Recent Work by ITEP

How Democratic Presidential Candidates Would Raise Revenue

February 19, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

One of the biggest problems with the U.S. tax code in terms of fairness is that investment income, which mostly flows to the rich, is taxed less than the earned income that makes up all or almost all of the income that working people live on.

States Can Lead on Making the EITC Benefit More Young and Older Workers

February 18, 2020 • By Aidan Davis

The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC) lifts millions out of poverty each year, but it is not created equal for everyone. Childless workers under 25 and over 64 receive no benefit from the existing federal credit. In the absence of immediate federal action, states have led–and continue to lead–the way.

Expanding State EITCs: Age Enhancements and a Credit Increase for Workers without Children in the Home

February 18, 2020 • By Aidan Davis

For 45 years, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has benefited low- and moderate-income workers. Yet, throughout its history, the EITC has provided little or no benefit to workers without children in the home—a group that includes noncustodial parents whose children live the majority of the year with another parent.

State Rundown 2/13: What’s Trendy in State Tax Debates This Year

February 13, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

We wrote earlier this week about Trends We’re Watching in 2020, and this week’s Rundown includes news on several of those trends. Maine lawmakers are considering a refundable credit for caregivers. Efforts to tax high-income households made news in Maryland, Oregon, and Washington. Grocery taxes are receiving scrutiny in Alabama, Idaho, and Tennessee. Tax cuts or shifts are being discussed in Arizona, Nebraska, and West Virginia. And Arizona, Maryland, and Nevada continue to seek funding solutions for K-12 education as Alaska and Virginia do the same for transportation infrastructure.

2021 Trump Budget Continues 40-Year Trickle-Down Economic Agenda

February 12, 2020 • By Jenice Robinson

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may as well have been called the Promise for Austerity Later Act.

ITEP Testimony In Support of H.B. 222 Income Tax Rates – Capital Gains Income & H.B. 256 Maryland Estate Tax – Unified Credit

February 12, 2020 • By Kamolika Das

Read as PDF Testimony of Kamolika Das, State Policy Analyst, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Submitted to: Ways and Means Committee, Maryland General Assembly Thank you for this opportunity to submit testimony. My name is Kamolika Das, and I represent the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that […]

Hearing Witness: Trump Administration Giving Tax Breaks Not Allowed by Law

February 12, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

The Treasury Department, tasked with issuing regulations to implement the hastily drafted Trump-GOP tax law, is concocting new tax breaks that are not provided in the law. This is the short version of what we learned while watching Tuesday’s House Ways and Means Committee hearing on “The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax.”

Trends We’re Watching in 2020 

February 12, 2020 • By ITEP Staff

State lawmakers have plenty to keep them busy on the tax policy front in 2020. Encouraging trends we’re watching this year include opportunities to enact and enhance refundable tax credits and increase the tax contributions of high-income households, each of which would improve tax equity and help to reduce income inequality.

Why Today’s Congressional Hearing on “The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax” Is Imperative

February 11, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

The United States is collecting a historically low level of tax revenue from corporations. In 2018, corporate tax revenue as a share of gross domestic product (the nation’s economic output) dipped to 1 percent and reached just 1.1 percent in 2019. The only other times in the last 40 years that tax collections were this […]

President Trump’s 2021 Budget: Promises Made, Promises Broken

February 10, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff

President Trump has kept only one of his promises--his pledge to lower taxes for corporations and their investors.   The budget plan he released today again breaks his promise to reject cuts in Medicaid that would affect millions of people. His budget once again fails to eliminate the deficit, much the less the national debt, during his presidency as he promised. It cuts trillions from safety net programs and student aid programs despite his pledge to stand for forgotten Americans.