Recent Work by ITEP
55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits
April 2, 2021 • By Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff
At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 tax law as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020.
Read as PDF Note: This report is adapted from written testimony submitted by Amy Hanauer before testifying in person to the Senate Budget Committee on March 25, 2021. In 2020, the pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and unemployment soared to levels not seen since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting data in […]
State Rundown 4/1: Most States Resisting Foolish Tax Cut Games That Tear Revenues Apart
April 1, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
Supporters of tax fairness and adequate funding for public needs are hoping West Virginia’s income tax elimination effort turns out to be a prank, but most states are not fooling around with such harmful policies this year. For example...
The corporate tax plan put forth on Wednesday by President Joe Biden to offset the cost of his infrastructure priorities would be the most significant corporate tax reform in a generation if enacted.
A New Look at Taxes and Race at the State and Local Levels
March 31, 2021 • By Carl Davis, ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe
A new ITEP report reveals how different taxes have very different impacts on racial equity and unveils data for two states showcasing the consequences of their contrasting tax policy choices. In short, we find that income taxes can help narrow the racial income and wealth divides while sales taxes generally make those divides worse.
Taxes and Racial Equity: An Overview of State and Local Policy Impacts
March 31, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
Historic and current injustices, both in public policy and in broader society, have resulted in vast disparities in income and wealth across race and ethnicity. Employment discrimination has denied good job opportunities to people of color. An uneven system of public education funding advantages wealthier white people and produces unequal educational outcomes. Racist policies such as redlining and discrimination in lending practices have denied countless Black families the opportunity to become homeowners or business owners, creating extraordinary differences in intergenerational wealth. These inequities have long-lasting effects that compound over time.
The Biden administration has made clear that its top priorities include a major recovery package with critical investments to boost the nation’s economy and tax increases for corporations and the wealthy. Adequately funding the IRS must be part of that agenda. It seems every week, a new study, data set or research-driven commentary reveals how […]
Looking at the Tax Code Through A Race Equity Lens Presents a Strong Case for Reforms
March 25, 2021 • By Carl Davis
An important new book from Professor Dorothy Brown at Emory University offers a timely look at the federal tax code through the lens of racial equity. The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—And How Can We Fix It uses a mix of data, legal scholarship, interviews, and personal stories to tear […]
We all need the things that the public sector provides. When corporate taxes go unpaid, the American people have less for the things that would help our communities. That means less repair of our failing infrastructure, less investment in greening our economy, less funding to help young people attend college.
Testimony to Senate Budget Committee on Ending a Rigged Tax Code: The Need To Make the Wealthiest People and Largest Corporations Pay their Fair Share of Taxes
March 25, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer
Following is testimony of ITEP Executive Director Amy Hanauer before the Senate Budget Committee to consider “Ending a Rigged Tax Code: The Need To Make the Wealthiest People and Largest Corporations Pay their Fair Share of Taxes” “Chairman Sanders and Ranking Member Graham, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this committee. My name […]
ITEP in the News
Wall Street Journal: The Economics Behind Zohran Mamdani’s Biggest Plans
Virginia Public Radio: What a “Wealth Proceeds Tax” Could Look Like in Virginia
The Nation: Texas Republicans Are Doubling Down on Banning Capital Gains Taxes
Business Insider: Baby Boomers' Property Tax Revolt
The Beacon: Missouri Gives ‘One of the Biggest Millionaire Tax Cuts’ This Year, Report Says
ITEP Work in Action
Oxfam: UNEQUAL: The Rise of a New American Oligarchy and the Agenda We Need
Americans for Tax Fairness: For Many Families, Trump-GOP Healthcare Premium Hikes Wipe Out Potential Tax Cuts
FACT Coalition: New Report Reveals U.S. Oil and Gas Companies Pay More Tax to Petrostates Than to the U.S. Government
Maine Center for Economic Policy: Missed Opportunities to Advance Tax Fairness and Create a Better State
America's Voice: Just Listen To The Experts: You Can’t Have Economic Growth Without Immigrants
Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy
ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
Subscribe to ITEP Emails
Tax research and policy news in your inbox.
Promote Fair Tax Policy
Your gift to ITEP promotes tax justice. With your help, we do research that supports taxing millionaires and billionaires, taxing big corporations and raising revenue for the things our people, our communities and our planet need.
Together, we can create a country with more economic justice, more racial justice, more climate justice… and more tax justice.