Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Select Media Mentions

Mountain State Spotlight: Tax Cuts, Low-Balled Estimates and Volatile Revenues: Inside West Virginia’s $1.8 Billion Budget Surplus

July 1, 2023

Gov. Jim Justice has used the state’s budget surplus as proof of his business skills as he runs for the U.S. Senate. But the surplus is built on unpredictable revenue streams and will likely be temporary. Read more.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Next Tax Debates are Heating Up in Congress

June 26, 2023

Call it the battle of the tax cuts. Western Pennsylvania’s lawmakers are on opposite sides as the U.S. House debates whether — and how — to cut taxes. Read more.

The Sacramento Bee: Fact Check: Does California’s Middle Class Pay Less in Taxes Than in Other States?

June 21, 2023

“The American people don’t know this. We have the highest tax rate for the 1%, but middle-class families actually paid less than the majority of states in America in California,” Gov. Gavin Newsom told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week. The governor was half-right. Read more.

Insider: The IRS Could Recover $12 for Every $1 Spent on Scrutinizing the Ultra-Wealthy’s Taxes

June 19, 2023

It turns out that scrutinizing the rich’s taxes pays off. A new paper from economists at the Department of Treasury, Harvard University, and the University of Sydney looks at the return on investment from IRS audits from 2010 through 2014. They find that while it’s much more expensive to audit the wealthiest tax payers, it’s still a […]

The Independent: Biden Warns Union Members that Republicans are ‘Coming for Your Jobs’ in 2024 Campaign Speech in Philadelphia

June 19, 2023

Joe Biden got his 2024 presidential re-election campaign underway in Philadelphia on Saturday by continuing to pitch voters on his pro-labour bonafides. Read more.

Video: ITEP’s Amy Hanauer Talks Proposed GOP Tax Cuts on Scripps New Live

June 15, 2023

ITEP Executive Director Amy Hanauer joined Scripps News Live to talk about the trio of tax bills that House Republicans are moving through committee this week, and explain how they would disproportionately help the wealthiest Americans and foreign investors.

Salon: GOP Follows Debt Fight with Bill to Give $24 billion Tax Cut to the Top 1 Percent

June 15, 2023

After spending months threatening to tank the economy over the federal deficit, Republicans have unveiled a set of new tax proposals that would cost the government billions of dollars — by handing tens of billions of dollars of tax cuts to the richest 1 percent of Americans, as a new report reveals. Read more.

Common Dreams: New GOP Bills Would Hand Richest 1% Over $28 Billion in Tax Cuts Next Year

June 13, 2023

Tax cut legislation that House Republicans are set to consider this week after pushing the global economy to the brink of disaster would deliver more than $28 billion to the richest 1% of Americans next year—and just $1.4 billion to the poorest fifth of the country. Read more.

Video: ITEP’s Joe Hughes Talks Child Tax Credit Expansion on Scripps News Live

June 12, 2023

ITEP Federal Policy Analyst Joe Hughes joined Scripps News Live to talk about the American Family Act, which would permanently expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to 2021 levels, helping millions of children and families, especially the lowest-income families who currently make too little to receive the CTC.

Los Angeles Times: As IRS Funding Shrinks, California’s Wealthiest Can Breathe a Bit Easier

June 9, 2023

California millionaires and billionaires who were set to face the full auditing firepower of a revamped Internal Revenue Service can breathe a bit easier, thanks to congressional Republicans. Read more.

Forbes: House Proposal Would Restore Expanded And Improved Monthly Child Tax Credits

June 9, 2023

A group of U.S. Representatives has introduced the American Family Act, legislation that would make the previously expanded and improved monthly child tax credit permanent. Read more.

South Florida Sun Sentinel: Editorial: Short-Sighted Debt Deal Protects Tax Evaders

June 7, 2023

Not much in the debt ceiling extension deal will have lasting impact. But one significant aspect cuts $21 billion out of the $80 billion the IRS received in new money from Congress last year. Read more.

Route Fifty: Minnesota Takes On Corporate Profit Shifting

June 7, 2023

It has closed a loophole that companies use to create income tax havens abroad, and as overall tax revenue continues to slump, it could be a path other states take. Read more.

Deseret News: Working Class Voters Want Politicians Who Will Focus on the Economy

June 6, 2023

The most important issue facing the U.S. today is still inflation, according to a new national poll, and this sentiment is being driven by Americans who identify as working and middle class. Read more.

KALW’s Your Call: Debt Ceiling Agreement Targets the Poor While Protecting the Wealthy

May 30, 2023

ITEP Executive Director Amy Hanauer appeared on “Your Call” discussing the debt ceiling agreement. Listen here.

Governing: What’s Driving This Year’s Ambitious Tax Cuts?

May 24, 2023

Revenues are slowing but lawmakers, at least in red states, have continued to enact major tax cuts this year. Read more.

San Francisco Examiner: $66M Salesforce Program to Close Educational Gaps Has Only Widened Them

May 24, 2023

Ten years ago, Salesforce pledged millions to San Francisco’s public schools to help close an achievement gap between the district’s Black and brown students, who scored lower than their white and Asian peers in math and science courses. But a decade and $66 million later, that gap has only widened. Read more.

Washington Post: How California’s Wild Weather Brought the Debt-Ceiling ‘X Date’ Closer

May 22, 2023

As President Biden and lawmakers scramble to strike a debt ceiling deal before the government runs out of money, each day counts — to the tune of about $17 billion. That’s how much the U.S. Treasury spends daily, on average, to keep the government functioning. Read more.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Politics of the Debt Ceiling Fight: A Numbers Game

May 16, 2023

Republicans focus on the size of the federal debt in demanding spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. Democrats highlight the number of Americans who would lose benefits if those cuts are made. Read more.

The Texas Tribune: Why Tax Policy Experts Fear the Texas House Plan to Lower Property Taxes Could Have Dire Ripple Effects

May 16, 2023

Both the House and the Senate’s proposals on property tax cuts would give modest savings to the typical Texas homeowner, but critics say the House plan could create vast inequities and disproportionately benefit wealthy homeowners. Read more.

Arkansas Times: A Decade of Tax Cuts for the Rich (and Pretty Much Nothing for You or Me)

May 2, 2023

Taxes help pay for the public services that many of us take for granted — most of our state budget goes to funding education and health services that benefit us all, whether we personally use them or not. But there are better and worse ways for a state to raise revenue. Read more.

The New York Times: What’s the Matter With New York?

April 25, 2023

Bashing New York City has long been a popular pastime on the right. Conservatives routinely portray the Big Apple as a dystopian wasteland. And the bashing has reached a fever pitch since Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, announced multiple charges against Donald Trump. Read more.

The New Republic: The Future of the Expanded Child Tax Credit Is With the States (for Now)

April 25, 2023

Congress failed to renew the wildly successful measure, but state lawmakers across the country are working to bring it back. Read more.

The Lever: Joe Manchin’s Tax Hike On The Working Class

April 25, 2023

Despite representing one of America’s poorest states, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) decided in 2021 to kill legislation to extend expanded child and antipoverty tax credits that were helping the working class. The expiration of the expanded tax credits resulted in more than three million kids being thrown into poverty. New data shows it also resulted in a massive regressive tax increase […]

The Hill: The Racial Wealth Gap Won’t Budge: There’s a Tax for That

April 24, 2023

The racial wealth gap is one of the most glaring injustices in the U.S. today. Hundreds of years of structural and legal barriers excluded and prevented Black households from being able to accumulate and hold onto wealth — and policies continue to perpetuate those barriers today. While the civil rights movement brought changes that narrowed the gap, […]

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].