Recent Work by ITEP

Boeing “CARES” A Lot About its Shareholders—But What about the Rest of Us?

April 1, 2020 • By Matthew Gardner

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.

Adding Flexibility to Make the EITC Work During the Pandemic

April 1, 2020 • By Aidan Davis

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.

House Democrats’ Suggestion of Retroactively Repealing SALT Cap is a Poor Emergency Relief Measure 

March 31, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

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 The 2017 Trump-GOP tax law includes many provisions that should be repealed.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.

Congress “CARES” for Wealthy with COVID-19 Tax Policy Provisions

March 31, 2020 • By Matthew Gardner

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.

State Rundown 3/26: Pandemic’s Health and Fiscal Fallout Continues to Grow

March 26, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

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.

Tax Rebates in the Federal CARES Act

March 25, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

Data available for download Congress passed and the president signed a $2 trillion plan that includes $150 billion in fiscal aid to states, $150 billion in health care spending, large expansions of unemployment compensation and more. These measures are clearly needed as the economy teeters on the brink. Though the bill improves on flaws in […]

How the Tax Rebate in the Senate’s Bill Compares to Other Proposals 

March 25, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

Congress is poised to pass a $2 trillion plan that includes $150 billion in fiscal aid to states, $150 billion in health care spending, large expansions of unemployment compensation and more. These measures are clearly needed as the economy teeters on the brink. As the Senate votes on its stimulus/COVID19 bill, one provision ITEP has deeper insights on is the payments to households in the form of tax rebates. ITEP has provided several analyses over the past few days showing that the rebate in the current bill is an improvement over a previous GOP proposal but still falls short of…

COVID-19 and the Case for Race-Forward Economic Policy Prescriptions

March 24, 2020 • By Jenice Robinson

Unconscious bias runs deep. Legislative proposals to assuage the exploding economic crisis are advancing and changing quickly, but initial GOP proposals are consistent with the nation’s long history of ostensibly race-neutral policies that are discriminatory in their outcomes.

NEW ANALYSIS: House Democratic Stimulus Bill Explained

March 24, 2020 • By ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe, Steve Wamhoff

Breaking ITEP analysis explains how a newly-introduced House Democrats' proposal—far more comprehensive and better targeted than the recently failed GOP Senate bill—combines overdue expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit with direct rebates to reach workers and families across all income groups.

New State-by-State Estimates: Modified Senate GOP Stimulus Bill Still Falls Short

March 23, 2020 • By ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe, Steve Wamhoff

The GOP Senate stimulus bill voted down yesterday is a slight improvement over the first GOP proposal released Thursday, but it still fails to prioritize workers and families or provide fast relief to those who need it most.