Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

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Washington Post: Opinion: Americans are liberals on taxes, living under a conservative system

April 15, 2021

When you combine all the kinds of taxes people pay, you see the system is almost flat. As this report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows, in 2018, Americans in the middle of the income distribution paid 25.4 percent of their income in taxes, while those in the top 1 percent paid […]

Los Angeles Times: Column: California Democrats have a chance to flex some muscle and work to restore deductions for taxpayers

April 15, 2021

Standard deductions were nearly doubled and so were child credits. Importantly for many upper-middle-class Californians, the alternative minimum tax was significantly lowered. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that if the caps were eliminated, half the savings for California would go to the richest — the top 1%. Read more

The News-Gazette: Jim Dey | Once scourge of rich, governor’s now their defender

April 14, 2021

That’s one reason why, in his letter to Biden, Pritzker & Co. ignored higher earners, complaining that “middle class Americans are struggling under this federal tax burden.” That’ s just not so, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It concluded that “62 percent of the benefits would go to the richest […]

City & State (NY): Correcting disinformation about the excluded workers fund

April 14, 2021

Technically, no employee in New York pays into unemployment as it’s a tax on employers, but their employment is what leads to the pay-ins. While it’s impossible to know whether every person who will receive benefits has paid state, local or federal taxes, the available research shows that the majority of undocumented immigrants do pay […]

Nonprofit Quarterly: Pressure to Tax Corporations Rises as Infrastructure Gaps Come into Full View

April 14, 2021

The bottom line: As research conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) illustrates, at least 55 major US corporations that had a combined total of $40.5 billion in profits paid $0 in federal corporate taxes. If they had paid the current corporate tax rate of 21 percent, their tax bill would come […]

420 Intel: Considering Opportunities for the Upcoming Federal Taxation of Cannabis

April 14, 2021

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “state and local excise collections on retail cannabis sales surpassed $1 billion for the first time in 2018.” This rapid growth is aligned with the acceptance of medical and recreational cannabis, and the efforts states are putting in to help discourage purchasing cannabis from unlicensed and […]

Common Dreams: Jayapal Calls for Crackdown on Wealthiest After IRS Chief Says Tax Evasion Costs US $1 Trillion a Year

April 14, 2021

Furthermore, another recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) showed that 55 U.S. corporate giants paid $0 in federal income taxes last year, and 26 of them haven’t paid a dime for the past three years—a time period in which the GOP’s “morally and economically obscene” tax cuts for corporations and […]

The Cap Times: Plain Talk: It’s time to fix America’s infrastructure — and make corporations help pay for it

April 14, 2021

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based research group that keeps tabs on such things, reported earlier this month that at least 55 of America’s largest corporations paid no federal income taxes last year. While the 2017 Trump administration’s tax “reform” reduced the federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, dozens of […]

Wealth Management: What CRE Opportunities Await if the American Jobs Plan is Enacted?

April 14, 2021

Some in corporate America are critical of Biden’s proposed plan because it would be paid for raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. Nevertheless, corporations would still pay less under this proposal than they paid prior to the Trump Administration’s 2017 tax cuts and the benefits of infrastructure improvements to corporate […]

Willamette Week: Nike’s Tax Bill in Oregon Is a Secret. We Asked Three Analysts to Make an Estimate.

April 14, 2021

The breakdown of that percentage among states is impossible to know, [Matthew Gardner, ITEP Senior Fellow] says, especially considering not every state has the same single-factor corporate tax structure that Oregon has: “We cannot say how much of [Nike’s] income, or that tax, is attributable to Oregon.” Read more

The Commercial Appeal: FedEx CEO: Don’t raise corporate taxes to pay for Biden’s infrastructure plan

April 13, 2021

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy published the report earlier this month, saying FedEx had an effective tax rate of minus -12.8% from 2018 to 2020. The report cited a provision in the CARES Act bill passed in the COVID-19 pandemic’s early stages, along with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed under […]

CNBC: New $3,000 Child Tax Credit to Start Payments in July, IRS Says

April 13, 2021

About 83 million children live in households that would benefit from the expansion of the child tax credit, according to a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. In addition, the poorest 20% of families would see income increase by more than 37% during the year that the policy is in place. Read […]

The Guardian: US CEOs think Biden’s corporate tax rate hike will have negative impact – survey

April 12, 2021

A report released earlier this month from the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that at least 55 of America’s top companies, including FedEx and Nike, paid no federal corporate income tax because of loopholes and substitutes. The report found that the tax breaks cost $8.5bn in potential tax revenue. Read more

CNBC: Progressive group targets FedEx, Nike in campaign calling for higher corporate taxes

April 12, 2021

A report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy says FedEx “zeroed out its federal income tax on $1.2 billion of U.S. pretax income in 2020 and received a rebate of $230 million.” The report says the lack of payments in taxes by some corporations is likely linked to historic tax breaks as well […]

Forbes: 98% Of CEOs Say Biden’s Corporate Tax Rate Hike Will Hurt Their Companies, According To Survey

April 12, 2021

55. That’s how many major U.S. companies—all part of either the Fortune 500 or the S&P 500 index—that paid no corporate income tax in 2020 thanks to credits and deductions, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.  Read more

MSNBC: Corporate taxes can’t stay low while America crumbles

April 12, 2021

There’s no question that the tax code is extremely generous to big business. A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that despite being profitable last year, 55 of the biggest companies in the U.S. paid no federal income taxes. Corporations managed this through a combination of “long-standing tax breaks preserved […]

The Hill: White House sends mixed message on higher taxes

April 11, 2021

According to a report released Thursday by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the personal income tax increases in Biden’s campaign plan would impact only 1.9 percent of taxpayers for the 2022 tax year. That analysis was conducted assuming that tax increases applied to both single filers and married couples with income […]

The Sacramento Bee: Rich Californians have most to gain if Congress lifts cap on local tax deductions, report says

April 11, 2021

State residents earning more than $992,800, California’s wealthiest 1%, could see an average savings of $98,650 in 2022, according to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based economic analysis firm. Overall, Californians would save $33.4 billion next year if the SALT limits are lifted—with $17.4 billion of that going to people […]

The Hill: Democrats see political winner in tax fight

April 11, 2021

As ammunition, Democrats are pointing to a recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank, which found that 55 of the nation’s largest corporations — including Nike, FedEx and Salesforce — paid no federal taxes in 2020 despite enormous pre-tax profits. In some cases, the companies received a substantial federal […]

CNN: Jeff Bezos endorsed higher corporate tax rates. But it won’t cost him much

April 10, 2021

Amazon (AMZN) isn’t doing anything illegal or improper — or unusual. Few corporations pay 21% of their reported pre-tax earnings in corporate income tax. That’s because there are many ways to reduce the amount of taxable income subject to that tax rate. “They care a lot less what the rate is than they do with […]

Bloomberg: Plans for a Global Minimum Tax Revolution, Explained

April 9, 2021

Many large corporations do. At least 55 large U.S. companies, including Nike Inc. and FedEx Corp., reported paying no U.S. federal income taxes in 2020 even though they were profitable, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. And some nations benefit by attracting corporations with low rates. Read more

New York Times: Corporate Taxes Are Wealth Taxes

April 8, 2021

Since the mid-20th century, however, politicians of both political parties have supported cuts in the corporate-tax rate, often under intense lobbying from corporate America. The cuts have been so large — including in President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul — that at least 55 big companies paid zero federal income taxes last year, according to […]

Newsweek: Top US CEOs Open to Corporate Tax Rate of 28%, Biden Says Trump Cuts Failed

April 8, 2021

Biden campaigned on not raising taxes on anyone making less than $400,000, which would severely limit Democrats’ ability to fund the infrastructure plan should the GOP and lobbyists convince Congress to squash a corporate tax hike. Biden criticized 55 of the largest U.S. companies this week for using “various loopholes where they pay not a […]

AlJazeera: Pros, cons and pragmatism: Biden’s plan to fund infrastructure

April 8, 2021

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, agrees. “The low cost of borrowing and the pressing spending needs we face right now make deficit and debt reduction a lower priority at the moment,” he said. Gardner sees the once-in-a-century disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic as a ripe opportunity […]

Miami Herald: Biden’s infrastructure tax hike worries some Democrats about impact on wealthy voters

April 8, 2021

To Democratic strategists, including those close to the president, the tax plan is finely calibrated to earn the most support, drawing extra revenue from the least sympathetic segments of the tax base. A report released last week from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive group, said that more than 50 of America’s […]

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].