Recent Work by ITEP
Targeted Relief and the American Rescue Plan in Five Charts
March 10, 2021 • By Stephanie Clegg
The American Rescue Plan Act is unique in that it employs the tax code to deliver relief to those struggling most. These five charts provide a glimpse of how the plan helps families across the income spectrum and also targets economic relief to low- and moderate-income families in the form of cash payments and expansions to the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.
Estimates of Cash Payment and Tax Credit Provisions in American Rescue Plan
March 7, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff
Update: On March 10, the House passed the Senate version of the COVID relief bill, called the American Rescue Plan Act, and sent it to President Biden for his signature. This means that the Senate version of the bill described herein is the final legislation enacted into law.
10 states to have gone two decades or more without a gas tax increase.
Many state governments are struggling to repair and expand their transportation infrastructure because they are attempting to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with fixed-rate gasoline taxes that are rarely increased.
Although lawmakers in some states continue to push for expensive and regressive tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy households, worsen economic and racial injustices, and undermine funding for key public services, this week’s state fiscal news is dominated by efforts to do the opposite. Leaders in the District of Columbia, Maine, Nebraska, New York, Washington, and Wyoming made recent headlines by advocating for policies that improve on upside-down tax codes and generate needed funding for shared priorities like schools and health care.
As the Senate takes up the COVID relief bill passed by the House last week, Senate Democrats have proposed to lower the income level at which the $1,400 cash payments would be phased out. New estimates from ITEP demonstrate that, for most people, the change would make no difference.
With the onslaught of news about billionaire wealth soaring while low- and moderate-income families have trouble making ends meet, a federal wealth tax makes good economic and fiscal sense—and the public supports it. One poll found that 64 percent of respondents favor the idea, including a majority of Republicans.
The federal minimum wage is almost comically low. At $7.25 an hour, it is 29 percent below its inflation-adjusted peak in the 1960s. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty. A solid 61 percent of voters support the idea. A majority of lawmakers in both the House and Senate support at least some version of a minimum wage hike. The popular $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes a measure that would raise the minimum wage over the next few years to $15. So, what is the problem? And why are lawmakers now…
An Unequal Recession Will Breed Unequal Recovery Without Bold Investments
February 26, 2021 • By Stephanie Clegg
Without bold investments now, experts predict a longer, more unequal recovery. President Biden's American Rescue Plan, the framework for legislation expected to pass this week in the House, would boost economic well-being for those whose livelihoods were most affected by the pandemic-induced economic crisis.
State Rundown 2/24: State Tax Debates Quickly Thaw Out with Warmer Weather
February 24, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
Warming temperatures in many parts of the country this week seem to be thawing out state fiscal debates as well. Multiple states including California, Colorado, Maryland, and New Jersey saw movement on efforts to improve tax credits for low- and middle-income families. Mississippi House lawmakers suddenly rushed through a dangerous bill to eliminate the state’s income tax and shift those taxes onto lower-income households. Montana senators also approved regressive income tax cuts and South Dakota legislators advanced an anti-tax constitutional amendment, while lawmakers in Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Washington made progress on improving the progressivity of their tax codes. Gas…
ITEP in the News
Houston Chronicle: The Biggest Winners in Texas from Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
Newsweek: Did Republicans Just Kill the Filibuster?
AP News: Ohio Budget Bill With Browns Stadium Funding, LGBTQ+ Restrictions Heads to Gov. Mike DeWine
CNBC: How the Republican Megabill Targets Immigrant Finances
The Wall Street Journal: The Tax Bill Would Deliver a Big Win for Private Schools – and Investors
ITEP Work in Action
Center for Law and Social Policy: Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill Sacrifices the Well-Being of Working Families to Give Tax Breaks to Billionaires
CBPP: Missouri Poised to Enact Appalling Giveaway to its Richest Residents
NC Budget & Tax Center: It’s Time for a Millionaire’s Tax in North Carolina
Nebraska Legislature: Poverty Elimination Action Plan
Video: ITEP's Amy Hanauer Discusses 2025 Tax Bill on Power at Work Blogcast
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