Recent Work by ITEP

Walmart’s Minimum Wage Hike: Did the Tax System Make Them Do It?

January 12, 2018 • By Matthew Gardner

The Walmart corporation announced this week that it will increase its minimum wage to $11 an hour, in a move that the company attributed to the major corporate tax cut signed into law by President Trump last month. The $300 million the company will spend on the wage boost is just a fraction of the more than $2 billion a year ITEP estimates Walmart could net from the corporate tax rate cuts that took effect January 1—but even so, the company felt the need to make the wage boost more affordable by simultaneously closing 63 Sam’s Club stores and laying…

Using Private Debt Collectors as a Substitute for the IRS Is a Bad Deal

January 11, 2018 • By Matthew Gardner

If President Trump is indeed a deal maker, then he should dismantle Congress’s decision to rely on private debt collectors as a substitute for the Internal Revenue Service. This decision, championed for years by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is a lousy deal for everyone--American taxpayers, the federal government--except private debt collectors.

New Tax Breaks for Craft Beer Are a Drop in the Barrel: 76 percent of Tax Bill’s Beer Tax Cut Goes to a Handful of the Biggest Producers

January 10, 2018 • By Matthew Gardner

The $1.5 trillion tax cut that took effect on Jan.1 was never really going to be about small businesses, despite President Trump’s transparently false claims to the contrary. However, one economic sector still appears happy, for now, to hoist a mug to Congress’s successful sleight of hand: craft breweries.

New Tax Law Allows Affluent Taxpayers to Write off K-12 Private School Tuition

January 9, 2018 • By Matthew Gardner

Taxpayers are still learning about the intended and unintended consequences of the major tax overhaul that Republican leaders ramrodded through late last year. One little-noted provision subverts state laws that prohibit the use of public dollars for private schools by allowing taxpayers to use 529 plans to pay for K-12 tuition. Until last year, the […]

State Rundown 1/4: Will States Show Resolve in a Challenging Year?

January 4, 2018 • By ITEP Staff

This week marks the beginning of what is bound to be a wild year for state tax and budget debates. Essentially every state is already working to sort through the complicated ramifications of the federal tax cuts passed in December, including Kansas, Michigan, Montana, and New Jersey highlighted below. These and other states will have important decisions to make about how to incorporate, reject, or mitigate various aspects of the new federal law, and will need considerable resolve to improve state tax policy to be more fair and more adequate – even as federal taxes become less so.

Corporate America, You Just Got a $650 Billion Tax Cut! What Are You Going to Do Next?

December 22, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner

While many Fortune 500 CEO’s likely had to restrain themselves from preemptively shouting “we’re going to Disneyland” in an homage to the Disney Corporation’s trademark ad spot involving the winner of each year’s Super Bowl, it’s pretty understandable that several of them—including known tax avoiders AT&T, Boeing, Comcast and Wells Fargo—would preemptively make grandiose promises that they will reserve part of their tax cuts for the little people who made it all possible.

State Rundown 12/20: The Days Get Longer from Here

December 20, 2017 • By ITEP Staff

These have been dark days for those who care about tax justice and public investments, but with the Winter Solstice this week and many states diving into their legislative sessions in January, longer days (and long work days) are soon to come! Governors and legislators are already proposing or hinting at their 2018 tax and budget plans in Alaska, California, Iowa, Maryland, and Washington. And transportation investments are getting strong support in Missouri, Oregon, and Virginia.

Final Tax Bill Hits Parents of College Students Harder than Other Taxpayers

December 19, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff

While many provisions targeting higher education in previous versions of the tax plan were eventually dropped, little thought has been given to how the bill still raises taxes on parents at the time they are trying to pay for college tuition.

The Trump-GOP’s Big Giveaway to Multinational Corporations

December 19, 2017 • By Richard Phillips

The tax bill just approved by Congress was a golden opportunity to solve these problems for good—but turned out to be a colossal missed opportunity. Instead of addressing the hundreds of billions in lost federal tax revenue due to offshore tax avoidance schemes, the Trump-GOP tax bill would forgive most of the taxes owed on the profits held offshore right now and open the floodgates to even more offshore profit-shifting in the future.

Corker Claims Provisions Benefiting Him Could Not Have Changed His Vote Because He Never Read the Bill

December 18, 2017 • By Matthew Gardner

Many Republicans who had previously claimed to be deficit hawks have been cheerfully supportive of major tax-cutting legislation as it has moved forward this fall. But one Republican Senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee, has taken a defiant stance on the issue, insisting that “passing off increased debt to future generations” would be a deal-breaker for him. When the Senate passed its version of the tax plan last week, Corker was the only Republican to vote No.