ITEP – Page 70 – Informing tax policy debate nationwide

blog April 6, 2020
Trump to Restaurant Owners: “Let Them Eat Skyboxes”

Last week, President Trump destroyed everyone’s coronavirus press conference bingo card by announcing that a conversation he had with celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck inspired him to propose restoring a corporate tax deduction for business entertainment expenses. Trump’s own signature tax plan repealed this break two years ago.
blog April 6, 2020
Returning to the Economic Status Quo After COVID-19 Crisis Should Not Be an Option

It will take immense imagination, unyielding political will and a fundamental reordering of our policy priorities to adequately address the problems of this moment and unrig our economy.
blog April 3, 2020
State Rundown 4/3: States Welcome Federal Aid, Seek Further Solutions

States and families got good news this week as Congress came together to pass major aid to help during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. But that bright spot came amid an onslaught of very difficult news about the public health crisis and the economic and fiscal fallout accompanying it. This week’s Rundown brings you the latest on these developments and state and local responses to them.
blog April 2, 2020
Federal Relief Bill Doesn't Go Far Enough: Q&A with Meg Wiehe

The final version of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act enacted last week included rebate provisions that will reach most low-, moderate- and middle-income adults and children, but not everyone. Meg Wiehe sits down for a Q&A to discuss who benefits from the rebate provision, who is excluded and how states can respond to support communities.
blog April 2, 2020
Sales Taxes and Social Distancing: State and Local Governments May Face Their Steepest Sales Tax Decline Ever

One pressing question is what will an economic downturn in which consumers are anxious, facing job loss, or simply spending their time sheltering in place and not spending money in typical ways, mean for states’ ability to raise revenue?
blog April 1, 2020
Boeing “CARES” A Lot About its Shareholders—But What about the Rest of Us?

The gigantic Coronavirus-related tax and spending bill enacted last week, the so-called “CARES Act,” sets aside $17 billion in loans for “businesses critical to maintaining national security.” It’s generally understood that the bill’s authors want much, if not all, of this $17 billion to go to a single company: Boeing. So it behooves us to ask whether Boeing benefits America and its economy in ways that merit this largesse.
blog April 1, 2020
Adding Flexibility to Make the EITC Work During the Pandemic

Temporarily modifying the structure of the EITC to reflect the realities of our current economy could provide a vital lifeline to low-income workers who have seen their incomes disappear during this crisis. What follows are a few such ideas which could be implemented at either the federal or state levels, or both.
blog March 31, 2020
House Democrats’ Suggestion of Retroactively Repealing SALT Cap is a Poor Emergency Relief Measure

The House Democrats have plenty of ideas to help workers and families and boost the economy, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent idea to repeal the cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) is not one of them. The 2017 Trump-GOP tax law includes many provisions that should be repealed. Unfortunately, Congressional Democrats have long made it clear that they want to start by repealing the $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which is one of the law’s few provisions that restrict tax breaks for the rich.
blog March 31, 2020
Congress “CARES” for Wealthy with COVID-19 Tax Policy Provisions

At a time when record numbers of Americans are facing unemployment, state and local governments are facing a perfect storm of growing public investment needs and vanishing tax revenues, and small business owners are struggling to avoid even more layoffs, lavishing tax breaks on the top 1 percent in this way shouldn’t be in anyone’s top 20 list of needed tax changes.
blog March 26, 2020
State Rundown 3/26: Pandemic’s Health and Fiscal Fallout Continues to Grow

This week’s Rundown brings you the most useful reading and resources about how states are affected by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: landing pages for the most up-to-date lists of state policy responses; ITEP’s own materials on state policy options and the federal response bills; insights on how a race-forward approach can improve these efforts at all levels; updates on state fiscal troubles and legislative postponements; and the developing picture of which states and communities could be affected more than others.