Recent Work by ITEP

Tax Justice is…

September 15, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer

Racial justice requires tax justice. Economic justice requires tax justice. Climate and health justice require, yes, tax justice.

State Rundown 9/11: Benefits of Progressive Taxation Getting Well-Deserved Attention

September 11, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Readers may want to start with our “What We’re Reading” section this week, which is full of good reading on how progressive taxation is needed to fund vital public services, helpful for state and local economic growth, and popular among voters as well. In that spirit, leaders in both New Jersey and New York are looking at small taxes on stock trades to help improve their budgets and tax codes. These last couple of weeks have also featured more state fiscal action than is typical this time of year, for example in North Carolina, where lawmakers decided to use federal…

Millionaire Population Swells in Blue States Despite Migration Fearmongering

September 3, 2020 • By Carl Davis

Although the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has created a slew of problems, it is now clear that a mass migration of top earners out of higher-tax blue states is not one of them.

The Rich Are Weathering the Pandemic Just Fine: Tax Them

September 3, 2020 • By Carl Davis, ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe

Reductions in critical state and local investments, including health care and education, would only exacerbate the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 and worsen racial and income inequality for years to come. Higher taxes on top earners are among the best options for addressing pandemic-related state revenue shortfalls in the coming months.

State Rundown 8/26: Progressive Revenue Ideas Featured in Many States’ Fiscal Debates

August 26, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Voters could significantly change the tax landscape through ballot measures this November regarding oil taxes in Alaska and a high-income surcharge for education funding in Arizona. Legislators are doing their part to bring progressive tax ideas to the fore as well, including a possible wealth tax in California, a millionaires tax in New Jersey, and a pied-a-terre proposal in New York. And Nebraska lawmakers reached a property tax and business tax subsidy compromise before closing out their session, but did not identify progressive revenue sources to fund it and will likely be back at the bargaining table before long.

South Strong: Racial Equity and Taxes in Southern States

August 26, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer, Meg Wiehe

Southern states have a particularly egregious record on tax equity, rooted partly in racism. Lawmakers baked some of the most egregious and anti-democratic tax policies into southern state constitutions, such as supermajority requirements to raise taxes in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana, income tax rate caps in North Carolina and Georgia, and the recent elimination of […]

Missed Opportunity: Flimsy Paper Touts Flawed Program

August 25, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer, ITEP Staff, Lorena Roque

Republicans continue to tout Opportunity Zones as their main vehicle to assist poor people, most recently with a deeply flawed report from President Trump’s White House Council of Economic Advisors and a mention from Donald Trump Jr. in his opening night convention speech. The report purports to compare—as a way of cutting poverty—tax breaks for investors vs food, cash or health insurance coverage for struggling families.

Analysis: Trump’s Proposed Capital Gains Break Almost Exclusively Benefits Top 1 Percent

August 18, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

On Aug. 13, President Trump pledged to cut the top federal income tax for capital gains to 15 percent. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that 99 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers. This is unsurprising given that only those with taxable income of nearly half a million dollars are subject to a capital gains tax rate higher than 15 percent.

Trump’s Executive Order on Social Security Payroll Taxes Is a Mess 

August 17, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

President Trump’s executive order that would supposedly allow workers to delay paying Social Security taxes, along with his related public statements, have created a situation that is bizarre even by 2020 standards.  

Action (lack thereof) on Economic Aid Reflects Longstanding Anti-Government Agenda

August 14, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer

The biggest danger we face right now is that politicians will fail to get this health crisis under control and Americans will continue to die. The second biggest danger is that elected officials will fail to help families and communities, leading to foreclosures, evictions, and impoverishment—and also torpedoing the economy. With their inaction this week, the Senate seems determined to do both. Hold on everyone, we’re in for a sickening ride.