Matthew Gardner
Senior Fellow
Areas of Expertise
Economic modeling federal tax policy state tax policy corporate taxesMatt Gardner is a senior fellow at ITEP where he has worked since 1998. He previously served as ITEP’s executive director from 2006 to 2016. Matt’s work focuses on federal, state and local tax systems, with a particular emphasis on the impact of tax policies on low- and moderate-income taxpayers. He uses ITEP’s microsimulation model to produce economic projections and analyses on the effects of current and proposed federal and state tax and budget policies.
Matt is a noted corporate tax expert and the primary author of ITEP’s regular corporate studies on the tax habits of Fortune 500 corporations (most recently, Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law) as well as publications on international corporate tax avoidance. He regularly examines corporate financial filings and writes briefs, blogs and reports on trends in corporate tax avoidance. He monitors and researches federal tax policies and writes about their impact on tax fairness and sustainability, and he is often called on to speak publicly about corporate tax issues and federal and state tax policies.
Matt’s earlier work for ITEP focused on state policy. He is an author of Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States (2003, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018, and 2024 editions). He has conducted tax analyses for state and local policymakers and advocates in more than 45 states. Matt has degrees from the University of Maryland and the University of Rochester. He resides in Washington, D.C. and originally hails from Raleigh, N.C. Follow him on Twitter @gardmaf.
mattg at itep.orgRecent Publications and Posts view more
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The Five Biggest Corporations Represented at Trump's Inauguration Could Save $75 Billion from One Tax Break Before Congress
New financial reports indicate five of America’s biggest corporations—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Tesla—could win $75 billion in tax breaks if Congress and the President satisfy demands from corporate lobbyists to reinstate a provision repealed under the 2017 Trump tax law.
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Tesla Reported Zero Federal Income Tax on $2 Billion of U.S. Income in 2024
Tesla reported $2.3 billion of U.S. income in 2024 but paid zero federal income tax. Over the past three years, the Elon Musk-led company reports $10.8 billion of U.S. income on which its current federal tax was just $48 million.
Media Mentions view more
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ProPublica: How a Washington Tax Break for Data Centers Snowballed Into One of the State’s Biggest Corporate Giveaways
In 2010, as the country still reeled from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, tech companies, real estate developers and rural lobbyists went to the state Capitol in Olympia, Washington, to press for a tax break for data centers.
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Marketplace: Closing a $50 Billion Tax Loophole for the Wealthy
The Treasury and IRS announced a new initiative Monday to close a tax loophole for wealthy people that could raise more than $50 billion in revenue over the next decade. Plus, the evolving economics of "gayborhoods" in U.S. cities.