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 February 7, 2020 The Daily Mail: Amazon paid only $162M in US federal taxes in 2019 after making $13BILLION in profit – an effective rate of just one per cent
Taxes collected on behalf of the government for payroll and from online sales from third-party vendors don’t count as taxes paid. The expert wrote in a post made for the Institute… -
media mention February 6, 2020 International Business Times: Amazon Only Paid 1.2% Taxes In 2019 Despite $13 Billion Profit
Yahoo Finance, however, pointed that with the exception of the federal income tax, the listed amounts aren’t actually taxes Amazon paid to the federal government. There’s “no meaningful” connection between Amazon… -
media mention February 4, 2020 CNBC: Amazon had to pay federal income taxes for the first time since 2016 — here’s how much
However, paying something like payroll tax is hardly something to boast about, according to Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, or ITEP, a… -
media mention February 4, 2020 The Verge: Amazon finally owes federal income taxes this year — but we still don’t know how much it’s paying
t’s still, however, a low number compared to Amazon’s total profits. “It’s not fair to say [Amazon] paid nothing” on federal taxes anymore, says Matthew Gardner of the Institute on… -
blog January 31, 2020 From 0% to 1.2%: Amazon Lauds Its Minuscule Effective Federal Income Tax Rate
If we focus on the taxes the company paid in 2019, we see an effective federal income tax rate of just 1.2 percent. And since the company enjoyed federal income tax rebates in 2017 and 2018, this means that over the last three years Amazon has paid zero on $29 billion of U.S. pretax income.
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media mention January 31, 2020 Seattle Times: Amazon touts 2019 federal taxes, but the picture is complicated
So was Amazon’s 2019 U.S. federal income tax bill $1 billion or $162 million? The discrepancy stems from different financial statements companies prepare for tax authorities and investors, which recognize… -
media mention January 31, 2020 Gizmodo: Amazon’s Tax Claims Are Riddled with BS
According to Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, these numbers are, at best, misleading. “You look at the different types of taxes that… -
media mention January 27, 2020 Scroll.in: At the centre of the US government and Facebook’s tax dispute is the company’s Dublin office
If the IRS prevails in court, it could cost Facebook up to $9 billion more in taxes, based on estimates in the company’s securities filings. It would be a notable… -
blog January 24, 2020 GOP Legacy on IRS Administration: Auditing Mississippi, not Microsoft
Money doesn’t buy happiness—but it can buy immunity from the reach of Uncle Sam. The IRS is outgunned in cases against corporate giants because that’s how Republican leaders want it to be. They have systematically assaulted the agency’s enforcement capacity through decades of funding cuts. Instead of saving money, these cuts have cost billions: each dollar spent on the IRS results in several dollars of tax revenue collected.
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media mention January 23, 2020 ProPublica: Who’s Afraid of the IRS? Not Facebook
If the IRS prevails in court, it could cost Facebook up to $9 billion more in taxes, based on estimates in the company’s securities filings. It would be a notable… -
blog January 14, 2020 White House Council of Economic Advisers Crows about Lowest-Income Americans Being Infinitesimally “Wealthier”
When the White House Council of Economic Advisors last week tweeted that the poorest 50 percent of Americans’ wealth is growing 3 times faster than the wealth of the top 1 percent, we were skeptical. As it turns out, the CEA’s tweet is a reminder that the poorest 50 percent wealth grew twice as fast during Barack Obama’s second term than it has under Trump, but to this day remains far below its pre-recession share and significantly less than what it was 30 years ago.
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blog January 7, 2020 Guilty, Not GILTI: Unclear Whether Corps Continue to Lower Their Tax Bills Via Tax Haven Abuse
President Trump and GOP lawmakers often cited corporations’ abuse of tax havens, e.g. shifting profits offshore to avoid taxes, as justification for dramatically lowering the federal corporate tax rate under… -
media mention January 3, 2020 Public News Service: Report: Many Big Companies Pay Nothing Under New Tax Law
HELENA, Mont. – During the first year of the Trump administration’s new tax law, 91 Fortune 500 companies didn’t pay a dime in federal income tax. That’s according to a new… -
media mention January 3, 2020 Mother Jones: Chevron Made $4.5 Billion in 2018. So Why Did the IRS Give Them a Refund?
The largest chunk of Chevron’s $1.1 billion in tax breaks came in the form of tax deferral, a longstanding tax instrument that enables businesses to postpone paying taxes until a… -
media mention January 3, 2020 Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Industry Had Highest Federal Income Tax Rates in 2018
A big driver of the higher taxes in healthcare is a doomed Affordable Care Act fee on health insurers. The amount each insurer pays is based on premium revenue. President… -
media mention January 2, 2020 Workday Minnesota: Dozens of Big Businesses Avoided Corporate Taxes in 2018
Roque said corporate tax cuts and loopholes have been enacted by Congresses and presidents of both major parties for the past two decades. Champions of the new tax code argued… -
media mention December 30, 2019 Counter Point: Trump-GOP Tax Law Ushers in Lowest Corporate Tax Rates in 30 Years
Matthew Gardner reveals that “Fortune 500 companies Avoided $73.9 Billion in Tax Under First Year of Trump Tax Law.” Listen -
media mention December 23, 2019 Bloomberg Law: Small Retailers Face More Marketplace Taxes This Holiday Season
Tax responsibilities tied to those sales will be noticeable this year: 28 states have added taxes on out-of-state sellers since last holiday season due to last year’s Wayfair decision, according… -
media mention December 23, 2019 Public News Service: Corporate Tax Avoidance Continues Under New Code
“These companies aren’t simply following the law; in many cases, they wrote the law,” Gardner said. “These corporate tax cuts were enacted because of a very aggressive lobbying strategy by… -
media mention December 19, 2019 WTSP: Impeachment 101: Answering Your Questions on the Impeachment Process
QUESTION: How much money is the impeachment process costing taxpayers? ANSWER: We don’t know. There have been a handful of efforts to try and calculate the cost to taxpayers, but… -
media mention December 18, 2019 Denton Daily: Amazon Will Pay $0 in Federal Taxes This Year — and It’s Partially Thanks to Trump
One reason for Amazon‘s nonexistent federal tax bill is the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Congress enacted in 2017, which lowered the statutory corporate tax rate from 35 percent… -
media mention December 18, 2019 Common Dreams: New Report Details How Trump Tax Scam ‘Delivered Big Benefits to the Rich and Corporations But Nearly None for Working Families’
Still Terrible at Two was published just a day after the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a new report which found that more than 90 U.S. corporations on the… -
media mention December 16, 2019 Washington Examiner: Amazon, Netflix, and Starbucks Paid $0 in 2018 Federal Income Taxes
A new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that many of America’s largest corporations paid $0 in federal income taxes under the first year of President Trump’s tax… -
media mention December 16, 2019 Yahoo Finance: 91 Profitable Fortune 500 Companies Paid $0 in Taxes in 2018 under Trump’s Tax Law
Matthew Gardner, senior fellow at ITEP and lead author of the report says that what companies doing is “entirely legal”, but that they can avoid paying taxes thanks to tax… -
media mention December 16, 2019 Common Dreams: Amazon, Chevron, and Starbucks Among 91 Fortune 500 Corporations That Paid $0 in Federal Income Taxes in 2018: Report
More than 90 large, profitable corporations on the Fortune 500 list effectively did not pay a penny in federal income taxes in 2018, according to a new report published Monday by the…