Recent Work by ITEP

All Bets are Off: State-Sponsored Sports Betting Isn’t Worth the Risk

June 13, 2018 • By Misha Hill

Many state legislators and regulators are considering expanding state-sponsored gambling by allowing betting on major league sports games. But the revenue states could bring in isn’t worth the risk.

Lottery, Casino and other Gambling Revenue: A Fiscal Game of Chance

June 12, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

Cash-strapped, tax-averse state lawmakers continue to seek unconventional revenue-raising alternatives to the income, sales, and property taxes that form the backbone of most state tax systems. However, gambling revenues are rarely as lucrative, or as long-lasting, as supporters claim.

New Legislation Would Close Significant Offshore Loopholes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

June 6, 2018 • By Richard Phillips

One simple rule should drive the nation’s international tax policies: tax the offshore profits of American companies the same way their domestic profits are taxed. The latest legislation to approach that ideal is the Per-Country Minimum Act (H.R. 6015), from Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The DeFazio bill closes the loophole that allows corporations to use foreign tax credits to shelter profits in tax havens from U.S. taxes. No other bill addresses this.

The New International Corporate Tax Rules: Problems and Solutions

June 6, 2018 • By Steve Wamhoff

The nation’s corporate tax system has been dysfunctional for decades. Unfortunately, the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) fails to solve fundamental problems facing the corporate tax and, in some ways, makes these problems even worse.

State Rundown 6/1: Time Is Ripe for Closer Look at Intergovernmental Relations

June 1, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

This week, Virginia lawmakers overcame their budget impasse and approved an expansion of Medicaid, North Carolina's behind closed doors budget debate appears to be wrapping up, and Vermont's special session continues in the wake of the governor's vetoes of the state budget and accompanying tax bills. New research highlighted in our What We're Reading section shows that both corporate income tax cuts and business tax subsidies contribute to wider economic inequality. And the possible reconstitution of a federal commission on intergovernmental relations could not come soon enough, as other headlines this week include a state-to-local shift in school funding, governments…

ITEP’s Senior Policy Analyst Richard Phillips Remarks at Facebook Shareholders Meeting in Favor of Tax Principles Resolution

May 31, 2018 • By Richard Phillips

Read the Remarks in PDF Listen to Webcast of Shareholders Meeting (Richard’s remarks begin at 21:20) My name is Richard Phillips and I am here to present Item 8 on behalf of the AFL-CIO Office of Investments. This proposal requests that the board articulate a set of responsible global tax principles that ensure the company […]

Facebook Facing Shareholder Scrutiny for Its Offshore Tax Avoidance

May 30, 2018 • By Richard Phillips

In advance of its annual shareholders meeting on May 31, Facebook was confronted with a shareholder resolution asking it to endorse a set of principles to guide its tax policy and to ensure that such principles consider the impact of its tax strategies on local economies and public services. The resolution is a signal from a group of concerned shareholders that Facebook’s tax avoidance hurts its reputation, the communities in which it operates, and creates financial risks to the company’s shareholders.

As IRS Prepares to Act, Red-State Taxpayers Profit from Use of SALT “Workaround Credits”

May 24, 2018 • By Carl Davis

A new ITEP report explains the close parallels between the new workaround credits and existing state tax credits, including those benefiting private schools. The report comes the same day that the IRS and Treasury Department announced they would seek new regulations related to these tax credits. It notes that the SALT workarounds are emblematic of a broader weakness with the federal charitable deduction. And it cautions regulators to avoid a “narrow fix” that will only address the newest SALT workarounds (which, so far, have only been enacted in blue states) without also addressing other abuses of the deduction, which have…

New Legislation Would End Tax Incentives to Move Jobs and Profits Offshore

May 24, 2018 • By Richard Phillips

New legislation introduced today, the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act, by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) would help repair the damage to the international tax code wrought by the new Trump-GOP tax law and move toward a system where U.S. corporations can’t reap tax benefits from shifting jobs and profits offshore.

State Rundown 5/23: Special Sessions Abound Amid Budget Vetoes, Stalemates, Federal Tax Bill

May 23, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

This week the governors of Louisiana and Minnesota both vetoed budget bills, leading to another special session in Louisiana and unanswered questions in Minnesota, and Missouri legislators managed to push through a tax shift bill just before adjourning their regular session and heading right into a special session to impeach their governor. Wisconsin and Wyoming localities are both looking at ways to raise revenues as state funding drops. And our What We're Reading section contains helpful pieces on changing demographics, the effects of wealth inequality on families with children, and the impacts of the Supreme Court sports gambling and online…