In recent days, news that House tax writers will not seek to cut the top personal income tax rate below 39.6 percent on taxable income above $1 million has led some to question whether the newest iteration of the Trump-GOP tax plan will provide a major windfall to the wealthy—a fact that has so far been widely understood. Unfortunately, this second-guessing is unnecessary.
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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blog November 1, 2017 House Tax Plan Will Keep 39.6% Top Rate, But That Won’t Matter for Most Types of Income Going to the Rich
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blog October 31, 2017 Trump Administration Might Propose a Long-Overdue Gas Tax Increase
The Trump Administration is reportedly considering backing a 7-cent increase in the federal gas tax next year to pay for improvements in the nation’s infrastructure. While most of the tax policy ideas coming from the administration in recent weeks would undermine the nation’s ability to fund core public services, this one is a notable exception.
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media mention October 27, 2017 Fortune: You’re Better off in a State with High Income Tax
Following is an excerpt written by Carl Davis, ITEP’s research director, and published in Fortune. Many lawmakers in Congress and in statehouses around the country peddle the same supply-side theory… -
media mention October 26, 2017 International Business Times: Do Lower Taxes Spur Economic Growth? What Happened In No-Tax States
Researchers at the non-partisan and non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy compared the nine states without personal income taxes, which include Florida, Texas and Washington, to the nine states… -
report October 26, 2017 Trickle-Down Dries Up: States without personal income taxes lag behind states with the highest top tax rates
Lawmakers who support reducing or eliminating state personal income taxes typically claim that doing so will spur economic growth. Often, this claim is accompanied by the assertion that states without income taxes are booming, and that their success could be replicated by any state that abandons its income tax. To help evaluate these arguments, this study compares the economic performance of the nine states without broad-based personal income taxes to their mirror opposites—the nine states levying the highest top marginal personal income tax rates throughout the last decade.
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blog October 18, 2017 Tax Foundation Updates Its Problematic Wishlist for State Tax Policy
This week the Tax Foundation published its 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index, or as University of Iowa economist Peter Fisher has nicknamed it, the “Waste of Time Index.”
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media mention October 17, 2017 Reveal: The Fight for Public Education
In this radio interview, ITEP research director Carl Davis discusses the downfalls of using tax credits for private education. Carl is featured around the 8:40 mark. Read more -
media mention October 17, 2017 Washington Examiner: Indiana’s Tax Cuts Haven’t Led to Higher Paychecks
Carl Davis for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy: In announcing a tax cut framework in Indianapolis that was negotiated with House and Senate leaders, President Trump said, “Indiana… -
blog September 29, 2017 Indiana’s Tax Cuts Under Mike Pence Are Not a Model for the Nation
In announcing a new tax cut framework this week in Indianapolis that was negotiated with House and Senate leaders, President Trump claimed that “Indiana is a tremendous example of the prosperity that is unleashed when we cut taxes and set free the dreams of our citizens …. In Indiana, you have seen firsthand that cutting taxes on businesses makes your state more competitive and leads to more jobs and higher paychecks for your workers.”
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blog August 30, 2017 Private School Voucher Credits Offer a Windfall to Wealthy Investors in Some States
State lawmakers who want to send public dollars to private schools have devised a shrewd tactic for getting around political and constitutional obstacles that make it difficult to do so.… -
media mention August 23, 2017 The Epoch Times: Trump Targets Amazon Over Sales Tax and Retail Jobs
More than half of items sold on Amazon are coming through third-party retailers, according to a CNBC report. These retailers can benefit from Amazon’s facilities or payment system, but they… -
media mention August 17, 2017 New York Times: Does Amazon Pay Taxes?
“If this was five years ago, the tweet would be making a very compelling point,” said Carl Davis, the research director of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.… -
media mention August 11, 2017 New York Times: Questions Emerge Over What Wisconsin Must Give for Foxconn Plant
Mr. Walker, who has made promises of job creation a centerpiece of his two terms in office, has pushed lawmakers to move quickly in approving the bill, which would offer… -
media mention August 11, 2017 AP: School Voucher Programs Raise Questions about Transparency and Accountability
The AAA Scholarship Foundation Inc. which runs programs in Nevada and five other states, says it doesn’t give tax advice but has, when asked, shared an IRS memo on the… -
blog August 9, 2017 It’s a Fact: Voucher Tax Credits Offer Profits for Some “Donors”
In nine states, tax rewards gained by donating to fund private K-12 vouchers are so oversized that “donors” can turn a profit. This is the shocking but true finding of a pair of studies released by ITEP over the last year.
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media mention July 28, 2017 The New York Times: Wisconsin’s Lavish Lure for Foxconn: $3 Billion in Tax Subsidies
Big companies like Foxconn possess leverage to extract concessions from state governments that smaller firms cannot, said Carl Davis, research director at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy… -
media mention July 14, 2017 Richmond Times-Dispatch: Legislator Proposes Exempting Poorest Virginia Localities from Some Taxes
Carl Davis, research director at the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says state taxes don’t play that large a role in economic development decisions. Companies search for an… -
media mention July 6, 2017 Bloomberg BNA: Private School Tax Credits Transform Charitable Incentive Into Profit Scheme
Public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars. School tuition vouchers allow taxpayer dollars to fund private education by paying for private school tuition. Tuition tax credits work in a similar… -
media mention June 30, 2017 USA Today: Gas Taxes Rise in Seven States As Travelers Hit the Road for July 4 Holiday
The urge to hit the road comes as the national average gas price is 4 cents per gallon cheaper than at the same time last year, at $2.28 per gallon,… -
blog June 29, 2017 CBO Just Shot Down Trump’s Economic Forecast
Last month, the Trump Administration released a budget proposal that relies on unrealistic projections of economic growth to create the illusion that it will balance the budget by 2027. By making the federal budget outlook appear more favorable than it actually is, the administration is seeking to bolster its case for enacting a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut. Fortunately, Congress has its own independent forecaster that just chimed in with a more rational assessment of the economy.
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report June 29, 2017 Trump Budget Uses Unrealistic Economic Forecast to Tee Up Tax Cuts
The Trump Administration recently released its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018. The administration claims that its proposals would reduce the deficit in nearly every year over the next decade before eventually achieving a balanced budget in 2027, but the assumptions it uses to reach this conclusion are deeply flawed. This report explains these flaws and their consequences for the debate over major federal tax changes.
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blog June 28, 2017 Gas Taxes Will Rise in 7 States to Fund Transportation Improvements
Summer gas prices are at their lowest level in twelve years, which makes right now a sensible time to ask drivers to pay a little more toward improving the transportation infrastructure they use every day. Seven states will be doing this on Saturday, July 1 when they raise their gasoline tax rates. At the same time, two states will be implementing small gas tax rate cuts.
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brief June 28, 2017 How Long Has It Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
Many state governments are struggling to repair and expand their transportation infrastructure because they are attempting to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with fixed-rate gasoline taxes that are rarely increased.
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media mention June 26, 2017 Scripps News Service: Money Diverted from Public Schools?
All the programs basically work this way: Individuals and businesses make cash or stock donations to scholarship granting organizations. The organizations award scholarships to qualifying families with K-12 students, primarily… -
blog June 22, 2017 Explaining our Analysis of Washington State’s Highly Regressive Tax Code
Supporters of creating a local personal income tax in Seattle are rightly concerned about the lopsided nature of their state’s tax code. In a 50-state study titled Who Pays?, produced using our microsimulation tax model, we found that Washington State’s tax system is the most regressive in the nation.