Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

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The Portland Press Herald: LePage, Republicans Shift Tactics on Eliminating Maine’s Income Tax

May 6, 2015

Democrats are claiming that their plan is geared more toward middle-income Mainers. An analysis by the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, found that the Democratic plan would reduce taxes for the bottom 95 percent of Maine taxpayers. It also […]

The State Journal Register: Illinois Can Choose Revenue over Cuts

May 6, 2015

The people who will most bear the consequences of Rauner’s proposed cuts are those who can least afford to. Children, college students, seniors, the poor, people with disabilities, people with mental illness — all would be hard hit. Meanwhile, the top 1 percent of taxpayers in Illinois (average income: $1.9 million) will pay on about $18,000 less in state […]

Huffington Post: GOP Governors’ Proposals Hit Poor Harder

May 6, 2015

Every state already relies on a regressive tax system, although some states depend on sales and excise taxes more than others, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank. A 2015 ITEP study found that the effective state and local tax rate burden was 10.9 percent of income for those […]

Portland Press Herald: Maine Democrats Tout Tax Plan and Middle-Class Economics

May 4, 2015

Democrats have also touted an analysis by the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a left-leaning policy group, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, that compares their tax plan with the governor’s. Read more

The Bond Buyer: LSU Bond Deal Was Victim of State’s Woes

May 1, 2015

“The collapse of LSU’s bond offering mirrors a trend we’re seeing across the nation: state leaders are avoiding making tough budget decisions by pushing these decisions down to the local level,” Matt Gardner, Executive Director Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told The Bond Buyer. “When state lawmakers seek to balance their budgets by cutting […]

Decatur Daily: Concerns raised about flat-tax bill; hearing today

May 1, 2015

Forrister said his group asked the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal non-profit, to examine Hightower’s proposal. “They found that the only income group that would pay more on average would be the bottom 20 percent, those making less than $18,000,” Forrister said. By contrast, the state’s highest earners — the top 1 […]

AL.com: Sen. Bernie Sanders, the latest presidential hopeful, issues dire warning to Alabama

May 1, 2015

“I’m sharing this data with you in the hope you can work with your Congressional delegation and other leaders in your state on behalf of a budget that works for all Americans,” Sanders wrote. The data came from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Economic Policy Institute and the Institute on Taxation […]

Daily Journal: Indexes unveil winners, losers under tax policy

May 1, 2015

We’re less familiar with a different ranking of state taxes by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It ranks state tax systems based on their effects on the distribution of income. It doesn’t like Indiana very much. We’re 42nd on the 2015 list. According to the institute, in every state lower-income people pay a […]

The Nation: How Cities’ Funding Woes Are Driving Racial and Economic Injustice–And What We Can Do About It

May 1, 2015

Many towns have resorted to privatizing formerly public responsibilities such as trash collection, sewage, roads and parks, and introducing new fees to force residents to foot the bill directly. These fees and taxes are often extremely regressive, because as everyone is forced to pay a flat rate, poor people end up paying a higher percentage […]

Alternet: Tax Cuts for the Rich Made Kansas Broke–So Now States Move to Raise Taxes on the Poor

April 28, 2015

In its 2015 edition of “Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States,” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy counts Kansas among the 10 states with the “most regressive state and local tax systems.” Taxes eat up 11.1 percent of income for the poorest 20 percent of Kansas residents. […]

Stateline: States Try More Tax Breaks for Seniors

April 28, 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 […]

Shelby (NC) Star: Tax Season Brought Some Sticker Shock

April 28, 2015

Meanwhile, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that in all 50 states, the wealthy tend to pay a lower percentage of their incomes in taxes than low- and middle-income taxpayers. The institute says states are relying largely on sales taxes, which hit poor and middle-income families especially hard because they spend a bigger […]

Norther Voices Online: Undocumented Immigrants Contribute $12B in Taxes

April 28, 2015

The study was conducted by very respected Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. The study concluded after thorough analysis that average effective state and local tax rate by undocumented immigrants in 2012 was estimated at 8 percent, higher than the 5.4 percent effective tax rate by the top 1 percent of taxpayers. Read […]

Michigan AP: Michigan Households Would Pay Hundreds More in Taxes under Prop 1

April 28, 2015

The average tax hike for the middle fifth of Michigan households — those making $40,000 to $64,000 a year — would be $267, or $22 a month, according to an analysis by the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the Michigan League for Public Policy, an advocacy group in Lansing focused on poverty. […]

Wonkette: You Won’t Believe How Kansas is Paying for Rich People’s Tax Cuts

April 28, 2015

Among the fifth of the Kansas population with the lowest incomes, the average person pays 11.1 percent of what they make in state and local taxes, including sales taxes. Among the wealthiest one in every 100 Kansans, the average tax bill is just 3.6 percent of annual income, according to a recent report from the […]

The Hill: Sanders Warns All 50 Governors about Effects of GOP Budget

April 28, 2015

Sanders told Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) that approximately 1.6 million people would lose health coverage next year. About 141,000 jobs could be eliminated by 2017, and 3.5 million people could be at risk of losing nutrition assistance because of food stamps cuts, Sanders said. The data was based on analyses of the GOP budgets […]

Omaha World-Herald: Static gas tax rate curbs Nebraska’s buying power

April 27, 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 […]

Between the Lines: Deep Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Rich Create Unfair Tax System for Poor and Working Families

April 23, 2015

A new report by the group Citizens for Tax Justice, titled, “Who Pays Taxes in America in 2015?” underscores the unfair nature of the U.S. tax system, where the wealthiest sector contribute a decreasing share of the nation’s revenue. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation […]

The Charlotte Observer: Raleigh’s “Help” Does More Harm

April 23, 2015

This at a time when a January report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showed state and local taxes take up 9.2 percent of total income for North Carolina’s poorest families. It nibbles 5.3 percent of our richest families’ income. Of course, there’s so much tax policy infighting among GOP lawmakers that it’s […]

Verdict: The Republicans’ Cynical Tax Game–Undercut the IRS, Blame the IRS, Repeat

April 23, 2015

For example, according to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top one percent of U.S. taxpayers in 2015 will earn 22.2 percent of all income, and they will pay 23.8 percent of all taxes. The next 4 percent of taxpayers will receive 14.4 percent of all income and pay 15.2 percent […]

Fox News Latino: Undocumented Immigrants Paid Nearly $12B in Taxes

April 23, 2015

A new study shows that undocumented immigrants paid an average state and local tax rate of 8 percent in 2012, higher than the 5.4 percent paid by the top 1 percent of taxpayers The study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said that undocumented immigrants paid some $11.8 billion in state and local […]

Sun-Sentinel: Immigration Reform Could Boost Tax Revenue

April 22, 2015

Undocumented immigrants in the Sunshine State paid nearly $468 million in sales and excise taxes a year and $137 million in annual property taxes, according to the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The institute analyzed 2012 data from the Migration Policy Institute, the Fiscal Policy Institute, the Pew Research Center and Congressional Budget […]

Market Watch: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Billions in Taxes

April 21, 2015

If you think undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes, a new report may cause you to think again. Far from not paying taxes — as is alleged by critics — undocumented immigrants paid about $11.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2012, according to a report released late last week by the Institute on Taxation […]

Stateline: States Look at Axing ‘Double Deduction’ Tax Break

April 21, 2015

No one is sure how and where the tax break originated. It’s not like many other kinds of deductions, which were prompted by particular public policy goals, such as the home mortgage interest deduction that was instituted to encourage home ownership. “I think it’s a strange and pointless deduction,” said Carl Davis, a senior analyst […]

Flathead Beacon: Senate Hears About Tax-Cut Plan by GOP Representatives

April 21, 2015

Heather O’Loughlin, research director at the Montana Budget and Policy Center, opposed the bill. Across-the-board tax cuts would favor the wealthy and have little impact on people earning low and middle-level incomes, she said. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-partisan organization that works on federal, state and local tax policy, ran the […]

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].