Select Media Mentions
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].
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media mention February 18, 2019 Fox Business, Bulls & Bears: Amazon, Netflix Did Not Pay Any Federal Taxes in the US in 2018: Report
ITEP senior fellow Matthew Gardner discusses how big tech companies are taking advantage of tax loopholes in the U.S. Watch the video -
media mention February 17, 2019 The Leaf Online: Cannabis Revenue Catching Up With Alcohol
State and local excise tax collections on retail adult-use cannabis sales surpassed $1 billion in 2018 nationally. That is a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels, according to data compiled… -
media mention February 17, 2019 The Hill: Tech Looks for Lessons From Amazon HQ2 Fight
Amazon’s decision to scrap its plans for a second headquarters in New York City, dubbed HQ2, stunned both the tech world and its critics this week, raising new questions about the industry’s ambitious expansion plans and their dealings with state and local governments.
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media mention February 17, 2019 Herald and News: No Relief in Sight for Taxpayers Denied Deductions
An analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that nearly two-thirds of the benefit of repealing the [SALT] cap would go to the top 1 percent… -
media mention February 16, 2019 Inequality.org: Organizers Oust Amazon HQ2 from New York
As details of the incentives agreement came out, New Yorkers heard from Seattleites about the mass gentrification spurred by Amazon. Seattle and King County declared a state of emergency over… -
media mention February 16, 2019 Washington Post: Amazon Paid No Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion in Profits Last Year
Amazon, the e-commerce giant helmed by the world’s richest man, paid no federal taxes on profit of $11.2 billion last year, according to an analysis of the company’s corporate filings by the… -
media mention February 16, 2019 Yahoo! Finance: Amazon Will Pay $0 in Taxes on $11,200,000,000 in Profit for 2018
“It’s hard to know exactly what they’re doing,” said Steve Wamhoff, ITEP’s Director of Federal Tax Policy. “In their public documents they don’t lay out their tax strategy. So it’s unclear exactly which breaks [the company is taking advantage of]. They vaguely say tax credits. One could think of many different ways a corporation could do this, like the depreciation breaks which were expanded under TCJA.”
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media mention February 15, 2019 The Hill: Pollster Says Most Americans Feel It’s Not Fair That Corporations Pay Lower Taxes
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that Amazon, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income taxes due to unidentified “tax credits” in their disclosure. The report… -
media mention February 15, 2019 CNN: Despite Record Profits, Amazon Didn’t Pay Any Federal Income Tax in 2017 or 2018. Here’s Why
“This is tax avoidance, not tax evasion. There’s no indication of any wrongdoing, except on the part of Congress,” said Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank.
US tax code allows money-losing companies to reduce their future taxable income. -
media mention February 15, 2019 Columbia Journalism Review: Jeff Bezos’s Bad Week
Hero to 0: On Wednesday, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy suggested, in a report, that Amazon will pay $0 in federal taxes this year, despite doubling its US… -
media mention February 15, 2019 Salon.com: Activist Defeat of Amazon is a Win for Democracy Over Technology
However, Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told Salon it is impossible to know truly if New York missed out on an economic… -
media mention February 15, 2019 CNBC: Amazon Will Pay $0 in Federal Taxes This Year — and It’s Partially Thanks to Trump
A report this week from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, a nonpartisan and nonprofit tax policy think tank, pointed out the fact that Amazon will not pay federal taxes for the second year in a row. In fact, last year, Amazon received an even larger refund, getting $137 million from the federal government.
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media mention February 15, 2019 The American Prospect: Amazon Is Giving Up on New York, and Activists in Nashville and Northern Virginia Are Energized
Amazon’s announcement to abandon their New York plans comes on the heels of a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showing that Amazon made a profit of… -
media mention February 15, 2019 The Guardian: Amazon Made an $11.2bn Profit in 2018 – And Its Federal Tax Bill is $0
One central idea of Trump’s tax cuts was to cut corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% but as the tax filings come in it is becoming increasingly clear that many companies are not even paying the lower rate, Matthew Gardner said. “You can’t lay the blame too much on Congress,” said Gardner. “It wasn’t Congress that came up with these ideas. They are the product of a lobbying blitz from these companies. These companies wrote the law in many cases.”
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media mention February 15, 2019 Fortune: Amazon Will Pay a Whopping $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits
Those wondering how many zeros Amazon, which is valued at nearly $800 billion, has to pay in federal taxes might be surprised to learn that its check to the IRS… -
media mention February 15, 2019 MarketWatch: Amazon Riled Up the Left for Not Paying Taxes — and It’s in a Position to Offset Future Profits, Too
Amazon benefitted greatly from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and recorded a provisional tax benefit at the end of 2017 for the impact of Trump’s tax reform… -
media mention February 15, 2019 USA Today: Amazon Pays No Federal Income Tax for 2018, Despite Soaring Profits, Report Says
Profits for online retail behemoth Amazon soared in 2018, but it paid no federal income tax for the second consecutive year, according to a report published Wednesday. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy… -
media mention February 14, 2019 Huffington Post: Amazon Has Doubled Profit To $11 Billion But Will Pay $0 In Taxes In 2019: Report
The Institute on Taxation and Economic policy released its findings Wednesday after examining the company’s corporate filings. Amazon reported a $129 million federal income tax rebate for 2018, equaling a tax rate of negative 1 percent. (The federal corporate income tax rate is 21 percent.)
“The fine print of Amazon’s income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified ‘tax credits’ as well as a tax break for executive stock options,” the report stated.
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media mention February 14, 2019 The New Yorker: New York City Activists Drive Out Amazon
Two rhyming bits of Amazon news. The first is that Amazon, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, was taxed at an effective rate of negative-one percent in 2018, having paid a federal income tax of zero dollars and having received a rebate from the federal government of a hundred and twenty-nine million dollars. During that year, the company nearly doubled its profits, from $5.6 billion to $11.2 billion.
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media mention February 14, 2019 The Hill: Hillicon Valley: New York says goodbye to Amazon’s HQ2 …
Amazon will not pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the online retailer, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income tax because of unnamed “tax credits” in their disclosure.
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media mention February 14, 2019 Governing: With Amazon Out of New York, Some Lawmakers Seek Multistate Ban on Corporate Tax Breaks
Opponents of such deals cite data that suggest that tax incentives often aren’t worth what they cost governments. An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study noted that most giveaways simply move pieces on a chessboard, rather than create actual growth.
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media mention February 14, 2019 The Hill: Amazon to Pay $0 in Federal Income Taxes: Report
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the online retailer, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income tax because of unnamed “tax credits” in their disclosure. The company will reportedly receive a $129 million federal income tax rebate, effectively making their tax rate -1 percent.
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media mention February 14, 2019 New York Post: Amazon Paid No Federal Taxes Again
Instead, as first reported by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Amazon received a federal income tax rebate of $129 million, essentially amounting to a tax rate of negative 1 percent.
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media mention February 14, 2019 Urban Milwaukee: Republicans Discover the Middle Class
An analysis of all the tax breaks in Wisconsin from 2011 through 2016 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found the average tax reduction was $10,015 for the top 1 percent of taxpayers, and $1,806 for the next 4 percent of taxpayers versus $379 for the middle 20 percent of taxpayers and just $175 for the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers.
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media mention February 14, 2019 The Financial: $0 in Federal Income Taxes Will Be Payed by Amazon for the 2nd Year in a Row
Amazon, which doubled its profits and made more than $11 billion in 2018, won’t pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has reported.