Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

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Inside Higher Ed: Democratic Contenders Get Ambitious With Equity Proposals

October 30, 2018

The Harris tax credit bill, called the LIFT the Middle Class Act, could also have implications for higher ed access -- although the legislation wouldn’t have the same focus on assisting students from the poorest families. The proposal would function like a beefed-up version of the earned income tax credit and phase in quickly for individuals and married couples who work. It would offer substantial immediate benefits. Families earning up to $60,000 could receive up to $6,000 annually under the proposal. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that one million Pell-eligible students would qualify for a $3,000 tax…

NJ Spotlight: GOP Leaders Call on NJ Democrats to Reconsider Middle-class Tax Cuts

October 29, 2018

The related tax-cut bills — and another that would shield most retirement-savings contributions from state income taxes — were introduced at the start of the year but have not been posted for votes by the Democratic leaders who control the Assembly’s agenda. Bucco suggested a report released earlier this month by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that found middle-income taxpayers in New Jersey pay a higher effective tax rate than any other group — including the top 1 percent of earners — as a reason to begin prioritizing adoption of the GOP bills.

PolitiFact: Does Vermont Have the ‘Most Progressive’ Tax System in the Country?

October 29, 2018

Carl Davis, the research director for ITEP, said he doesn’t believe it would be accurate to call Vermont the most progressive state. California has a much higher top rate for the wealthiest taxpayers, he said.  "In our research Vermont does not have the most progressive system in the nation, but it is certainly far less regressive than the vast majority of states," Davis said.

The Columbia Missourian: New Tax on Motor Fuels Would Rev up Road and Bridge Spending

October 25, 2018

As it stands, only Alaska has a lower fuel tax than Missouri. Every neighboring state’s tax is higher. And more than 20 states increased their fuel taxes between 2013 and 2017, according to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy website. Read more

Bloomberg: Kamala Harris Tax Plan Would Cost $2.8 Trillion, Conservative Group Says

October 24, 2018

ITEP’s Wiehe said the plan is more highly targeted than the 2017 tax law to help low-income workers. The poorest 20 percent would see a $2,100 benefit under the Harris plan, compared with $80 under the GOP plan, she said. About 123 million workers would receive tax breaks under the plan, according to Wiehe.

The Fiscal Times: Democrats Take Aim at Republicans on Entitlement Cuts

October 24, 2018

The ITEP analysis of federal tax cuts from 2001 to 2018 found that they had reduced revenues by trillions of dollars, with a big chunk of the benefits flowing to the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers. “By the end of 2025, the tally of tax cuts will grow to $10.6 trillion,” the ITEP report says. “Nearly $2 trillion of this amount will have gone to the richest 1 percent.”

NBC: Democrats Find New Ways to Talk About Entitlement Cuts in Campaign’s Closing Days

October 23, 2018

Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee issued the study, based on calculations by the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, late last week. It shows that the estimated $2 trillion cost of the Bush and Trump-era tax cuts through 2025 is the same amount which Republicans have proposed cutting from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Obamacare.

The Real News Network: How Dismantling an Obscure Tax Created an American Aristocracy

October 22, 2018

Republicans’ decades-long efforts to gut the estate tax is creating a permanent ultra-rich class, and undermining the government’s ability to pay for popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. 

Christian Science Monitor: A New Candidate Class: Schoolteachers Running For Office

October 22, 2018

North Carolina, one of six states where teachers held strikes before school let out last spring, “is an example of how lawmakers have prioritized tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy over public services,” says Meg Wiehe, deputy director of the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and a North Carolina resident. “The big tax-cutting spree started here in 2013, and they’ve continued cutting.”

Governing: The Week in Public Finance: Most States’ Tax Systems Worsen Income Inequality

October 19, 2018

Some people pay more than their fair share of taxes -- and it’s not the rich. According to a new report by the progressive-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), the lowest-income households pay 50 percent more, on average, of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest. That leads to worsening inequality in four out of every five states. “While state and local taxes can’t eliminate income inequality, well-designed systems can help lessen the problem,” says Meg Wiehe, ITEP’s deputy director. “Meanwhile, it’s clear that steeply regressive systems only make it worse.”

Chicago Tribune: A Key Issue in Illinois Governor Race — Gov. Bruce Rauner, J.B. Pritzker Have Very Different Plans for State Income Tax

October 18, 2018

Last year, state lawmakers raised income taxes and ended the state’s two-year budget impasse over the passionate objections and veto of Rauner. At the time, the governor called the move “another step in Illinois’ never-ending tragic trail of tax hikes.”

U.S. News and World Report: Study: Residents With Lower Incomes Pay a Higher Effective Tax Rate

October 18, 2018

States and localities are filling their coffers by disproportionately burdening lower-income residents, who are taxed at a higher effective rate than top earners, according to a study released Wednesday by a tax policy group. The 50-state analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the lower one's income, the higher the effective overall state and local tax rate. The study includes sales taxes, excise taxes, user fees and income taxes. In fact, states which boast low income taxes are often the most likely to have systems that end up shifting the fiscal burden to lower-income residents,…

Associated Press: Kansas Governor’s Race is Referendum on Notorious Tax Cuts

October 18, 2018

The argument over taxes is likely to dominate the campaign’s final weeks; it is playing out in television ads and was a persistent theme Tuesday. Tax cuts appeal to voters in a GOP-leaning state like Kansas, but the fiscal problems that followed Brownback’s tax experiment made Kansas a memorable cautionary tale across the U.S. “It’s […]

The Pitt News: Editorial: Riding High: United States Should Follow Canada’s Pot Legalization

October 18, 2018

“We don’t know the size of the marijuana market right now,” Carl Davis, senior analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told The Huffington Post. “But we do know that legalization would lead to a positive revenue impact on the income and sales tax side.”

Bloomberg: States Could Feel Conservative Tax Pinch Even If Blue Wave Wins

October 18, 2018

Opponents say such restrictions are a recipe for political paralysis or deep budget cuts the next time the economy lapses into a recession. "It restricts future lawmakers -- even next year or in five years or ten years -- from making fiscally responsible decisions," said Meg Wiehe, deputy director of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "Whoever is in charge of the state should be able to make decisions that are best for the state at that time."

The Atlantic: Kamala Harris’s Trump-Size Tax Plan

October 18, 2018

An analysis of Harris’s proposal by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds it to be roughly the same size as the Trump tax cuts. But the average family in the bottom income quintile will see $100 in benefits from Trump’s tax initiative as of 2019, with the average family in the middle getting $800 in benefits and $55,190 for those in in the top 1 percent. In contrast, Harris’s legislation would have families in the bottom and middle of the income distribution benefit by $2,000 on average, with no effect on those at the top.

NJ BIZ: Report: NJ’s Top Earners Pay Lower Tax Share Than Middle-Income Families

October 17, 2018

New Jersey’s top earners enjoy vastly more wealth than the majority of New Jersey residents but pay a much lower percentage of taxes than middle-income families in the state. That’s according to a nationwide analysis released Wednesday by New Jersey Policy Perspective and the Institution of Taxation and Economic Policy.

KUOW: Washington State Tops ‘Terrible Ten’ List for Taxes

October 17, 2018

Washington State's tax system is widening the gap between the rich and the poor. That's according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) based in Washington, D.C. “What you see is that Washington’s tax system couldn’t possibly be further from hitting people evenly,” Carl Davis said. “People are having to devote very different shares of their household budgets to funding state and local government.”

Topeka-Capital Journal: New Study: Kansas’ Tax Policy Ranks as 23rd Most Regressive in the Nation

October 17, 2018

A 50-state study of tax systems found Kansas’ lowest-income residents pay 1.5 times more in taxes as a percent of income compared with the wealthiest residents, ranking the state 23rd in the nation on an equity index. “State lawmakers have control over how their tax systems are structured,” said Meg Wiehe, the institute’s deputy director and a study author. “They can and should enact more equitable tax policies that raise adequate revenue in a fair, sustainable way.”

The American Prospect: Think the GOP Tax Cut Was for the Rich? Actually, It Was for the White and Rich.

October 16, 2018

The $1.5 trillion tax cut signed into law last December by President Trump is not only widening the economic gap between the rich and everyone else, but also between white Americans and people of color. That’s according to a new, first-of-its-kind analysis of the 2017 Republican Tax Act by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Prosperity Now, a nonprofit advocacy group for low-income households. Using an economic model created by ITEP, the report drills down on the racial implications of the Republicans’ handiwork. The report’s authors found that racial inequities are a feature of the tax law, not a…

Truthout: North Carolina Ballot Initiative Would Enshrine Tax Cuts for the Rich

October 16, 2018

“Since 2012, when Republicans took full control of the legislature and governorship for the first time in modern history, they’ve been on a tax cutting rampage,” said Meg Wiehe, a North Carolina native and deputy director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “The state will be about $3.6 billion shorter in revenue than it would have been otherwise, which is a pretty significant difference in a state with a general fund of just around $21 billion.”

Pod Save the People: Flint: Lead & Beyond

October 16, 2018

DeRay, Brittany, Sam and Clint discuss the overlooked news, including the decline of U.S. prison populations, how American abortion policies affect women around the world, the death penalty, and who benefits from President Trump's tax cuts. (Podcast)

Law360: State Tax Codes Can Help Mitigate Poverty

October 15, 2018

State lawmakers have a tremendous opportunity to combat poverty with smart tax policies that can improve the lives of millions. Specifically, refundable tax credits for low-income workers and their families can play a role in positioning the nation’s most vulnerable families for success. Tax credits are also a vital tool for mitigating the upside-down nature of most state and local tax systems, which take a greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families. They are also especially important at a time when many federal lawmakers are determined to dismantle the safety net creating even more…

Mother Jones: A New Study Shows White Families Getting Four-Fifths of Trump’s Tax Cut

October 13, 2018

“Households of color have less income and have less wealth than white households, in large part due to centuries of systemic racism,” says Meg Wiehe, ITEP’s deputy director and one of the report’s authors. “So inevitably a tax cut that’s so expensive and so tilted to the top is furthering not just income inequality—it’s also furthering racial inequity in income and in wealth.”

Orlando Sentinel: Commentary: Vote No On Amendment 5: Allows a Few to Thwart the Needs of Many

October 12, 2018

This amendment would lock in tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthy and large corporations, making our tax system even more unfair than it is now. The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that only one state ranks lower in terms of the fairness of its tax system. Floridians who make $17,000 pay nearly 13 percent of their income in state and local taxes, and those who make more than $489,000 pay less than 2 percent. Amendment 5 would permanently enshrine this discrimination in our Constitution.

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].