Recent Work by ITEP

Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive

July 17, 2024 • By Emma Sifre, Marco Guzman

Undocumented immigrants who work and pay taxes but don't have a valid Social Security number for either themselves or their children are excluded from federal EITC and CTC benefits. Fortunately, several states have stepped in to ensure undocumented immigrants are not left behind by the gaps in the federal EITC and CTC. State lawmakers should continue to ensure that immigrants who are otherwise eligible for these tax credits receive them.

Corporate Tax Breaks Contribute to Income and Racial Inequality and Shift Resources to Foreign Investors

July 16, 2024 • By Emma Sifre, Steve Wamhoff

Corporate tax cuts and corporate tax avoidance worsen income and racial inequality in our country. Most of the benefits flow to foreign investors and the richest 20% of Americans.

State Rundown 7/11: Mansion Taxes in the Spotlight

July 11, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

While Massachusetts legislators recently dropped a real estate transfer tax from their major housing bill, the District of Columbia council sent a budget to the mayor that includes a mansion tax that would increase the tax rate on properties valued over $2.5 million. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Jersey and South Carolina continue to, respectively, raise and reduce needed revenues.

Tax the Wealthy and Reject Austerity for a More Just and Thriving Democracy

July 1, 2024 • By Amy Hanauer

Two of the last five presidents won office over the objection of the majority of the people; California, with 65 times more people, has the same voting power in the U.S Senate as Wyoming; and the U.S. Supreme Court just permitted South Carolina lawmakers to dilute Black votes in drawing districts. These obvious flaws undermine our claim to be a strong democracy. One less appreciated but similarly undemocratic trend is our extreme inequality that supercharges the power and wealth of corporations and the uber-rich, weakens what the public sector can deliver, and often feeds on itself.

Reality Interrupts the Fever Dream of Income Tax Elimination in Kentucky

June 27, 2024 • By Eli Byerly-Duke

Keeping the Kentucky income tax on a march to zero would mean tax hikes for working families or widespread cuts to education, health care, and other public services. Reversing course is certainly the wiser course of action.

Who Benefits and Who Pays: How Corporate Tax Breaks Drive Inequality

June 27, 2024 • By Emma Sifre, Steve Wamhoff

Corporate tax breaks and corporate tax avoidance significantly contribute to income and racial inequality and largely benefit foreign investors.

State Rundown 6/26: Summer Special Sessions Are In, Anti-tax Ballot Initiatives Out

June 26, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

Many families are heading out on summer vacations, but legislators across the country are heading back to statehouses for special sessions...

States Should Enact, Expand Mansion Taxes to Advance Fairness and Shared Prosperity

June 26, 2024 • By Carl Davis, Erika Frankel

The report was produced in partnership with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-authored by CBPP’s Deputy Director of State Policy Research Samantha Waxman.[1] Click here to use our State Mansion Tax Estimator A historically large share of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, a reality glaring in […]

Property Tax Circuit Breakers Can Help States Create More Equitable Tax Codes

June 24, 2024 • By Brakeyshia Samms

Well-designed property tax circuit breaker programs allow states to reduce the impact that property taxes have on the upside-down tilt of their tax codes.

SCOTUS Rejects Expansion of Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts, Leaves Broader Tax Questions for Another Day

June 20, 2024 • By Steve Wamhoff

The Supreme Court matters, for tax fairness as for every other part of our lives. Whether or not we ever have a government that taxes billionaires as much as it taxes the rest of us will depend on how the Supreme Court rules in the future and who appoints justices to the Court.