-
blog
August 22, 2017
Inaccuracies Pile Up During Speaker Ryan’s Town Hall Meeting
On Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan participated in a live-broadcast town hall meeting in his district in Wisconsin where he discussed tax reform, among other issues. One could credit Ryan for holding such a meeting, but sadly, anyone wishing to learn about the rationale for Ryan’s ideas on taxes would have been disappointed.
-
blog
August 17, 2017
Context Is Everything
Today, the economic climate is starkly different, but it seems GOP leaders are relying on messaging and luck to push through the biggest tax package since 1986. The White House, Republican leaders and anti-tax advocates all have been toeing the same erroneous line: their plans to cut individual and corporate taxes will benefit middle class families and grow the economy. This is, of course, baloney.
-
report
August 17, 2017
Nearly Half of Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Go to People Making More than $1 Million Annually
A tiny fraction of the U.S. population (one-half of one percent) earns more than $1 million annually. But in 2018 this elite group would receive 48.8 percent of the tax cuts proposed by the Trump administration. A much larger group, 44.6 percent of Americans, earn less than $45,000, but would receive just 4.4 percent of the tax cuts.
-
blog
August 10, 2017
The Many Reasons for the Seattle Income Tax
A month ago, the Seattle City Council passed an income tax measure, which has garnered a lot of attention as well as volumes of supportive… -
blog
August 9, 2017
State Rundown 8/9: And Then There Were Three
This week, Rhode Island lawmakers agreed on a budget, leaving only three states – Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – without complete budgets. Texas, however, remains… -
blog
August 9, 2017
It’s a Fact: Voucher Tax Credits Offer Profits for Some “Donors”
In nine states, tax rewards gained by donating to fund private K-12 vouchers are so oversized that “donors” can turn a profit. This is the shocking but true finding of a pair of studies released by ITEP over the last year.
-
blog
August 4, 2017
How to Think About the Problem of Corporate Offshore Cash: Lessons from Microsoft
For a corporation with deeply American roots, Microsoft seems remarkably unable to turn a profit here. Against all odds, the Redmond, Washington-based company continues to claim that virtually all its earnings are in foreign countries. Microsoft’s latest annual report, released earlier this week, shows that over the past two years, the company enjoyed worldwide income of almost $43 billion. It claims to have earned just 0.3 percent of that—$128 million—in the United States.
-
blog
August 4, 2017
Trump Administration May Make Corporate Inversions Great Again
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump called out companies engaging in corporate inversions saying that one proposed inversion was “disgusting” and that “politicians should be ashamed” for allowing it to happen. Despite this rhetoric, the Trump Administration is considering rolling back critical anti-inversion rules as part of its broad regulatory review of recently issued Treasury Department regulations.
-
August 4, 2017
Comment Letter to Treasury on Earnings Stripping Regulations
The following letter was submitted to U.S. Treasury as per their request for comment in Notice 2017–38 on Section 385 regulations.
-
blog
August 2, 2017
State Rundown 8/2: Legislative Tax Debates Wind Down as Ballot Initiative Efforts Ramp Up
Budget deliberations continue in earnest this week in Alaska, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. In South Dakota and Utah, the focus is on gearing up for ballot initiative efforts to raise needed revenue, though be sure to read about legislators nullifying voter-approved initiatives in Maine and elsewhere in our “what we’re reading” section.
