Select Media Mentions
Bloomberg: Undocumented Immigrants in US Pay Nearly $100 Billion in Taxes
July 30, 2024
Undocumented immigrants paid almost $100 billion of taxes, underscoring the importance of border policies on the country’s tax collections, according to a new report. Read more.
USA Today: America’s Billionaires Are Worth a Record $6T. Where Does That Leave the Rest of Us?
July 19, 2024
America’s billionaires are now collectively worth a record $6 trillion. Their wealth has more than doubled since the passage of the landmark Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. Is that good news, or bad? It depends on whom you ask. Read more.
Quartz: ‘Trump Trade’ Is Back in Focus
July 16, 2024
The world’s financial markets are growing increasingly open to the likelihood that former President Donald Trump will make his way to a second term in the White House. All it took was outperforming President Joe Biden on a debate stage and surviving an assassination attempt.
Route 50: States, Cities Consider ‘Mansion Taxes’ to Fund Affordable Housing
July 15, 2024
States and cities have been throwing darts at the wall, trying to find dedicated funding to tackle affordable housing needs. Nationwide, tens of millions of families are struggling amid a housing shortage with rent and housing costs. Home prices are up about 60% over the past decade, adjusted for inflation. And about a quarter of renters—some 12 million households—spend more than half their income on housing, which is far above the recommended 30%. To support affordable housing development and other initiatives in the rapidly growing Denver area, Mayor Mike Johnston on Monday unveiled a proposed new tax that would add 0.5%…
Nonprofit Quarterly: Can Taxes Reduce Inequality? What a Study of State and Local Taxes Tells Us
July 11, 2024
Who pays? Along with its companion question of “who benefits,” “who pays” has long been a central concern of both politics and economics. Earlier this year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) published Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States, its seventh study on the topic since 1996 and its first since 2018.
The 19th News: Republicans Want to Kill the Dept. of Ed and Privatize Education. Billionaires Are Helping Them.
July 10, 2024
In the fall, the Department of Education will mark 45 years since its inception, but that anniversary could be its last if Donald Trump gets his way. The federal agency is one of several he’s vowed to slash if reelected president.
Education Week: A State Considers a Future in Which Schools Can’t Rely on Property Taxes
July 10, 2024
What would a world without property taxes look like? In every state, revenue from property taxes is one of the biggest sources of K-12 school funding. But that could change soon as efforts ramp up in a handful of states to abandon property taxes altogether, or at least as a funding source for schools.
Connecticut Mirror: Could CT Fight Homelessness With a ‘Mansion Tax’? Yes, Report Says
July 3, 2024
State government could raise as much as $180 million annually to combat homelessness or address other social needs by boosting its tax on the sale of high-value houses, according to a recent report from two Washington fiscal think tanks.
The Globalist: Will American Monetocracy Ever Come to an End?
July 3, 2024
It used to be that the United States prided itself on being a meritocracy. No more. It is increasingly a country with a cult of money and rule by moneyed elites. Not so much an oligarchy as a monetocracy.
New York Times: Newsom Uses Annual State Address to Confront Republicans Across the Nation
June 27, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, whose liberal state has been hammered by Republicans for months as a hellscape of homelessness, crime and high taxes, used his annual State of the State address on Tuesday to slam “conservatives and delusional California bashers” and defend “the California way of life.”
Sacramento Bee: Governor Gavin Newsom Claims California Is Not a ‘High-Tax State.’ Is He Correct?
June 26, 2024
“Here’s the truth Republicans never tell you: California is not a high tax state,” Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Tuesday in his taped State of the State address.
Education Week: Some Districts Charge for School Bus Rides—If They Offer Transportation at All
June 26, 2024
A small but notable share of the nation’s 13,000 public school districts charge fees for some or all of their students to ride the bus each day—if they provide transportation at all. States vary on the degree to which they require schools to offer bus service to all students who want it. They also differ widely on how much money they provide to schools to cover the growing costs of transportation.
New York Times: Democrats’ Dream of a Wealth Tax Is Alive. For Now.
June 21, 2024
For years, liberal Democrats have agitated for the United States to tax wealth, not just income, as a way to ensure that rich Americans who derive wealth from real estate, stocks, bonds and other assets were paying more in taxes. On Thursday, that dream survived a Supreme Court scare, but just barely.
Forbes: Supreme Court Refuses to Upend the Tax Code in Ruling on Unrealized Gains
June 21, 2024
The Supreme Court declined to overturn a tax policy Thursday that critics warned could have had broad implications on federal tax policy and the U.S. economy, ruling against a couple who claimed they should not have been taxed on money they invested but hadn't made a profit on.
Pluribus News: The Volatility of Taxing the Rich
June 20, 2024
State leaders in Massachusetts and Washington are learning it’s hard to predict how much money their taxes on millionaires and billionaires will rake in.
Marketplace: Closing a $50 Billion Tax Loophole for the Wealthy
June 18, 2024
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.
NPR: Kansas Lawmakers Will Consider Tax Cuts During Their Special Session
June 18, 2024
Kansas' Republican-led Legislature is pushing for tax cuts. But critics worry about repeating the failed tax cuts from 2012 that blew holes in the state’s budgets for years.
The American Prospect: Taming the Price Beast
June 14, 2024
A February paper from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that studied 342 profitable corporations found that these companies paid an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, well below the historically low statutory rate of 21 percent signed into law by the Trump administration in 2017. At the same time, we have seen record corporate profits since 2021, culminating in an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2023. Companies seek out excess profits in increasingly harmful ways, because they get to keep more of those excess profits.
The Guardian: ‘Perilous for Democracy, Good for Profits’: Is Big Business Ready to Love Trump Again?
June 13, 2024
Chief executives of some of America’s largest companies will meet privately with Donald Trump later on Thursday, and many CEOs who were once critical of his unprecedented conduct appear increasingly open to the former president’s return to office, a Guardian analysis has found.
Yahoo Finance: 7 Places Your Taxes Will Go if Trump Wins in 2024
June 11, 2024
If you are subject to estate taxes under a second Trump term, you can expect to keep paying the historically low rate he set in motion during his first term. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, only eight of every 10,000 people who died left an estate large enough to trigger the tax as of 2019, the most recent year data are available. Most of the estate tax is paid by estates worth more than $20 million, and in recent years the majority has been paid by estates worth more than $50 million.
Capital & Main: The Return of Trickle-Down Economics
June 6, 2024
The return of trickle-down economics — the much-criticized theory that tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy eventually result in job growth and higher wages for the middle class and working class — has inspired a fierce debate in the Kansas Legislature that has gone on for months. A bill that included a flat 5.25% personal income tax, an 8% reduction from the current rate for top earners, was approved by Republicans in both chambers, though critics say it would disproportionately benefit the wealthy in the state. The top 20% of earners in Kansas — those with average annual incomes above…
Governing: Are Florida Taxes Low? It Depends on Your Income Level
May 28, 2024
It’s been almost a hundred years since Florida eliminated its personal income tax. Not taxing income contributes to its reputation as a low-tax state and is part of the draw for retirees. But of course Floridians do pay taxes and the state’s system leads to some inequities, according to a new report from a progressive organization.
Yahoo Finance: Jeff Bezos Spent $237 Million On Florida Mansions — Billionaires Flock To ‘Upside Down’ Tax Haven Where Rich Pay Less Than Poor
May 20, 2024
The Sunshine State has become a magnet for billionaires seeking tax relief. Among the latest to join the trend is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has recently expanded his real estate holdings in Miami’s exclusive Billionaire Bunker area. Bezos’ acquisitions include three properties, bringing his total investment in the neighborhood to $237 million.
Forbes: California Is Not Actually a High-Tax State According To New Study
May 17, 2024
Depending on where you fall on the income scale, California may not actually be that high tax of a state. For many in the middle class and below, California may let you keep more of your hard-earned income than many other states, according to a new study, “Who Pays” from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). While California has the highest marginal tax rate in the nation at 13.3%, only some households pay this rate on their income. That doesn’t stop so-called low-tax states like Texas and Florida from blasting the tax policy of the Golden State.
Hawai’i Public Radio: Concerns Rise for Low-Income Families Over Legislature’s Recent Tax Cut Measure
May 16, 2024
Most Hawaiʻi residents will likely see lower income taxes next year due to a measure recently passed by the state Legislature. However, some advocates are concerned that those changes could also limit tax assistance for those who need it the most. Lawmakers are calling it the biggest tax cut in the state’s history: about $5 billion over the next five years.
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