost May Be Lucrative for Missouri Anti-Abortion Centers, Donors
March 21, 2025 • By Carl Davis
When the Missouri House signed off on a $1.3 billion tax cut package last week, it included a provision creating a 100% tax credit for donations to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes and diaper banks.
Newsweek: DOGE Stimulus Check Update: Millions Will Not Qualify
March 20, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
The mastermind behind the proposal to issue "DOGE dividend" checks to Americans has confirmed to Newsweek that millions of taxpaying immigrants without legal status will not be eligible for the payments.
NBC News: Musk Uses Immigration and Claims of Voter Fraud to Sell Social Security Administration Cuts
March 19, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Musk has cast the idea as one that’s primarily about immigration, falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants are fraudulently accessing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of entitlements, including Social Security, Medicaid and disability programs, as part of a Democratic scheme for votes.
The Free Press: The Illegal Immigrants Who Love Trump
March 19, 2025 • By ITEP Staff
Many Americans don’t realize how much cash illegal immigrants contribute to the economy. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022,” using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). Though they aren’t eligible for tax benefits, like Social Security, many hope that making these payments will one day help their case for legalization.
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