Recent Work by ITEP
State Rundown 10/18: Ballot Initiative Efforts Being Finalized
October 18, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Ballot initiatives relating to taxes made news around the country this week, with Oregon voters to consider reversing new health care taxes, Washingtonians to vote on improving education funding, and Nebraskans to potentially vote on a state tax credit for school property taxes. Meanwhile, multiple states are finalizing their proposals to lure Amazon to build a new headquarters in their state, often through the use of massive tax subsidies. And in our "What We're Reading" section we have sobering news from Moody's Investors Service on states' struggles to fund their infrastructure and save for the next recession.
Tax Foundation Updates Its Problematic Wishlist for State Tax Policy
October 18, 2017 • By Carl Davis
This week the Tax Foundation published its 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index, or as University of Iowa economist Peter Fisher has nicknamed it, the “Waste of Time Index.”
This study explores how in 2016 Fortune 500 companies used tax haven subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes on much of their income. It reveals that tax haven use is now standard practice among the Fortune 500 and that a handful of the country’s biggest corporations benefit the most from offshore tax avoidance schemes.
State Rundown 10/13: Soda Taxes, Business Subsidies, and Gas Taxes Considered in Several States
October 13, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
A comprehensive tax study is underway in Arkansas this week as other states hone in on more specific issues. Soda taxes hit setbacks in Illinois and Michigan, business tax subsidies faced scrutiny in Iowa and Missouri, and gas tax update efforts are underway in Mississippi and North Dakota.
Middle-Income More Likely Than the Rich to Pay More Under Trump-GOP Tax Plan
October 11, 2017 • By Jenice Robinson
The Trump Administration and GOP leaders continue to wrap their multi-trillion tax cut gift to the wealthy in easily refutable rhetoric about boosting the nation’s middle class. Later today, trucks and truck drivers will serve as a backdrop for a Pennsylvania speech in which Trump is anticipated to talk about how proposed tax changes that […]
The Trump-GOP tax plan is touted as plan for the middle-class but delivers a boon to the wealthy, throws a comparative pittance to everyone else and even includes a dose of tax increases for some middle- and upper-middle-income taxpayers. The data belie the rhetoric.
State Rundown 10/4: Wildfires in Montana and Tax Cuts in Kansas Wreak Budget Havoc
October 4, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, Kansas's school funding was again ruled unconstitutionally low and unfair, while Montana lawmakers indicated they'd rather let historic wildfires burn a hole through their budget than raise revenues to meet their funding needs. Meanwhile, a struggling agricultural sector continues to cause problems for Iowa and Nebraska, but legalized recreational marijuana is bringing good economic news to both California and Nevada.
Benefits of GOP-Trump Framework Tilted Toward the Richest Taxpayers in Each State
October 4, 2017 • By Steve Wamhoff
The “tax reform framework” released by the Trump administration and Congressional Republican leaders on September 27 would affect states differently, but every state would see its richest residents grow richer if it is enacted. In all but a handful of states, at least half of the tax cuts would flow to the richest one percent of residents if the framework took effect.
Indiana’s Tax Cuts Under Mike Pence Are Not a Model for the Nation
September 29, 2017 • By Carl Davis
In announcing a new tax cut framework this week in Indianapolis that was negotiated with House and Senate leaders, President Trump claimed that “Indiana is a tremendous example of the prosperity that is unleashed when we cut taxes and set free the dreams of our citizens …. In Indiana, you have seen firsthand that cutting taxes on businesses makes your state more competitive and leads to more jobs and higher paychecks for your workers.”
State Rundown 9/28: Wisconsin Budget Finalized, Oklahoma Special Session Underway
September 28, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, Wisconsin's leaders finalized the state budget at last, while those in Oklahoma began a special session to close their state's revenue shortfall. Soda tax fights made news in Illinois and Pennsylvania. And New Jersey offered Amazon $5 billion in tax subsidies.
ITEP in the News
Dogwood: Virginia Republican to Get Big Tax Cut from Bill He Helped Pass
Los Angeles Times: Corporate Tax Breaks Are Exploding the Federal Deficit, but Who Gets the Benefits?
The New Republic: The House Republicans Getting Rich Off Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill
Newsweek: White House Press Secretary Sparks Debate Over Immigrant Health Care Costs
Axios Detroit: Experts Offer Insight on Tackling Local Poverty
ITEP Work in Action
Audio: ITEP's Spandan Marasini on Corporate Tax Avoidance and What To Do About It
JAMA Research Letter: Emergency Medicaid Spending for Undocumented Immigrants in the US
Florida Policy Institute: Challenges Ahead: What Census Data Reveals about the Wealth Gap and Uninsured Rate as Florida Braces for H.R. 1
Testimony: ITEP's Eli Byerly-Duke Discusses Oklahoma's Child Tax Credit in Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee Hearing
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Letter to Joint Committee on Taxation on Bonus Depreciation
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