Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Matthew Gardner

Senior Fellow

Matthew Gardner
Areas of Expertise
Economic modeling federal tax policy state tax policy corporate taxes

Matt 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.org

Recent Publications

brief    

What Corporations Have to Gain from the Gutting of the IRS

April 21, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner, Spandan Marasini, Steve Wamhoff

Seven huge corporations recently announced that in 2024 they were allowed to collectively keep $1.4 billion in tax breaks from previous years that they had publicly admitted would likely be found illegal if investigated – all because the tax authorities were unable to identify and disallow them before the statute…

blog    

What the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Got Wrong About Tesla's Tax Avoidance

April 21, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner

Tesla’s income tax avoidance is still in the news, and that’s a good thing.

More Publications by Matthew Gardner

Recent Media Mentions

media mention    

CNBC: How Senate GOP ‘No Tax on Tips’ Proposal Differs From House Republican Plan

April 21, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner

However, the Senate proposal is different from the House version in two key ways, Matt Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, wrote in an e-mail. Read more.

media mention    

Audio: ITEP's Matt Gardner Discusses Maryland's Tax and Budget Debate on WYPR

April 21, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner

As the 2025 General Assembly reaches its midway point, the most pressing issue facing lawmakers is the state’s budget deficit. ITEP Senior Fellow Matt Gardner joined Midday to share the details of Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposal. Listen to the full audio here.

More Media Mentions of Matthew Gardner