Recent Work by ITEP

The Five Best Tax Ideas Coming from Governors This Year

February 22, 2023 • By Carl Davis

The word “tax” appears 97 times and counting in one recent summary of governors’ addresses to state legislators so far this year. The policy visions that governors are bringing, however, vary enormously. While there's good reason to worry about tax cuts for wealthy families and the flattening or elimination of income taxes, there are at least five great tax ideas coming directly out of governors’ offices this year.

State Rundown 2/15: Love You, Love You Not – Tax Edition

February 15, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

This week, a fresh bouquet of tax proposals was delivered by state lawmakers, but not all of them have left us with that warm, fuzzy feeling in our stomachs...

The No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act Is Needed More than Ever

February 14, 2023 • By Steve Wamhoff

The new corporate minimum tax enacted as part of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act will address some of the worst corporate tax dodging, but what else is needed? A group of Democrats have answered this question with the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act.

Biden Says the Stock Buyback Tax Should Be Higher. Here are Three Reasons Why He’s Right.

February 13, 2023 • By Joe Hughes

A higher tax on stock buybacks would reduce the tax disparity between dividends and buybacks, raise more revenue for productive public investments, and recoup some of Trump's corporate tax cuts that went to wealthy shareholders.

Higher Stock Buyback Tax Would Raise Billions by Tightening Loophole for the Wealthy

February 13, 2023 • By Joe Hughes

A higher excise tax rate on buybacks is completely reasonable. Quadrupling the rate, as the President proposes, would raise more revenue and cut into the tax advantage buybacks have over dividends. When a company uses their cash holdings to repurchase their own stock, it is an admission that they have few productive investment opportunities. The public does have productive uses for the tax revenue like infrastructure and schools that create value for the entire economy.

State Rundown 2/9: We <3 Taxes

February 9, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

The great women’s philosopher, Pat Benatar, once said “love is a battlefield,” and there’s no greater test of our love for state tax policy than following the ups and downs of state legislative sessions...

Why the States Have a Major Role to Play If We Want Tax Justice

February 9, 2023 • By Amy Hanauer

With fears of gridlock in a divided Washington, tax justice champions are building momentum in other places where there's dire need for better tax policy: the states. We can upgrade communities across the country by making 2023 a year to win tax improvements in statehouses.

State of the Union Likely to Continue Progress on Tax Justice

February 7, 2023 • By Amy Hanauer

After decades of Presidents who ran away from taxes, it’s a sea change to have a chief executive who understands that the rich should pay their fair share, extremely profitable corporations should pay their fair share, and the public sector should have revenue to invest in problems – like climate change and healthcare – that will only be solved with pathbreaking public action.

State Rundown 2/1: February Brings New (and Some Old) Tax Policy Conversations

February 1, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

Tax bills across the U.S. are winding their way through state legislatures and governors continue to set the tone for this year’s legislative sessions...

By Fighting Audit Bias, Funding for Tax Enforcement Can Advance Racial Equity

February 1, 2023 • By Jon Whiten

Black households are between 2.9 and 4.7 times more likely to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service than non-Black households. This disparity is driven in part but not wholly by a lack of resources at the IRS, which itself is driven by years of budget cuts the agency has faced.