Amy Hanauer
Executive Director
Areas of Expertise
Federal Taxes State Taxes Budget Policy Taxes and Climate Justice Workers and WagesAmy Hanauer joined ITEP in 2020, bringing nearly 30 years of experience working to create economic policy that advances social justice. As executive director of both ITEP and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), Amy provides vision and leadership to promote fair and equitable state and national tax policy.
Prior to joining ITEP/CTJ, Amy founded and developed Policy Matters Ohio from a one-person start-up in 2000 to a 14-person operation with offices in Cleveland and Columbus. Under her guidance, the organization provided research that helped boost Ohio’s minimum wage, establish a state Earned Income Tax Credit, restore collective bargaining rights for public sector workers and expose how tax cuts for the wealthy have not improved Ohio’s job climate.
Prior to founding Policy Matters, Amy opened a Milwaukee office for the think tank COWS, helping place women in unionized manufacturing jobs. In the early 1990s, she worked for Wisconsin State Senator (now U.S. Rep) Gwendolynne Moore’s office, defending the safety net for Wisconsin families.
Amy holds multiple leadership posts at the national level, including as a board member for both The American Prospect and Demos Action. She previously served as Vice President of the board at the think tank Demos from 2010-2018. A graduate of Rockwood Leadership Institute, Amy is the author of several publications on worker justice, green jobs and racial and economic equity. She received her Master of Public Administration from the Lafollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University.
amy at itep.orgRecent Publications and Posts view more
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Alvin Schorr and the Policy Relay Race
Sometimes a good idea takes a while. Alvin Schorr, who would have turned 100 this month, helped draft a 1972 bill “to provide for a system of children’s allowances.” He continued to push (in a 1977 congressional testimony and in a 1983 New York Times op-ed) for a refundable tax credit for all families and a children’s allowance, among other laudable ideas. A half-century later, these ideas—which many others have championed—are becoming reality.
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The High Cost of Corporate Tax Avoidance (Webinar)
When communities thrive, so do corporations. But when profitable corporations build their empires by exploiting the tax code, it is workers, the environment and our communities—not CEOs or shareholders—that are harmed. Amazon posted its highest U.S. profit ever for 2020, an unprecedented year defined by a pandemic. Yet the company sheltered more than half its profits from corporate taxes—legally. While the company may be one of the most recognizable tax avoiders, it's not an outlier.
Media Mentions view more
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Daily Kos: Study: Non-wealthy to benefit most from Biden's tax and spending plans, especially in red states
For those who aren’t policy wonks—and who somehow can’t decide whether Joe Biden is a compassionate family man or a…
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FAIR: ‘Some of Our Most Profitable Companies Are Not Contributing to Our Basic Needs’
Janine Jackson interviewed Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Amy Hanauer about corporate tax avoidance for the April 16, 2021,…