Recent Work by ITEP

White House Incredibly Still Believes Tax Cuts Are the Answer to America’s Problems

June 2, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

White House officials continue to discuss tax cuts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Wamhoff provides a roundup of these terrible ideas that would do little to boost investment or reach those who need it most.

Depreciation Breaks Have Saved 20 Major Corporations $26.5 Billion Over Past Two Years

June 2, 2020 • By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff

The Trump administration and its congressional allies have proposed making permanent the expensing provision in the Trump-GOP tax law. Expensing is the most extreme form of accelerated depreciation, which allows businesses to deduct the cost of purchasing equipment more quickly than it wears out. But expensing and other types of accelerated depreciation already account for a very large share of corporate tax breaks and allows many companies to pay nothing at all.

Trump-GOP Tax Law Encourages Companies to Move Jobs Offshore–and New Tax Cuts Won’t Change That 

June 2, 2020 • By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff

New tax cuts to incentivize bringing jobs back to the United States will fail. No new tax provisions can be more generous than the zero percent rate the 2017 law provides for many offshore profits or the loopholes that allow corporations to shift profits to countries with minimal or no corporate income taxes.   

Trump Administration Stops Pretending to Care About the Economy with Its Capital Gains Tax Proposal

May 28, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

Proponents of capital gains tax breaks have always offered a weak argument that they encourage investment and thereby grow the economy. But the Trump administration is now floating a temporary capital gains tax break, which is supported by no argument at all. It would only reward investments made in the past while doing nothing to encourage new investment.

State Rundown 5/27: Some States Finally Talking Revenue Solutions to Revenue Crisis

May 27, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

This week the immense scale and uneven distribution of economic and health damage from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to come into focus, hand in hand with greater clarity around pandemic-related revenue losses threatening state and local revenues and the priorities—such as health care, education, and public safety—they fund. Officials in many states, including Ohio and Tennessee, nonetheless rushed to declare their unwillingness to be part of any solution that includes raising the tax contributions of their highest-income residents. On the brighter side, some leaders are willing to do just that, for example through progressive tax increases proposed in New York…

What Biden Means By No Tax Increases on Anyone “Making Under $400,000”

May 22, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

Presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Friday that under his proposals, no one with income below $400,000 would pay higher taxes than they do now. Does this make sense? It is true that Congress and the next president have many options to raise trillions of dollars from people who have incomes even higher than that. […]

State Rundown 5/20: State Revenue Crisis Getting Clearer…and Scarier

May 20, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

State policymakers are navigating incredibly uncertain waters these days as they attempt to get a firmer grasp on the scale of their revenue crises, identify painful budget cuts they may have to make in response, and look for ways to raise tax revenues coming from the households and corporations still bringing in large incomes and profits amid the pandemic—all while hoping that additional federal aid and greater flexibility in how they can use federal CARES Act funds will help relieve some of these difficult decisions.

The HEROES Act Would Correct CARES Act Business Tax Mistakes

May 20, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

The Health Economic Recovery and Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act includes important changes to business tax provisions in the CARES Act, the most recent COVID-19 legislation enacted by Congress and the president. The House-passed plan would undo CARES Act changes that make it easy for businesses to claim losses to reduce or avoid all taxes. […]

A Dimon Memo Will Buy You a Dime’s Worth of Social Change

May 20, 2020 • By Matthew Gardner

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in a May 19 memo to employees, outlines steps the company is taking to help its customers, small businesses and communities stay afloat. The part of the public relations memo that has received the most attention, however, is Dimon’s call for “rebuilding a more inclusive economy.” “It is my fervent […]

Major Cash Payment and Tax Provisions in the HEROES Act

May 15, 2020 • By ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe, Steve Wamhoff

The major provisions for cash payments and tax changes in the House Democrats’ Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act would provide nearly $600 billion to individuals and households and average benefits of more than $3,000 to families in all but the highest income levels.