Recent Work by ITEP

Tax Provisions in the White House Build Back Better Framework: The Good and Bad

October 28, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

The tax provisions in the Build Back Better framework released by the White House today include enormously helpful reforms but also some disappointments. The good news is that the plan would raise nearly $2 trillion over a decade from those who can afford to pay–the richest Americans and large, profitable corporations.  The bad news is that some fundamental problems with our tax code would remain unaddressed.

A Surprising Idea from the Era of Reaganomics

October 27, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

President Reagan is lionized by many for cutting taxes and government. But the story is more complicated. Reagan knee-capped regulation and much domestic spending, and early in his administration he slashed taxes in ways that drastically reduced revenue. Yet he vastly expanded military spending, so his cuts were only to things he disliked.   Less known […]

State Rundown 10/27: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice

October 27, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

The end of Spooky Season is near but that hasn’t stopped state lawmakers from adding their frightening plans into the bubbling cauldron of bad tax policy ideas...

America’s Richest Would Finally Pay Taxes on Most of Their Income Under Wyden’s Billionaires Income Tax

October 27, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

While the Ways and Means bill includes many helpful tax reforms, people like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk would still pay an effective tax rate of zero percent on most of their income if it was enacted without this change. Sen. Wyden’s proposal would finally end this injustice.

Senate Democrats’ Corporate Minimum Tax Could Address the Worst Corporate Tax Dodging

October 27, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

There is no reason corporations reporting hundreds of millions, but not billions, of dollars in profits to their shareholders should be allowed to avoid paying taxes. Nonetheless, the corporate minimum tax is a huge step forward and a valuable component of the Build Back Better plan.

Boosting Incomes and Improving Tax Equity with State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2021

October 21, 2021 • By Aidan Davis

The EITC benefits low-income people of all races and ethnicities. But it is particularly impactful in historically excluded Black and Hispanic communities where discrimination in the labor market, inequitable educational systems, and countless other inequities have relegated a disproportionate share of people to low-wage jobs.

Federal Tax Reform Would be a Step in the Right Direction for Millennials of Color

October 18, 2021 • By Brakeyshia Samms

Currently, millennials of color are worse off than their parents when it comes to wealth expectations. So, if one of the goals of federal policymakers is to reduce racial income and wealth disparities, the proposals outlined are a good start. Tax reforms included in the budget package making its way through Congress would help by boosting incomes and making raising children more affordable—two things that would help millennials of color thrive in today’s economy.

The Role of Census Data in Policy and Racial Equity

October 18, 2021 • By Emma Sifre

The Census has changed the way it asks questions in the past and can choose to do so again in the future. As the Biden administration makes data a central part of its plan to achieve greater racial equity, it has an opportunity to implement research-backed changes that will improve our understanding of race and ethnicity in the United States, and in turn, our ability to draw meaningful conclusions about how our tax laws impact tax filers of different races.

Investment Income and Racial Inequality

October 14, 2021 • By Emma Sifre, ITEP Staff, Joe Hughes

Congress has a historic opportunity to fix the way the preferential treatment of investment income widens the racial wealth gap and to strive toward a racially equitable tax code.

Limiting Tax Breaks for Capital Gains Would Mitigate the Racial Wealth Gap

October 14, 2021 • By Joe Hughes

The racial wealth and income gaps are the results of centuries of government policies favoring the accumulation of wealth among white communities while marginalizing communities of color. Policy solutions that are race-forward, meaning they remedy past and ongoing racial inequities, can also address broader social inequities.