Select Media Mentions
New York Times: Debate Fact Check: What Were They Talking About, and What Was True?
August 1, 2019
What Mr. Bennet said: “Since 2001, we have cut $5 trillion worth of taxes. Almost all of it has gone to the wealthiest people in America.” This is exaggerated. Mr. Bennet’s claim is based on a 2018 report from the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. It finds tax cuts under Presidents […]
Wall Street Journal: Going Out of Style: Tax-Driven Deals to Move Corporate HQs Outside U.S.
August 1, 2019
Through mergers, companies such as Allergan, Mylan, Medtronic and Johnson Controls PLC moved tax addresses abroad. The companies were often managed from the U.S. “It was always a fiction that they were foreign,” said Steve Wamhoff, director for federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal group critical of corporate tax […]
NBC News: Fact-check: The July Democratic debate 2019, Night 2
August 1, 2019
Did ‘almost all’ of the tax cuts since 2001 go to the wealthiest Americans? “Since 2001, we have cut $5 trillion worth of taxes. Almost all of it has gone to the wealthiest people in America,” Michael Bennet claimed Wednesday night. This is exaggerated. Nearly two-thirds of $5.1 trillion in tax cuts went to the […]
Time: Democrats Made Lots of Claims During the Second Debates. Here Are the Facts
August 1, 2019
Amazon paid $0 in federal income tax in the U.S. in 2018 after making over $11 billion in profits, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. What’s more, the analysis found that Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129 million. Amazon has paid federal taxes in previous years, […]
CNN: Democratic Debate Night 1
July 31, 2019
According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy for the second year running, Amazon made a profit of more than $11 billion in 2018, but reported a $129 million tax rebate from the federal government. Amazon does pay state taxes, and has also paid federal taxes in the past. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that Amazon’s […]
New York Times: Trump Administration Is Divided Over Tax Cut for Investors
July 31, 2019
But critics argue that the administration could open the door to a variety of unintended consequences, including allowing investors to exploit the change. Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, wrote in a June report criticizing the proposal that indexing capital gains for just certain types […]
Newsweek: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reminds America Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes: ‘They Pay Your Kids’ Schooling’
July 31, 2019
While it is difficult to say exactly how much undocumented immigrants contribute in taxes today, a 2013 report from the Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy highlighted how “the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States” at the time were “already paying a significant share of their income in state and local taxes.” […]
Time: Democrats Made Lots of Claims During the Second Debate. Here Are the Facts
July 31, 2019
Amazon paid $0 in federal income tax in the U.S. in 2018 after making over $11 billion in profits, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. What’s more, the analysis found that Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129 million. Amazon has paid federal taxes in previous years, […]
Washington Times: 2020 Democratic Candidates Put Trump’s Corporate Tax Rate Cut in Crosshairs
July 31, 2019
Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, agreed that the rate alone isn’t enough. “If we raise the corporate income tax rate but we leave in place some of the rules right now that seem to be encouraging American corporations to have more tangible assets offshore, more […]
Orlando Sentinel: Florida’s Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday – a Costly Gimmick
July 31, 2019
And an analyst with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said one of the alleged benefits — that the tax holidays stimulate spending — is bogus. Why? Because if your kid needs a backpack, your kid needs a backpack. Maybe you buy it this weekend. Maybe you buy it next weekend. Either way, you […]
WPEC: Retailers Ready for Back-to-School Tax ‘Holiday’
July 31, 2019
But not everyone is sold on the value of sales-tax holidays. The Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit liberal think tank, calls such holidays an “outdated gimmick.” Dylan Grundman, a senior policy analyst for the institute, argued in a news release that the brief holiday periods don’t reduce taxes for low- […]
The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Sales Tax Holiday, Here’s What You Need To Know
July 30, 2019
The Washington, D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-profit liberal think tank, calls such holidays an “outdated gimmick.” Dylan Grundman, a senior policy analyst for the institute, argued in a news release that the brief holiday periods don’t reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income families the rest of the year. He pointed to […]
Salt Lake Tribune: Treatment of Immigrants Is a Dark Stain on America
July 28, 2019
Immigrants contribute more in tax revenues than they receive in government benefits. Per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.6 billion annually in taxes, yet they are not eligible for federal benefits except in dire circumstances like medical emergencies. In 2017, all immigrants paid $405.4 billion in federal, state […]
Chattanooga Times Free-Press: Yet Again, Tennessee Combined State, Local Sales Tax Rates Nation’s Highest
July 27, 2019
While the sales tax is the workhorse of Tennessee’s budget, it’s also seen by critics as a “regressive tax” in that it takes a larger percentage of income from the pockets of lower-income and, some say, middle-income earners than those with higher incomes. Heavy reliance on the sales tax has thrust Tennessee into the No. […]
Filter: Kamala Harris Cannabis Legalization Bill Is Also About Immigrant Justice
July 25, 2019
While some critics, like Carl Davis, the research director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, argue that Harris’s bill would just be a tax-cut for Big Marijuana, the MORE Act would begin to pave the way for more undocumented people to participate in an industry from which they have been unequally excluded. Read […]
Reno News Review: Another Portrait of Ripped-off Nevadans
July 25, 2019
But wait, there’s more bad news for Nevada. The New York Times editorialized last Sunday on the growing trend toward inequality caused by how state and local taxes are assessed. According to a 2018 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, (ITEP) “the poor pay taxes at higher rates in 45 of the […]
Politico: Taxing the Pot
July 24, 2019
So how might this actually be a tax cut? By removing marijuana from the controlled substance list, Harris and Nadler would also make legitimate businesses eligible to deduct routine business expenses — something the industry has been seeking for years. Carl Davis of the liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said it would be […]
Anchorage Daily News: As Alaska’s Budget Uproar Rolls on, a Top Dunleavy Adviser Has Seen It Before
July 24, 2019
Arduin, Laffer & Moore has been criticized by economists for what some see as less than rigorous methods. One Oklahoma study on eliminating the state’s personal income tax produced by the firm was trashed as not “meeting professional standards” and including “biased and greatly exaggerated estimates” by University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University economists. […]
KCBS: Kamala Harris’ Pot Proposal Would Reduce Tax Revenue, Expert Predicts
July 23, 2019
Harris’ proposal would impose a 5% federal tax on pot to pay for new social justice program. Her legislation would also extend significant income tax deductions that have been unavailable to business people in the cannabis industry, because of federal prohibitions on the drug. “There’s actually a really big income tax cut in here,” said Carl […]
New York Times: State and Local Taxes Are Worsening Inequality
July 21, 2019
Low-income households in Illinois pay about 14 cents in state and local taxes from every dollar of income, while the state’s most affluent households pay about 7 cents per dollar. That gap between the poor and the wealthy in Illinois is one of the largest in any state, but the poor pay taxes at higher […]
Washington Post: Trump Aides to Look for Big Spending Cuts in Second Term
July 20, 2019
… with 2018, with 60 Fortune 500 companies paying no federal taxes at all, according to a 2018 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
New York Times: Back-to-School Sales Tax ‘Holidays’ Lure Shoppers Despite Slim Savings
July 19, 2019
But the tax holidays put a damper on state revenue and don’t necessarily deliver the business results they promise, said Dylan Grundman, a senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “People shift purchases, but don’t increase their overall spending,” Mr. Grundman said. “So the boost to business doesn’t really materialize.” Read […]
Concord Monitor: Why won’t Sununu fight tax avoidance by multinational firms?
July 19, 2019
The estimated revenue loss to New Hampshire was $177 million in 2018, according to a Jan. 17 review by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The name of the review is “A Simple Fix for a $17 Billion Loophole.” In particular, the tax code favors foreign-based multinational corporations operating in New Hampshire. This favoritism […]
Tampa Bay Times: Billions in Profits and No Income Tax Bill? That’s not Fair
July 19, 2019
Amazon made $10.8 billion last year and did not pay a penny in corporate income tax. In fact, it claimed a federal income tax rebate of $129 million. It’s not alone. Sixty profitable Fortune 500 companies avoided all federal income taxes by taking advantage of lax provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. […]
CNBC: Blue states file suit against IRS over rules on SALT workarounds
July 17, 2019
Whether the final rule will ultimately deter people from donating to these funds remains to be seen. “If you’re really passionate about private school vouchers in Georgia, you donate and you still get 100% of your donation back,” Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told CNBC. “You just won’t […]
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].
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.