ITEP – Page 122 – Informing tax policy debate nationwide

blog November 14, 2017
The Bottom 40 Percent Has Grown Poorer, So Why Are Tax Cut Plans Focused on the Rich and Corporations?

The bottom line is that the rich and corporations are doing fine. We don’t need legislative solutions that fix non-existent problems. Only in a world of alternative facts does the top 0.2 percent of estates need to be exempt from the estate tax, for example.
blog November 14, 2017
Shopping for a Tax Haven: How Nike and Apple Accelerated Their Tax Avoidance Strategies, according to the Paradise Papers

A year and a half after the release of the Panama Papers, a new set of data leaks, the Paradise Papersreleased by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) provides important new information on the tax dodging of wealthy individuals as well as multinational corporations.
blog November 14, 2017
House Tax Plan Offers an Exceptionally Bad Deal for California, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland

An ITEP analysis reveals that four states would see their residents pay more in aggregate federal personal income taxes under the House’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While some individual taxpayers in every state would face a tax increase, only California, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey would see such large increases that their residents’ overall personal income tax payments rise when compared to current law.
blog November 13, 2017
House Tax Bill Would Put Property Tax Deduction Out of Reach for Most Households
The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a bill that would reduce federal revenues by roughly $1.5 trillion over the next…
blog November 9, 2017
Flawed Data from House Leadership Attempts to Hide Tax Hikes Under Proposal

In a story published yesterday evening, Politico reported that House leaders have been “working to create customized data models” to show lawmakers that their constituents will not face a tax increase under the tax bill being debated in the House. On this point, House leaders have taken on an impossible task.
blog November 8, 2017
State Rundown 11/8: Online Sales Tax Fight and Tax Subsidy Absurdity Go National

Internet sales tax fairness efforts gained momentum this week as most states joined together to encourage the US Supreme Court to allow them to collect taxes on online sales. Meanwhile, Montana lawmakers will enter special session next week to plug their revenue shortfall, Mississippi’s (self-inflicted) revenue crunch is reaching unprecedented severity, and misguided corporate tax subsidies got mainstream attention from HBO’s John Oliver and Rolling Stone.
blog November 8, 2017
House Tax Plan Would Make Offshore Tax Avoidance Substantially Worse

The Sunday release of the Paradise Papers has once again brought the issue of offshore tax avoidance to the forefront of public discussion. The papers expose the complex structures that companies such as Apple and Nike have pursued in recent years to pay little to nothing in taxes on their offshore earnings.

Yet even as these revelations make headlines, House Republicans are moving forward with major tax legislation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that would reward the worst tax avoiders and make it even easier for multinational companies to avoid taxes.
report November 6, 2017
Analysis of the House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was introduced on Nov. 2 in the House of Representatives, would raise taxes on some Americans and cut taxes on others while also providing significant savings to foreign investors.
blog November 6, 2017
House Tax Bill Would Reserve Charitable Giving Subsidies for a Small Subset of Wealthier Households

In the tax policy framework released in September, President Trump and Congressional leadership insisted that their proposal would retain the tax incentive for donating to charity because doing so helps “accomplish important goals that strengthen civil society, as opposed to dependence on government.” Now that the House has released a more detailed proposal, it is finally possible to evaluate exactly how their plans would impact the incentive to donate to charity.
report November 5, 2017
American Corporations Tell IRS that 61 Percent of Their Offshore Profits Are in 10 Tax Havens

Recent revelations that a Bermuda law firm helped facilitate offshore tax avoidance has heightened awareness of the vast amount of income and wealth flowing into tax and secrecy havens worldwide. The countries through which this firm helped funnel global elites’ assets also act as tax havens for multinational corporations. Recently released data from the Internal Revenue Service show that U.S. corporations claim that 61 percent of their foreign subsidiaries’ pretax worldwide income is being earned in 10 tiny tax haven countries.