Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Select Media Mentions

Bloomberg: Gas Tax for Infrastructure Sparks Fears of Political Backlash

May 1, 2019

Some 30 states have raised their fuel taxes since 2003 -- including Republican-led Ohio, Arkansas and Alabama this year -- according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. States tack on an average tax of nearly 29 cents per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Pacific Standard: Can Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies Pay for Beto O’Rourke’s Climate Plan?

April 30, 2019

"The 2017 tax act, through its omission of true tax reform, really does leave a lot of opportunities available to Congress, starting in 2020, to broaden the tax base in a way that could raise a substantial amount of money," says Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Trump administration's tax legislation, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, did little to close corporate tax breaks enjoyed by oil and gas and other industries, according to Gardner, "and in fact made some of the biggest tax breaks even bigger."

Houston Chronicle: Oil Companies Dodge Tax Bills Under Trump Reforms, Study Says

April 30, 2019

Despite earning billions of dollars in profits, companies like Halliburton, Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources were able to claim tens of millions in tax rebates, according to a study earlier this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

MinnPost: Legislative Tax Plans: Equitable, Inspirational or Destructive?

April 30, 2019

Minnesota’s current tax system is considered one of the nation’s most progressive. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan think tank that assesses state and federal tax policies, ranks the state the fourth most-equitable in the way it taxes lower-income residents. It’s the provider tax and that proposed gas tax hike — two inherently regressive taxes — that drag down the overall progressivity of the plans.

New York Times: Apple Plans to Buy $75 Billion More of Its Own Stock

April 30, 2019

When it repatriated its cash under the new tax law, Apple paid $43 billion less than it would have under previous rates, bigger savings than any other American company, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research group in Washington. Apple has also saved billions of dollars under the lower corporate tax rate. Apple says it is spending billions in the United States, hiring new workers, building data centers, expanding offices in Texas and investing in some outside manufacturers.

Washington Post: Democrats Said a GOP Tax Law Provision Would Devastate Blue States. That’s Not Happening.

April 30, 2019

“A lot of these claims were knee-jerk, political reactions,” said Carl Davis, a tax analyst for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. “Some perspective is needed on some of the wild claims about how it would damage blue states’ economies.”

New York Times: Profitable Giants Like Amazon Pay $0 in Corporate Taxes. Some Voters Are Sick of It.

April 29, 2019

The list of profitable companies that pay no corporate taxes, compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, also includes Goodyear and three other Ohio companies, including the Akron-based electric utility FirstEnergy. The company, which has the naming rights to the Cleveland Browns’ stadium, paid no taxes last year on $1.5 billion in income, according to the analysis, and will receive additional tax credits that can be used in the future. In a win for consumers, some of that will be returned to the utility’s customers.

Democracy Now: Joseph Stiglitz: Elizabeth Warren & Bernie Sanders Want to Make the Economy Work for All Americans

April 25, 2019

This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has found the number of large U.S. companies who paid nothing in federal taxes has doubled in recent years. The companies include Amazon, Netflix, General Motors, IBM, Chevron, Eli Lilly, Delta, Occidental Petroleum, Honeywell, Prudential, Halliburton, Whirlpool and […]

New York Times: Dealbook Briefing

April 24, 2019

“There’s a general rule that you’re not supposed to be able to claim losses for more than you put into a deal,” Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, told Businessweek. “Real estate is the exception.” Read more

Bloomberg: Want to Make Millions and Pay No Taxes? Try Real Estate

April 24, 2019

“There’s a general rule that you’re not supposed to be able to claim losses for more than you put into a deal,” says Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. “Real estate is the exception.” Read more

Vox: Democrats don’t have to wait for Trump to leave office to cut child poverty

April 17, 2019

But these plans have one major obstacle: Donald Trump is president. Policymakers in the Democratic fold have been arguing over what should happen in a hypothetical 2021 in which Trump has been defeated, Democrats control the Senate, and the party gets a brief opening to pass legislation. There’s no guarantee that will happen (especially the […]

Fox Business: Amazon Isn’t the Only Company that Paid $0 in Taxes Last Year

April 17, 2019

Under President Trump’s new tax law, 60 of America’s biggest corporations paid $0 in federal taxes in 2018, despite earning billions of dollars in profits. Amazon, Netflix, General Motors, Chevron, JetBlue, IBM and U.S. Steel were all among the companies that avoided taxes last year using a diverse array of loopholes and tax breaks, according […]

Des Moines Register: Large Corporations Are Winning Big Under GOP Tax Law

April 17, 2019

The GOP also doesn’t talk about how the biggest winners of the controversial tax law are — surprise — some of the country’s largest, publicly held corporations. They owed nothing on the billions of dollars in profits they earned. At least 60 companies reported their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero or less than […]

Detroit Metro Times: Five Top Michigan Corporations Paid $0 in Taxes

April 17, 2019

ou may have paid federal taxes, but four Fortune 500 companies in Michigan did not. In fact, they received hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds collectively. DTE Energy, Penske Automotive Group, Whirlpool, and General Motors are among 60 corporations nationally that paid $0 in federal taxes in 2018 despite billions in profits. That’s partly […]

InsideSources: How the GOP Tax Law Benefited Big Tech

April 17, 2019

Big Tech companies like Amazon, IBM and Netflix paid no federal income tax this year according to data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), and some rushed to blame Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) for handing out more tax breaks to corporations instead of ordinary Americans. Read more

Texas Monthly:The Governor Wants to Replace Property Taxes With ‘Consumption’ Taxes. That’s a Terrible Idea.

April 16, 2019

The trick, of course, is that consumption taxes are regressive, and property taxes are not. Again, because there’s no state income tax, the burden of funding state government falls disproportionately on poor and middle-class folks. The poorest half of Texans pay more than 10 percent of their annual income on state and local taxes, according […]

CBS News Money Watch: Bernie Sanders: Amazon, Netflix are a “disgrace” for not paying taxes

April 16, 2019

The 60 companies that didn’t pay taxes last year, including tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix, relied on a number of legal strategies to eliminate their taxes, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the same time, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 […]

Wall Street Journal: Cuomo Paid Less Tax Under Federal Overhaul He Has Ripped

April 16, 2019

The 2017 tax law also lowered federal tax rates, narrowed the alternative minimum tax and increased the size of both the standard deduction and child tax credit. Because of these provisions, supporters of the law say many people will see their tax liability go down, even if they pay more than $10,000 in state and […]

Business Insider: Bernie Sanders says it’s a ‘disgrace’ that Amazon and Netflix pay nothing under Trump’s tax bill

April 16, 2019

A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said Amazon used “tax loopholes that allow profitable companies to routinely avoid paying federal and state income taxes.” Read more

Rolling Stone: Billions in Profits, No Taxes: How the Trump Tax Code Let 26 Companies Off the Hook

April 16, 2019

We knew President Trump’s 2017 tax bill favored corporate America, but this is ridiculous. According to a new study, a group of 60 companies in the Fortune 500 booked nearly $80 billion in total profits in 2018, but each owed $0 in taxes. Worse: Many of these companies actually got rebates from Uncle Sam, totaling […]

New York Post: Want to get out of taxes? Just make $79B

April 16, 2019

While millions of Americans had to cut Uncle Sam a check this year to pay their tax bill, 60 of the Fortune 500 companies paid zero taxes on their revenue, a new report finds. In 2018, 60 of America’s biggest corporations zeroed out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in US pretax income. Instead […]

Newark Star-Ledger: Tax Day 2019 More Taxing for 400k NJ Households

April 16, 2019

Only California, New York, Texas and Florida saw a greater number of households paying more in taxes, according to the report, based on data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.  Read more

CBS Radio News: Taxes, the Why and How Much

April 15, 2019

ITEP senior fellow was featured on this Tax Day podcast. To listen, visit: https://www.newsweek.com/republican-tax-cuts-trump-wage-increases-879800

New York Times: Their Tax Rate Is Zero

April 15, 2019

Amazon. Delta Air Lines. Chevron. IBM. General Motors. Molson Coors. Eli Lilly. What do these companies have in common? They paid no federal taxes last year. Thanks to President Trump’s 2017 tax law, the number of Fortune 500 companies that pay no federal taxes roughly doubled last year, to 60, according to an analysis by […]

CNN: Four Ways Trump’s Tax Cuts Changed the Economy

April 15, 2019

Congress has yet to take up spending cuts to big-ticket items like Medicare and Social Security that the White House had proposed to curb deficits. Still, mounting debt makes conversations around future expenditures more difficult. Lawmakers have choked on passing a large infrastructure package, for example, because there’s no plan to pay for it. “In […]

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].