Select Media Mentions
Seattle Times: Seattle Council to Vote Today on Income Tax on the Wealthy
July 10, 2017
There were about 11,000 individuals in Seattle with earned annual incomes of at least $250,000 in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The Seattle tax would cover both earned and unearned income. “Washington has among the most regressive tax systems in the United States,” the legislation says, citing research by the Institute on Taxation […]
Bloomberg BNA: Private School Tax Credits Transform Charitable Incentive Into Profit Scheme
July 6, 2017
Public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars. School tuition vouchers allow taxpayer dollars to fund private education by paying for private school tuition. Tuition tax credits work in a similar fashion, by allowing a credit for donations to private school voucher funds. In this article, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Carl Davis, discusses […]
Reno News and Review: Workers Stuck with the Check
July 5, 2017
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Nevada’s poorest 20 percent of families pay 6.1 percent of their income in sales tax. The wealthiest one percent of Nevada families pay six-tenths of 1 percent. Given the fact that low income people bear a heavier portion of taxation in Nevada than the affluent, the […]
USA Today: Gas Taxes Rise in Seven States As Travelers Hit the Road for July 4 Holiday
June 30, 2017
The urge to hit the road comes as the national average gas price is 4 cents per gallon cheaper than at the same time last year, at $2.28 per gallon, according to AAA. “With gas prices at historically low levels, state lawmakers have decided that now is a good time to ask drivers to pay […]
Huffpost: Why States Are Struggling To Tax Services
June 29, 2017
Another challenge is that taxes on services are regressive, with a disproportionate impact on low-income residents, and are sometimes seen as an unfair way to plug a budget hole or reduce other taxes, prompting opposition from advocates for the poor. “The services that get pulled into these plans … are not necessarily the ones that […]
Scripps News Service: Money Diverted from Public Schools?
June 26, 2017
All the programs basically work this way: Individuals and businesses make cash or stock donations to scholarship granting organizations. The organizations award scholarships to qualifying families with K-12 students, primarily children in failing public schools or whose families’ income meets the state’s poverty threshold. Students can then attend a private or religious school of their […]
Bloomberg: Corporate Tax Rate at 28% Seen as More Likely Than Historic Cut
June 26, 2017
Both men have pitched their rate-cut plans as a way to spur hiring and economic growth. But setting a 28 percent tax rate would be largely meaningless for more than 150 of the largest U.S. companies, which already paid lower rates than that from 2008 through 2015, according to a recent study. The companies took […]
Public News Service: GOP Health Bill Would Deliver Tax Breaks to the Wealthiest
June 20, 2017
Alan Essig, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says data from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that the health bill that cleared the U.S. House is less about health policy than tax breaks for the top 3 percent of U.S. earners. “The end result is 23 million people losing health care […]
Salon: Apple CEO Tim Cook Thinks a Big Corporate Tax Cut is “What’s Good for America”
June 18, 2017
Earlier this year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan liberal think tank, published research showing that few large profitable companies even come close to paying the 35 percent federal income tax rate on U.S. profits. The study, which looked at 258 large U.S. companies that reported annual U.S.-based profit from 2008 to 2015, […]
PBS News Hour: How Much Do the Poor Actually Pay in Taxes? Probably More Than You Think.
June 8, 2017
“All told, those in the bottom fifth of earners pay almost a fifth of their income in taxes. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest-income quintile — those making less than $19,000 a year — pay almost 11 percent of their income in state and local taxes. Working people, even if […]
Kansas City Star: Kansas Tax ‘Experiment’ Offers Lessons to the Nation, Analysts Say
June 7, 2017
“An analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found in 2015 that taxpayers in the bottom 40 percent saw an overall increase in their taxes under Brownback when the 2015 sales tax increase is included.” Read more
The Atlantic: Can America’s Farms Survive the Threat of Deportations?
June 6, 2017
“Pete points out that the undocumented community is a net contributor to taxes. It’s true: A recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars to state and local taxes across the country. Deporting them, Pete added, will only hurt Americans. “If they just stopped contributing […]
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Senate Tax Plan is Upward Redistribution
June 3, 2017
“Some West Virginia Senators are singing a similar tune as Reagan with their tax plan. While they say their plan is a tax cut for everyone, the facts say otherwise. According to a recent analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the Senate tax plan would increase taxes for most West Virginia households […]
Politifact: Richest 1 Percent Pay Lowest Rate of State and Local Taxes in Wisconsin?
June 2, 2017
McCabe, who says he is not a member of any political party, cited a 50-state analysis of state and local taxes published in January 2015 by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research organization based in Washington, D.C. Experts told us it is the only recent report of its kind on state […]
Bloomberg: Trump ‘Self-Help’ Infrastructure Plan Irks State, Local Leaders
June 1, 2017
Six states this year raised their gas taxes — joining 18 others that have raised or changed the tax since 2013 to generate more money for transportation work, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The federal gas tax hasn’t been increased since 1993. Read more
Chicago Magazine: What Can Illinois Learn from Other States’ Budget Disasters
June 1, 2017
In 2012, Kansas would go on to enact tax cuts that the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy called ”among the largest” enacted by any state. Under the leadership of recently elected Governor Sam Brownback, the state dropped the top income tax rate by one-fourth, nixed taxes on “pass through” business profits (business profits passed directly to the […]
The Boston Globe: Ax the Sales Tax (Also the Income Tax)
May 27, 2017
A constitutional amendment to eliminate the sales tax and replace the flat state income tax with a progressive scale based on income would be a bold solution. It would both alleviate the tax burden for low- and moderate-income families and generate enough revenue to right our budget ship before the next recession hits. A couple […]
Bloomberg BNA: A New School Argument for an Old School Credit
May 23, 2017
Scholarship or tuition tax credits have a way of staying in the public spotlight. Over the last several years, battles surrounding these credits have been waged in courtrooms, on the floors of state legislatures and in the public consciousness. A new front has emerged in this old fight as evidenced by the report “Public Loss […]
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia’s Tax Credit Program Is Profitable for the Rich
May 22, 2017
The national School Superintendents Association, which opposes the tax-based tuition subsidies because they leave less money on the table for public schools, published the report Public Loss, Private Gain, with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It describes the “double-dipping” tax benefits gained by those who donate to such programs in Georgia and eight […]
NPR: Leaked Education Budget Has Big Cuts
May 20, 2017
A bill now in Congress would expand tax-credit scholarships nationwide, creating a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for individuals and corporations. That could “undermine public education,” according to a new report by The School Superintendents Association and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. It says that, as a result of tax-credit scholarships, more than a […]
CNNMoney: Becoming a Sanctuary State Could Help California Protect Its Economy Too
May 18, 2017
Not only do California’s undocumented workers fill jobs, but they pay taxes too. In 2014, almost $3.2 billion of California’s state and local taxes came from undocumented immigrants, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington D.C.-based research group. Read more
New York Times: In Some States, Donating to Private Schools Can Earn You a Profit
May 17, 2017
AASA and the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined programs in 17 states that send more than $1 billion a year to private schools via tuition tax credits, and concluded that private schools were benefiting from a “federally sanctioned voucher tax shelter” for wealthy taxpayers. The study called it a “get-rich scheme for […]
International Business Times: How Much Do Companies Really Pay When Settling With The Government? Warren Pushes Bill That Makes It Public
May 17, 2017
While is doesn’t strive for a reform in the tax system that allows those firms to write off huge chunks of their fines, the senators’ measure, which applies to settlement agreements with executive agencies worth at least $1 million, requires the agency in question to “make publicly available in a searchable format” a list of those […]
West Virginia Metro News: West Virginia Has Miserable Company When It Comes to Budget Troubles
May 14, 2017
If there’s a bright side to West Virginia’s state budget troubles — in a misery-loves-company kind of way — it’s that plenty of other states have been having trouble too. “West Virginia is not unique this year or even in recent years in taking a little longer than usual to agree on a budget, largely […]
National Law Review: Beneficiaries of $14.4 Billion Over Last Decade, Tax Lobbyists Ready for Trump Bonanza
May 13, 2017
About 4,000 registered lobbyists work on tax issues in the nation’s capital, but spending is highly concentrated among large multinational conglomerates and trade organizations. Fifteen companies and organizations, ranging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the American Association of Retired Persons, have spent more than $2.7 billion while lobbying on tax issues since 2008, […]
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.