Recent Work by ITEP

Child Tax Credit Enhancements Under the American Rescue Plan

January 26, 2021 • By Aidan Davis, Jessica Schieder

President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The president’s proposal provides a $125 billion boost in funding for the program, which would essentially double the size of the existing federal credit for households with children. Combined with existing law, the CTC provisions in Biden's plan would provide a 37.4 percent income boost to the poorest 20 percent of families with children who make $21,300 or less a year.

State Rundown 1/22: Somewhere Between a Flurry and a Blizzard of State Tax Activity So Far

January 22, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

You won’t find any images of Bernie Sanders and his mittens photoshopped into this week’s Rundown, but you will find the latest news on state fiscal debates, including proposals to generate needed funding by raising taxes on high-income households and profiting businesses in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington, as well as misguided efforts to slash taxes in Arizona, Iowa, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia. Also in the news are thoughtful improvements to targeted tax credits for families in need in Connecticut and Maryland, harmful obstacles to revenue generation proposed in Nebraska and Wyoming, and renewed hope on the…

ANALYSIS: Cash and Tax Provisions in Biden’s Economic Recovery Plan

January 15, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

The $1.9 trillion economic recovery plan, known as the American Rescue Plan, announced by President-elect Biden contains, among other provisions, expanded cash payments and changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Happy Double Take: A President Who Takes Economic Challenges Seriously

January 15, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

After a solid year of federal policy doing too little to combat staggering job loss, spiking poverty, a raging pandemic and nearly 400,000 COVID deaths, we are ready for a leader who wants to hunker down and get to work on behalf of the people. So we did a happy double take when President-elect Joe Biden outlined his economic plan last night.

State Rundown 1/14: Bad Tax Cut Ideas Prove to Be Endemic

January 14, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

As states kick off their 2021 legislative sessions, it’s clear that many governors and lawmakers are attempting to “take a mulligan” on the last year and recycle tax-slashing ideas that were already bad in 2020 and are even worse now as states try to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying downturn...On a brighter note, Illinois leaders showed they did learn from the events of 2020, passing a major criminal justice reform bill and payday loan protections intended to reduce racial inequities.

New Jersey Leads by Example with Its New Cannabis Tax

January 12, 2021 • By Carl Davis

New Jersey lawmakers passed an innovative tax design that other states debating cannabis legalization should look to for inspiration. The state officially legalized cannabis in November when voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. The amendment applied the state’s general sales tax to cannabis and allowed local governments to create their own taxes on the industry. The legislature added the most notable part of the tax structure last month with a Social Equity Excise Fee.

New Leadership Should Seize Tax Justice Mandate; Cash Payments Offer On-ramp

January 8, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

With the victory of Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Democrats now control all three branches of government. New leaders should seize this moment to create a tax code that does much more to reduce inequality and to resource long-overdue investments in climate, health, education and other essentials. Most immediately, the historic election shifts power, making it easier to deliver on the promise to increase the recently enacted $600 cash payments to $2,000 per person.

State Rundown 1/7: State Work Continues in Shadow of National Events

January 7, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

Though most people’s attention is rightly focused on events unfolding in the nation’s capital this week, state legislative debates are also underway or soon to begin in many states, including proposals to tax the rich in New York and Rhode Island, provide a boost to low-income families in California, and legalize and tax cannabis in Missouri and Rhode Island.

How the Proposed $2,000 Cash Payments Compare to the $600 Already Provided by Congress  

January 6, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

On Dec. 28, the House of Representatives passed the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help (CASH) Act of 2020, which would increase the cash payment recently provided by Congress from $600 per person to $2,000 per person, among other changes. New estimates from ITEP compare the impacts of $2,000 payments to $600 payments.

A Visual History of Sales Tax Collection at Amazon.com

December 23, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Today, Amazon is collecting state-level sales taxes on all its direct sales but it still usually fails to collect sales tax on the large volume of sales it makes through the Amazon Marketplace. This points to a broader problem in state tax enforcement that lawmakers in many states are moving quickly to address with laws and administrative action requiring tax collection by Amazon and other large online marketplaces such as Etsy and eBay.