Carl Davis
Carl Davis is the research director at ITEP, where he has worked since 2008. Carl works on a wide range of issues related to both state and federal tax policy. He has advised policymakers, researchers, and advocates on tax policy issues in nearly every state. Much of his work relates to the link between taxes and economic growth, and the shortcomings of dynamic scoring and supply-side economic theories.
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media mention January 18, 2018 NPR’s All Things Considered: More States Turning To Toll Roads To Raise Cash For Infrastructure
“I think the states over time have lost hope in the federal government enacting a real, long-term infrastructure package” says Carl Davis, research director for the non-partisan Institute on Taxation… -
media mention January 14, 2018 Charleston Post-Courier: An Abuse of Charitable Giving?
Under the new law, some wealthy South Carolinians may actually make a 37 percent profit, risk-free, by making charitable contributions to Exceptional SC, a nonprofit fund created by the state Legislature to… -
media mention January 12, 2018 New York Magazine: California, New Jersey, and New York Designing Workarounds to Blunt GOP Tax Bill Impact
In a memo released in 2011, the Internal Revenue Service gave its blessing for taxpayers to claim federal deductions on those gifts. The combination of a 100 percent state-tax credit… -
media mention January 9, 2018 The Fiscal Times: More States Are Turning to Toll Roads
Nineteen states have waited a decade or more since last increasing their gas tax rates. Another 13 states have gone at least two decades, and three states — Alaska, Oklahoma and… -
media mention December 29, 2017 NPR: This Tax Loophole for Wealthy Donors Just Got Bigger
One of the changes, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, which advocates for a “fair and sustainable” tax system, allows far more wealthy donors in 10 states… -
media mention December 22, 2017 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Tax Changes Could Help Parochial Schools
As a result, a preferred private school gets funding, which it must use to offset tuition for low-income students. The donor loses almost nothing. There are certain tax situations in… -
blog December 14, 2017 Private Schools Donors Likely to Win Big from Expanded Loophole in Tax Bill
For years, private schools around the country have been making an unusual pitch to prospective donors: give us your money, and you’ll get so many state and federal tax breaks in return that you may end up turning a profit. Under tax legislation being considered in Congress right now, that pitch is about to become even more persuasive.
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report December 14, 2017 Tax Bill Would Increase Abuse of Charitable Giving Deduction, with Private K-12 Schools as the Biggest Winners
In its rush to pass a major rewrite of the tax code before year’s end, Congress appears likely to enact a “tax reform” that creates, or expands, a significant number of tax loopholes.[1] One such loophole would reward some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals with a strategy for padding their own bank accounts by “donating” to support private K-12 schools. While a similar loophole exists under current law, its size and scope would be dramatically expanded by the legislation working its way through Congress.[2]
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media mention December 8, 2017 New Republic: Tax Reform to Own the Libs
According to analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California would pay $17 billion more in taxes by 2027, while Texas and… -
media mention December 8, 2017 Reuters: Millions Would Stop Bothering with Mortgage, Charity and Property Tax Deductions
Millions of households would no longer benefit from federal tax deductions for charity donations, mortgage interest payments and property tax under Republican tax plans being debated in the U.S. Congress,… -
blog December 7, 2017 Charitable, Property Tax, and Mortgage Interest Deductions Would Be Wiped Out for Two-Thirds of Current Claimants Under Congressional Tax Plans
In the ongoing debate over major federal tax legislation, there is significant focus on how House and Senate bills would eliminate the deduction for state income tax payments and cap the deduction for property taxes at $10,000 per year. At the same time, tax writers have retained deductions for charitable gifts and mortgage interest with what appear to be comparatively minor changes, at least at first glance.
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blog December 1, 2017 Senate “Pass-Through” Deduction Threatens to Undermine State Tax Systems
The U.S. Senate will soon be voting on a bill that would, among other things, allow so-called “pass-through” businesses to pay significantly lower taxes than their employees…If the Senate “pass-through” deduction is enacted into law, dozens of states will be forced to confront the possibility of reduced revenue collections, more regressive tax codes, and increased tax avoidance.
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blog December 1, 2017 Senator Collins Pushes Hard for a Property Tax Deduction that Very Few of Her Constituents Will Be Able to Claim
Adding a property tax deduction back into the Senate bill may sound like a compromise, but a new analysis performed using the ITEP Microsimulation Tax Model reveals that the amount of state and local taxes deducted by Maine residents would plummet by 90 percent under this change, from $2.58 billion to just $262 million in 2019. In short, this change is much more symbolic than substantive.
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blog November 30, 2017 A Corporate Tax Cut Would Benefit Coastal Investors, Not the Heartland
The centerpiece of the House and Senate tax plans is a major tax cut for profitable corporations that the American public does not want, and that will overwhelmingly benefit a small number of wealthy investors living in traditionally “blue” states. New ITEP research shows that poorer states such as West Virginia, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Tennessee would be largely left behind by a corporate tax cut, while the lion’s share of the benefits would remain with a relatively small number of wealthy investors who tend to be concentrated in larger cities near the nation’s coasts.
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media mention November 28, 2017 The Atlantic: The Big Blue Losers in the GOP Tax Plan
Between the mortgage and SALT limits, the bills hit many upper-middle-class taxpayers, especially in blue states. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy calculates that by 2027 the Senate bill… -
media mention November 21, 2017 Bloomberg: Should the Upper Middle Class Take the Biggest Tax Hit?
And maybe they should. Higher taxes on the upper middle class make sense to some liberal tax experts—but only if the proceeds are used the right way, they said, for… -
media mention November 17, 2017 Associated Press: Derided by Critics, Trickle-Down Economics Gets Another Try
In the view of Carl Davis, research director at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the track record for supply-side economics “is not particularly inspiring.” In 1981, in… -
media mention November 16, 2017 The Washington Post (Morning Plum): Tax Plan Favors Trump States
The House GOP tax plan nixes most state and local deductions, hitting higher-taxed states harder. Jim Tankersley reports on a new analysis by Carl Davis of the Institute on Taxation… -
media mention November 16, 2017 New York Times: Republican Tax Plan Puts Corporations over People
The plans also differ on their treatment of state and local tax deductions. The Senate would kill them entirely. The House would maintain them only for property taxes and cap… -
blog November 14, 2017 House Tax Plan Offers an Exceptionally Bad Deal for California, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland
An ITEP analysis reveals that four states would see their residents pay more in aggregate federal personal income taxes under the House’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While some individual taxpayers in every state would face a tax increase, only California, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey would see such large increases that their residents’ overall personal income tax payments rise when compared to current law.
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blog November 9, 2017 Flawed Data from House Leadership Attempts to Hide Tax Hikes Under Proposal
In a story published yesterday evening, Politico reported that House leaders have been “working to create customized data models” to show lawmakers that their constituents will not face a tax increase under the tax bill being debated in the House. On this point, House leaders have taken on an impossible task.
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blog November 6, 2017 House Tax Bill Would Reserve Charitable Giving Subsidies for a Small Subset of Wealthier Households
In the tax policy framework released in September, President Trump and Congressional leadership insisted that their proposal would retain the tax incentive for donating to charity because doing so helps “accomplish important goals that strengthen civil society, as opposed to dependence on government.” Now that the House has released a more detailed proposal, it is finally possible to evaluate exactly how their plans would impact the incentive to donate to charity.
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blog November 5, 2017 Mortgage Interest Deduction Wiped Out for 7 in 10 Current Claimants Under House Tax Plan
Throughout the ongoing federal tax debate, President Trump and Congressional leadership have insisted that while many tax deductions and credits would be wiped out, the mortgage interest deduction would be spared from the chopping block. But while the proposal recently unveiled by House leaders retains the mortgage interest deduction on paper, the actual substance of this policy would be nearly unrecognizable to today’s homeowners.
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media mention November 3, 2017 Marketplace: Key Question on The GOP Tax Plan: What’s Your ZIP code?
ITEP Research Director Carl Davis talks to Marketplace about the state and local tax deduction. Read more or listen -
blog November 3, 2017 House Plan Slashes SALT Deductions by 88%, Even with $10,000 Property Tax Deduction
One of the most contentious issues in the current federal tax debate is over what to do with the deduction for state and local taxes paid (the SALT deduction). Since the deduction’s benefits vary by state, the House proposal to drastically scale it back has led to an outcry among lawmakers from states such as New York, New Jersey, and California whose constituents would be impacted most dramatically by the change. In an attempt to address those concerns, House leadership agreed to partially retain the deduction for real estate property taxes paid (up to $10,000 per year) while still repealing the deductions for income and sales taxes.