Oregon taxpayers will become some of the first in the nation to have the option to self-identify their race and ethnicity when they file their tax returns this year. The reason is both simple and complex: Especially at the state level, taxes worsen America’s yawning wealth gaps rather than easing them. A growing number of advocates and policymakers are trying to do something about that.
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 26, 2024 Mother Jones: It’s No Secret Our Tax System Punishes Low-Income People. It Doesn’t Have To
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media mention February 21, 2024 The Hill: Trump Tax Cuts on the Line in 2024 Election
The 2017 Trump tax cuts are on the line in the election this year, with Republicans hoping a sweep of Congress and the White House will allow them to extend the former president’s signature law. Democrats opposed the law when Trump was in power but have supported extending certain cuts, such as the decreased tax rates for people making less than $400,000 a year. Democrats do not want a blanket extension, which would cost nearly $4 trillion over the next decade.
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media mention February 20, 2024 Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Talks to Ohio Newsroom About That State’s Upside-Down Tax Code
Ohio’s poorest residents pay a greater percentage of their income to state and local taxes than the richest Ohioans, according to a recent report from the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It found that Ohio has the 15th most unequal tax system in the country.
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media mention February 20, 2024 Roll Call: Rule for ‘SALT’ Bill Goes Down, Likely Sealing Its Fate
The House rejected a rule that would provide for floor consideration of a bill to double the cap on state and local tax deductions for married couples earning up to $500,000, striking a blow to legislation championed by blue-state Republicans. The House voted 195-225 Wednesday on the rule, falling well short of the majority needed to proceed to a floor vote on the bill and an unrelated resolution criticizing President Joe Biden’s energy policies.
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media mention February 14, 2024 LA Times: Taxpayer ‘Protection’ or Taxpayer ‘Deception’? A New Ballot Measure Aims to Destroy State and Local Budgets
It’s indisputable that the decline of state fiscal management in California began with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978. The tax-cutting initiative upended the tax structure that provided most of the revenues needed by localities and school districts, undermining the locals’ control of their own spending.
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media mention February 12, 2024 Stateline: If You Can Buy a ‘Mansion,’ You Can Pay a Tax for Affordable Housing, These States Say
To create a long-term revenue stream, Berg has proposed raising taxes on the most expensive real estate transactions, an increasing nationwide trend sometimes dubbed a “mansion tax.” Her legislation would increase the state’s tax on property sales above $3 million while decreasing the tax rate for less expensive sales. The change is estimated to create an additional $300 million in revenue each biennium, said Berg, chair of the House Finance Committee.
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media mention February 12, 2024 Center for Public Integrity: More Tax Cuts Put States’ Revenue At Risk
At least a dozen proposals for income tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy residents and big companies are already on the table for state legislatures to consider in 2024 — and… -
media mention February 12, 2024 Semafor: Immigration ‘Will Boost US Economy by $7 Trillion’ Over Next Decade
The ongoing surge of immigration to the United States will boost its economy by $7 trillion over the next decade by expanding the labor force and increasing consumer demand, a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found.
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media mention February 6, 2024 Yahoo Finance: Low-Earners in These 3 Low-Income Tax States Are Paying 5x More than the Rich in Taxes
The disparity between the rich and poor keeps growing with the disproportionate burden carried by low- and middle-income families. A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to tax policy, sheds light on the regressive nature of state and local tax systems in the United States.
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media mention February 5, 2024 MinnPost: Minnesota’s ‘Most Progressive’ Tax State Designation Explained
Minnesota is now the state with the nation’s most-progressive tax system in the U.S., as calculated by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Its data-driven assessment looks at the share of state taxes that are borne by various income groups. Progressive is defined not in partisan terms but to describe tax systems that have higher income taxpayers devoting a larger percentage of their incomes to taxes than lower-income taxpayers.
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media mention January 31, 2024 The Hill: Tax Deal Likely Much More Expensive than Official Estimate, Experts Warn
“The $600B figure … is consistent with earlier estimates of the 10-year costs of these provisions if made permanent,” Joe Hughes, a policy analyst with Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told The Hill.
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media mention January 30, 2024 Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses Idaho’s Regressive Tax System
Idaho has the 36th most regressive tax system in the nation, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
The Who Pays report says that low- and middle-income families in Idaho pay more in taxes than the wealthy, and the institute also says that disparity has only gotten worse over the last five years.
May Roberts, Policy Analyst at the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, and Carl Davis, Research Director at the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, joined Idaho Matters to break down the study.
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media mention January 29, 2024 Video: ITEP’s Neva Butkus Discusses Wisconsin’s Tax Code on ABC News
“What this really comes down to is fairness,” Neva Butkus, a state policy analyst for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said.
She contributed to “Who Pays?,” the seventh edition of a periodic analysis offered by ITEP of tax policies in all 50 states.
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media mention January 29, 2024 AP News: Kansas Governor Vetoes Tax Cuts She Says Would Favor ‘Super Wealthy’
But the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that even with the changes designed to benefit poorer taxpayers, 70% of the savings in raw dollars will go to the 20% of filers earning more than $143,000 a year.
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media mention January 29, 2024 Fatherly: What the New Child Tax Credit Would — and Wouldn’t — Do for Families
Various efforts have been made to revive the 2021 tax credit, which was wildly popular and is considered the “gold standard,” to CTC advocates, according to Joe Hughes, a Federal Policy Analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. It’s also popular across party lines: A poll from Zero to Three and Morning Consult found that 85% of respondents want Congress to reinstate the 2021 CTC — 94% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans. But no effort in that direction has yet been successful.
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media mention January 29, 2024 CBS News: Vermont Wants to Fix Income Inequality by Raising Taxes on the Rich
Across the U.S., the rich generally pay a lower share of their income in taxes than low earners, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). A recent analysis by the left-leaning think tank found that the average effective state and local tax rate paid by residents to their home state is 7.2% for the top 1% of earners; for the lowest-earning 20%, that rate tops 11%.
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media mention January 29, 2024 CBS News: 14 States are Cutting Individual Income Taxes in 2024. Here are Where Taxpayers are Getting a Break
The reductions represent a continuation of “tax cut fever,” as termed by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The drive to cut state taxes began during the pandemic when many states found themselves flush with tax revenue. With coffers fat, lawmakers sought to provide some relief to their constituents, typically through tax rebates or rate reductions.
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media mention January 23, 2024 New York Times: Vermont Becomes Latest State to Propose Wealth Taxes
Lawmakers in Vermont are introducing legislation this week that would impose new taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, joining a growing national campaign being pushed by Democrats who believe that the measures will gain traction as states reckon with post-pandemic budget squeezes
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media mention January 23, 2024 Editorial: Florida Shines at Favoring the Rich, Punishing the Poor
But there’s one category in which Florida is unarguably first — first of the worst. The state has the nation’s most regressive state and local tax structure. That’s the judgment of ITEP, the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which ranks states every five years
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media mention January 23, 2024 Audio: ITEP’s Carl Davis Discusses North Carolina’s Upside-Down Tax Code
Ever since Republicans took control of the North Carolina legislature in 2011, they’ve passed income tax cut after income tax cut and bragged repeatedly of the supposed enormous benefits this has afforded to average North Carolinians
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media mention January 20, 2024 The Hill: House Panel Advances Tax Deal with Resounding Bipartisan Vote
A deal to reduce taxes for businesses and increase the child tax credit (CTC) made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee with broad bipartisan support Friday. Read… -
media mention January 19, 2024 New York Times: What’s in the New Tax Deal?
Lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee will attempt a rare feat on Friday when they begin debate on something that rarely comes together in an election year: bipartisan… -
media mention January 18, 2024 Associated Press: GOP Lawmakers, Democratic Governor in Kansas Fighting Again Over Income Tax Cuts
Top Republican legislators in Kansas have renewed a fight with the Democratic governor over income tax cuts that have drawn bipartisan criticism as favoring the wealthy, with no sign of… -
media mention January 17, 2024 Yahoo Finance: Lawmakers Ink a Bipartisan Tax Deal to Expand the Child Tax Credit
A powerful bipartisan duo announced a significant tax deal Tuesday that would combine a temporary expansion of the child tax credit with long-sought provisions for the business world. Read more. -
media mention January 17, 2024 Ring of Fire: You’ll Be Sick When You Find Out How Little The Top 1% Are Paying In Taxes
In 41 states across the country – and yes, that includes plenty of Democrat-controlled states – the tax rates for the top 1% of income earners and corporations are actually…