Matthew Gardner
Matt Gardner is a senior fellow at ITEP where he has worked since 1998. He previously served as ITEP’s executive director from 2006 to 2016. Matt’s work focuses on federal, state and local tax systems, with a particular emphasis on the impact of tax policies on low- and moderate-income taxpayers. He uses ITEP’s microsimulation model to produce economic projections and analyses on the effects of current and proposed federal and state tax and budget policies.
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media mention March 22, 2017 Kansas City Star: Who would argue taxes with H&R Block? This guy, but only a little
Who would argue taxes with H&R Block? Matt Gardner would, but only a little. Gardner was the lead author of a recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic… -
media mention March 22, 2017 Palm Beach Post: NextEra Energy disputes report saying it paid no income taxes
The study, The 35 Percent Corporate Tax Myth conducted by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C., examined eight years of data on federal income taxes… -
report March 17, 2017 Affordable Care Act Repeal Includes a $31 Billion Tax Cut for a Handful of the Wealthiest Taxpayers: 50-State Breakdown
Congressional Republicans have proposed legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including rolling back a number of tax changes that were enacted to pay for the ACA’s health care expansions. Among these tax changes are two targeted income tax increases that took effect in 2013, each of which apply only to a small number of the wealthiest Americans: the net investment tax and additional Medicare tax. Repealing these two taxes would cost over $31 billion a year if implemented in tax year 2016, and 85 percent of the benefit from repealing these taxes would go to the best off 1 percent of Americans nationwide.
This analysis includes a 50-state breakdown of these impacts.
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media mention March 13, 2017 CNBC: Tax policy expert: The 35% corporate rate is a myth, so cutting it won’t bring overseas money back
Don’t expect big companies to bring profits back from overseas in response to a U.S. corporate tax cut, said Matthew Gardner of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The… -
media mention March 9, 2017 New York Times: U.S. Corporate Taxes Explained
This New York Times Facebook video features ITEP Senior Fellow Matthew Gardner explaining how profitable Fortune 500 companies exploit loopholes in the tax system to avoid paying the statutory corporate… -
media mention March 9, 2017 The Street: Corporate Tax Cuts Could Add 15% to S&P 500
A new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that 258 consistently-profitable Fortune 500 companies paid an effective federal income tax rate of 21.2% over an… -
media mention March 9, 2017 New York Times: Profitable Companies, No Taxes: Here’s How They Did It
Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington,… -
report March 9, 2017 The 35 Percent Corporate Tax Myth
Profitable corporations are subject to a 35 percent federal income tax rate on their U.S. profits. But many corporations pay far less, or nothing at all, because of the many tax loopholes and special breaks they enjoy. This report documents just how successful many Fortune 500 corporations have been at using loopholes and special breaks over the past eight years. As lawmakers look to reform the corporate tax code, this report shows that the focus of any overhaul should be on closing loopholes rather than on cutting tax rates.
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report February 22, 2017 Regressive and Loophole-Ridden: Issues with the House GOP Border Adjustment Tax Proposal
In the summer of 2016, House Republicans released a blueprint for tax reform that is likely to be used as the starting point for major tax legislation in 2017.[1] One of the most radical provisions is a proposal to shift the corporate tax code from a residence-based to a destination-based system through applying a border adjustment on exports and imports. This proposal has major flaws that would make it a challenge to implement. Further, it is inherently regressive, rife with loopholes and would violate international agreements.
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media mention January 12, 2017 CNN: Trump’s Tangled Web of Businesses
“In fact, as with most businesses, most of Trump’s are registered in Delaware, known for its business-friendly courts and tax policies, but also the lack of disclosure requirements, according to… -
media mention December 20, 2016 Rising Up with Sonali: How Corporations Have Benefitted From Trump’s Tax Law
A new report by the Institute on Taxation Economic Policy examined corporate tax avoidance in the first year that the tax law took effect. The results are the opposite of… -
media mention December 14, 2016 Christian Science Monitor: The peril and promise of Trump’s approach to saving jobs
““There’s a crying need for federal oversight” of state economic incentives, Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, writes in an email. “It’s basically a… -
media mention November 23, 2016 The Guardian: Trump’s tax plan: massive cuts for the 1% will usher ‘era of dynastic wealth’
“‘Listening to Trump’s rhetoric, most Americans probably don’t realise at all the impact of Trump’s tax plan,’ Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy… -
media mention November 14, 2016 Mic: Here’s exactly how Donald Trump could hurt the middle class — and how to fight back
“‘There was never any real backing for his argument that he was proposing populist tax reform,’ said Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at nonpartisan nonprofit Institute of Policy and Taxation.… -
media mention November 8, 2016 Forbes: Top 100 S&P Companies Averaged 25% In Income Taxes Actually Paid
“I spoke with two of the four experts that WalletHub consulted. Being accounting professors, they knew that the income tax expense on financial statements and the amount actually paid are… -
media mention October 25, 2016 Observer-Reporter: Tax loopholes
“‘It’s emblematic of the way most people feel about the tax system,’ said Matt Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research… -
media mention October 25, 2016 Bloomberg BNA: Thousands of Subsidiaries Go Missing From Bank SEC Filings
“Matt Gardner, executive director with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told Bloomberg BNA that rules governing materiality ‘are neither stringent nor precise,’ and that banks are realizing they… -
report October 4, 2016 Offshore Shell Games 2016
This study explores how in 2015 Fortune 500 companies used tax haven subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes on much of their income. It reveals that tax haven use is now standard practice among the Fortune 500 and that a handful of the country’s wealthiest corporations benefit the most from this tax avoidance scheme.
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report April 15, 2015 Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2015)
This report was updated February 2016 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information… -
report January 30, 2015 Who Pays? (Fourth Edition)
Major tax overhauls are on the agenda in a record number of states, and “Who Pays?” documents in state-by-state detail the precise distribution of state income taxes, sales and excise… -
report March 19, 2014 90 Reasons We Need State Corporate Tax Reform
As states struggle with tough budget decisions about funding essential public services, profitable Fortunate 500 companies are paying little or nothing in state income taxes thanks to copious loopholes, lavish giveaways and crafty accounting, a new study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy reveals.
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report February 25, 2014 The Sorry State of Corporate Taxes
Many of America’s Most Profitable Corporations Pay Little or No Federal Income Taxes; Multinationals Pay Higher Rates Abroad Than in the U.S.
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report July 10, 2013 Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions (2013)
In the public debates over federal immigration reform, much has been made of the argument that undocumented immigrants would be a drain on federal, state and local government resources if granted legal status under reform. But it is also true that the 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States are already taxpayers, and that their local, state and federal tax contributions would increase under reform.
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report April 25, 2012 How Federal Tax Reform Can Help or Hurt State and Local Governments
Federal tax reform can affect state and local taxes in several ways. The federal government can create, repeal or change tax expenditures in a way that is passed on to… -
report December 7, 2011 Corporate Tax Dodging In the Fifty States, 2008-2010
In October, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley suggested that gradually repealing the state’s corporate income tax should be a priority for lawmakers in 2012. Haley’s idea was alarming, but hardly…