Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Select Media Mentions

The Emporia Gazette: Tax Structure Is the Problem

May 28, 2015

When considering income taxes overall, information from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy indicates that the poorest 20 percent of Kansans pay 11.1 percent of their income in taxes while the wealthiest 1 percent of Kansans pay only 3.6 percent. We have an unfair tax system. More than 300,000 businesses in Kansas are paying […]

The Toledo Blade: Ohio Readies for First Break on Sales Tax

May 28, 2015

However, Carl Davis, a senior analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit nonpartisan Washington think tank, said that while tax holidays help retailers, they don’t accomplish much else. “I think the major takeaway with sales tax holidays is they’re high profile and they get a lot of favorable attention for politicians, […]

Stateline: To Create Revenue, Some States Put Scofflaws in Virtual Stocks

May 28, 2015

Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, said that while making tax delinquents’ names public may work, a larger question is whether that technique is being used because state tax collection departments are underfunded and under-staffed, making regular collections more difficult. “A better strategy would be […]

CBS Moneywatch: Who Will Pay for Ever-Growing Infrastructure Needs

May 21, 2015

But with the summer driving season about to start this weekend, the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has jumped into the debate with some new data and commentary about the gas tax. It points out that, taking inflation into account, the federal gas tax has lost close to 40 percent of its […]

PolitiFact: Are there more U.S. Senators than Wisconsin residents who would benefit from GOP estate tax plan

May 21, 2015

Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, called the estimation “pretty rock solid” and said the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities used a sensible starting point. “To be able to do anything differently, you would have to know exactly how many people were going to die in 2016,” Gardner […]

The News&Observer: Ending Privilege Tax Drives up Property Taxes

May 21, 2015

The supposed “historic” tax cut of 2013 actually resulted in a tax code under which the average taxpayer in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution now pays more in state and local taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The “cut” in the gas tax actually eliminated a larger automatic […]

Vox: These Common Tax Breaks Are a Disaster for Small Business

May 20, 2015

The left-wing Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy agrees with the conclusion and observes that when targeted tax breaks do reduce revenue, “that means reductions in the public services that businesses use every day.” In other words, the Hotel Niagara’s windfall tax benefit may mean more potholes on the road, slightly slowing traffic and damaging […]

Grist: Why It’s a Bad Idea to Tax People for Every Mile They Drive

May 18, 2015

Twenty-four states haven’t touched their gas tax rates in more than a decade, according to left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. For 16 of those states, the last change was more than 20 years ago. Read more

Honolulu Civic Beat: A Progressive Legislative Lament

May 18, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report of 2015 notes that Hawaii is the state with the second highest percent of its taxes paid by the bottom fifth as we tax them at a rate of 13.4 percent. The top fifth of our population only pay about 8 percent of their income in taxes. […]

Kearny Hub: Static Gas Tax Rate Curbs Nebraska’s Buying Power

May 18, 2015

“It’s an inevitable fact that if gas tax rates are not updated from time to time, the tax is not going to keep pace with construction costs,” said Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a think tank in Washington. However, due to the difficulty of mustering the votes to raise a […]

The Birmingham News: The Easiest Budget Fix? Make the Rich Pay Taxes Like the Poor

May 18, 2015

The Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy calculated what Alabamians pay toward those three taxes and broke them down by what are called quintiles – 20 percent chunks of the population. The first three of those quintiles – 60 percent of the population – pay about 10 percent of their family income in state and […]

Gannett: The Fair Tax Is Anything But Fair

May 18, 2015

According to the authoritative Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, it would mean an average $225,000 a year tax cut for the top 1 percent, and a net increase of about $3,200 for eight out of every 10 taxpayers. There’s nothing fair about that. Read more

The News&Observer: NC Forgoes a Tax Windfall

May 18, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit research group that focuses on tax fairness, analyzed that shift. Its findings have often been misconstrued to say that 80 percent of North Carolina taxpayers ended up paying more after the tax changes. Instead, the institute found that in 2014 – allowing for the expiration of […]

The Press Democrat: The Five Biggest Myths about Measure A

May 18, 2015

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the gas tax has lost “28 percent of its value since 1997” as costs of highway construction and road repair work have climbed. Our infrastructure is a mess because of it. Read more

PolitiFact: Fair Tax Claim Ignores Contradictory Economic Models

May 18, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated the sales tax would need to be 45 percent to be revenue neutral, as the proposal pledges, and also account for tax cheats. The rate matters when deciding if the proposal will do as Perdue suggests and boost economic activity. Read more

Law 360: Marijuana Legalization Accompanied By Tax Hurdles: Report

May 11, 2015

tates are gradually legalizing recreational and medical marijuana and expecting tax windfalls in the process, but the world of marijuana taxation is fraught with complexities that states must consider in advance, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more

The Ashville Citizens Times: Renewed Attacks on Renewable Energy in Raleigh

May 11, 2015

Okay. Let’s talk about fairness and competition. From 2008 to 2012 Duke Energy paid no federal income tax though making more than $9 billion in profits, according to a report from Citizens for Tax Justice, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center. In fact, the utility got […]

The Enterprise: Momentum Grows for Doubling the EITC

May 11, 2015

Among the states that offer the credit, the average value of the credit is 16 percent of the federal Earned income Tax Credit, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Seven states offer state credits worth more than 25 percent of the federal credit. Read more

Stateline: Illinois “mixed” on taxes for seniors; Iowa “not tax friendly”

May 11, 2015

Despite the trend, Meg Wiehe, state tax policy director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which surveyed senior tax breaks, said all of the efforts to have “blanket state tax preferences for elderly taxpayers is . a very ill-advised policy.” She also pointed out that states which shield retirement income – Social Security […]

San Antonio Express News: Real Question Is Whether to Cut Any Tax

May 6, 2015

But fairness hasn’t been Texas’ strong suit. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released its annual analysis of the states’ tax systems in January. Texas is in the top 10 most regressive, behind Washington state and Florida. A regressive tax is one that unduly burdens those least able to pay, while the wealthy pay […]

Las Vegas Sun: How Much Taxes Do Undocumented Immigrants Pay?

May 6, 2015

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan Washington, D.C., think tank, studied how much undocumented immigrants contribute to state and local coffers. Researchers examined figures from 2012. Read more

The Columbus Dispatch: Group Again Highlights That GOP Tax Plan Benefits the Wealthy

May 6, 2015

Calling it a “gift to Ohio’s wealthiest,” liberal-leaning Policy Matters released an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy of the tax plan that passed the House last month. It found that the top 1 percent of Ohio earners would save nearly $3,600 on average, while the bottom 80 percent of Ohio taxpayers, […]

Forbes: Immigrants Are Good for Us

May 6, 2015

A terrific report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) says that immigrants who entered the country illegally paid about $12 billion in state and local taxes in 2012. The revenue per state, of course, varies. ITEP found that these immigrants paid about $3 million in Montana (where few live), but over $3.2 billion in […]

The Montgomery Advertiser: Flat Tax Flawed Approach That Pinches the Poor

May 6, 2015

ur state’s place in that ranking would be secured forever under Hightower’s bill, which effectively eliminates any threshold for income tax liability. Put simply, if you have any earnings at all, you’d be subject to the income tax. Who benefits from that? Certainly not lower-income Alabamians. More than half of Alabama families earning less than […]

The Chicago Sun-Times: Reform Illinois’s Tax Code

May 6, 2015

Illinois citizens are not all that prosperous, either. According to the 2013 census, Illinois per capita income is a mere $29,666 prompting the question, “Just where is the average Illinois taxpayer supposed to get the money to pay those prospective tax increases, anyway?”  According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Illinois ranks 5th highest […]

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].