• report  March 13, 2020

    Trump’s Proposed Payroll Tax Elimination

    President Trump has proposed to eliminate payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare through the end of the year. ITEP estimates that this would cost $843 billion and 65 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 20 percent of taxpayers, as illustrated in the table below.

  • blog  March 13, 2020

    An Overload of Pie Graphs and Metaphors for Pi Day

    For Pi Day, we’re doubling down on the pie metaphor to reiterate the compelling case for progressive tax policies to ensure more of us have an opportunity to share a slice of this nation’s economic pie.

  • blog  March 11, 2020

    State Rundown 3/11: Georgia Bucks Trend of Cautious Policymaking Amid Crises

    With all eyes on the potential effects of the oil price war and COVID-19 coronavirus on lives, communities, and economies, Georgia House lawmakers this week crammed through a regressive and costly tax cut for the rich with essentially no debate, information, or transparency. Most states are proceeding much more responsibly, assessing the ramifications for their service provision needs and revenues to fund those needs.

  •  March 11, 2020

    ITEP Testimony on the Illinois Earned Income Credit

    Read as PDF Testimony of Lisa Christensen Gee, Director of Special Initiatives, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Submitted to: Illinois House Revenue Committee Chairman…
  • blog  March 10, 2020

    Trump’s Proposed Payroll Tax Cut Is Not the Right Answer

    The Trump administration is floating a cut in the Social Security payroll tax as a measure to counteract a potential economic downturn related to the COVID-19 virus. It should go without saying that a public health crisis requires government interventions that have nothing to do with taxes. But even if policymakers want to find ways to stimulate the economy beyond solving the health crisis, the payroll tax cut is not likely to be very effective.

  • blog  March 10, 2020

    COVID-19 Is No Excuse for Airline Industry or Any Other Corporate Tax Cut

    Trump administration officials have reportedly floated the idea of including tax breaks for the airline industry in its package of COVID-19-related stimulus proposals, which would allow airline companies to defer income taxes into the future. This is an odd policy choice since most of the biggest airlines are already using deferral to zero out most or all of their federal income taxes on billions of dollars in profits.

  • blog  March 10, 2020

    Taxes in a Time of Coronavirus 

    Some problems can only be solved when public officials have the resources to act. Today’s public health crisis is that kind of problem. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s deep tax cuts leave our health infrastructure knee-capped, just when we need it most.

  • blog  March 10, 2020

    State and Local Cannabis Tax Revenue Jumps 33%, Surpassing $1.9 Billion in 2019

    Excise and sales taxes on cannabis raised more than $1.9 billion in 2019. This represents a jump of nearly half a billion dollars, or 33 percent, compared to a year earlier. These are the findings of an ITEP analysis of newly released tax revenue data from the eight states where legal sales of adult-use cannabis took place last year. 

  • blog  March 9, 2020

    TurboTax Is a Case Study for Why the IRS Should Administer Free File Program

    TurboTax and other online tax preparation companies rely on complicating tax filing and limiting competition as part of their business model.

  • blog  March 6, 2020

    Talking Taxes in Alaska

    Alaska’s tax system underwent major changes in the 1970s when oil was found at Prudhoe Bay. Lawmakers repealed the state’s personal income tax (making Alaska the only state ever to do so) and began balancing the state’s budget primarily with oil tax and royalty revenue instead. But as oil prices and production levels have declined, a yawning gap has opened between state revenues and the cost of providing vital public services.