Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

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New York Daily News: Four Ways to Make New York Taxes More Fair

March 12, 2019

But Cuomo hasn’t talked about the benefits of the Trump tax law for ultra-millionaires — the very richest New Yorkers, mainly in Manhattan. Trump and his GOP minions cut taxes substantially for the richest 5%, who get an $8 billion-plus windfall, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Rich folks got lucrative tax […]

KUOW: Why Washington Ranks as the Worst State for Poor Residents

March 12, 2019

Washington ranks as the worst state for low-income earners to live, and it’s notably worse than any other state. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) places Washington, Texas and Florida at the top of the “terrible 10” list in its annual report. The institute says these have the most regressive tax systems, in […]

Crains Chicago: It’s Time to Tax Retirement Income, Illinois

March 11, 2019

On federal returns, income tax is paid on retirement resources that have not been previously taxed—defined-benefit pensions, 401(k)s, and traditional individual retirement accounts. Higher-income seniors also pay taxes on Social Security benefits. Among the states, policy varies. According to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, 11 states tax some portion of Social Security benefits, […]

Philadelphia Inquirer: Why It’s Not as Simple as ‘New Jersey Is a High-Tax State’ or ‘Texas Is a Low-Tax State’

March 10, 2019

A recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analyzed the burdens of state and local taxes across the nation. The results were eye opening, though hardly surprising. Nationally, households in the lowest 20 percent income group spent 11.4 percent of their income on state and local taxes. In comparison, the top 1 […]

Marketwatch: Trump’s Tax Cuts Are Punishing States that Voted for Clinton

March 7, 2019

MarketWatch looked at the calculations conducted by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, an independent Washington, D.C. think-tank. Bottom line: States that voted for Trump will get 56% of the tax cuts, or an extra $35 billion. Yet according to the Internal Revenue Service’s most recent data, those states were only paying 48% of […]

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House Members Want Some Answers before Voting on DeWine’s Gas Tax Hike

March 6, 2019

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 27 states have raised their gas taxes since 2013, including every state adjacent to Ohio. The gas tax affects what people pay at the gas pump, but the effect is not always obvious. Read more

Washington Post: State and Local Tax Laws Are Making the Rich Richer

March 6, 2019

State and local taxes effectively redistribute national income from the poor to the very rich, according to data released this week by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive think tank. Many state and local governments are heavily reliant on sales taxes, rather than income taxes. Lower-income households tend to spend a greater […]

The Hill: Time Is Long Overdue for Congress to Address Marijuana Banking

March 6, 2019

According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion — a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Yet there remains a significant regulatory hurdle facing players and consumers who engage in this market. Read more

Law 360: Mich. Gov. Offers 45-Cent Gas Tax Hike For Urgent Road Fixes

March 5, 2019

Since 2013, 27 states have approved gas tax increases, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more (subscription)

CBS News:Some of America’s Biggest Companies Paid Little to No Federal Income Tax in 2018

March 4, 2019

Its 10-K estimates its federal income tax liability at $-22.176 for 2018 — hence ITEP’s conclusion that it won’t pay the government any money for the year. “When I say they paid zero, really what I mean is they reported a $22 million income tax rebate, so they have a negative income tax,” Gardner said. […]

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Tax Avoidance Might Make Financial Sense, but Is It Fair?

March 1, 2019

One feature of sales taxes is that they cost lower-income people a bigger chunk of what they take in than is the case for more affluent people. In Minnesota the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers by family income only pay about 8.7 percent of their income in state and local taxes. In Florida the poorest […]

Bloomberg: Democrats In the Home of Hedge Funds Are Divided Over Tax Plans Sparing Rich

March 1, 2019

“Most public finance experts will tell you if you have sales tax it should be applied to a broad base,” said Carl Davis, the research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “If people are no longer going to Blockbuster and now they’re downloading movies, that’s created a gap in the […]

Fortune: Why Amazon May Pay No Federal Income Taxes This Year

March 1, 2019

Amazon’s expected tax avoidance comes despite it nearly doubling its U.S. profits to $11.16 billion in 2018, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonpartisan tax policy-focused think tank. In fact, instead of paying any federal income taxes, the company received a $129 million tax rebate from the government. The data […]

Vox: Undocumented immigrants pay millions of dollars in state taxes — even in the reddest states

March 1, 2019

While it’s impossible to get the exact numbers because of the limited data available, researchers at the left-leaning Institute for Taxation & Economic Policy estimate that undocumented workers paid a total of $11.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2014, the most recent year of data, according to their 2017 report. That includes $7 […]

Miami Community Newspapers: Marijuana Justice Act Introduced in Both Houses of Congress

February 28, 2019

Specifically, a 2017 report estimates that over 149,000 Americans are now working full-time in the cannabis industry. According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion – a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Further, numerous studies have identified an association between cannabis […]

New York Times: Betsy DeVos Backs $5 Billion in Tax Credits for School Choice

February 28, 2019

Carl Davis, the research director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, noted that the new tax credit would be extremely generous in providing a 100 percent tax break, especially because the new tax law eliminated some incentives for charitable giving. “Now they want to put a supersized one back into the code,” he […]

Marketplace: Devos Proposes $5B in Tax Credits for Scholarship Donations

February 28, 2019

This new segment features ITEP’s research director Carl Davis:

Bloomberg Tax: Tax Executives Fear Overhaul Impermanence as Dems Mull Tweaks

February 28, 2019

The GILTI income subject to the tax is the income earned through a controlled foreign corporation that exceeds 10 percent of the value of the CFC’s tangible, depreciable assets, such as machinery and other equipment. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank, said in a June 2018 post that this measurement […]

Reuters: Illinois Budget Debate Raises Key Questions on Taxing Retirement Income

February 28, 2019

But the policies of various states are all over the map. Data provided by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that 11 states tax some portion of Social Security benefits, usually mirroring the federal formula. Many others tax pensions and tax-deferred accounts, although some have exemptions that protect lower-income, public sector workers and […]

Napa Valley Register: Congress Must Address Marijuana Banking Issue

February 25, 2019

According to tax data compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, tax revenues in 2018 derived from state-sanctioned recreational sales surpassed $1 billion – a 57 percent increase over 2017 levels. Annual excise tax revenues on adult-use cannabis sales ($1.04 billion) rivaled those for all forms of alcohol ($1.16 billion). Here in California, […]

Bloomberg: Amazon Doesn’t Plan to Pay the IRS Anything This Tax Season

February 22, 2019

The fact that Amazon can legally reduce its tax bill to nothing calls into question the effectiveness of the code, said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy. While those breaks have the backing of Congress and were implemented for some social or economic policy goal, they might be […]

InsideSources: Amazon Paid Zero Corporate Taxes Last Year. Why Aren’t 2020 Democrats Talking About It?

February 22, 2019

“I blame Congress,” says Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy which first released the news of Amazon’s zero corporate tax bill. “Unless we see the actual tax returns, nobody can say exactly how Amazon avoided paying any corporate income taxes, but the available information makes it clear that […]

Financial Post: Lawrence Solomon: Amazon Is Fleecing Taxpayers. Strangely, Socialists Are the Ones Saving Us

February 22, 2019

According to the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, while profitable major corporations have paid an average of over 21 per cent in federal taxes, over the last 10 years Amazon’s use of tax loopholes has lowered its average to just three per cent. In the last two years, during which it earned US$16.8 billion in profits, it paid no federal income tax at all, thanks to its use of unspecified tax credits and executive stock options.

The Guardian: Why Didn’t Amazon Pay Federal Taxes for the Second Consecutive Year?

February 22, 2019

Amazon is already getting plenty of benefits from the federal government. The company nearly doubled its profits to $11.2bn in 2018 from $5.6bn the year before and, for the second year running didn’t pay a single cent of federal income tax. In fact, Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate for the past two years totalling almost $270m according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Netflix also paid no federal or income tax on profits of $845m last year.

Irish Examiner: New EU Competition Commissioner Must Take on US Tech Giants, Says ISME

February 21, 2019

“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report in Washington DC has noted that Amazon enjoyed a negative tax rate in the US in 2018. That is not a misprint. “On $10.8bn of US profits in 2018, Amazon got a tax rebate of $130m, equivalent to an effective tax rate of -1.2%.” Mr McDonnell concluded: […]

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].