The priorities in this shutdown drama couldn’t be clearer. House Republicans once again threaten the financial security of the millions of Americans to exact cuts to programs like Head Start, the Social Security Administration, and the EPA – all while seeking unaffordable tax cuts for multinational corporations, the wealthy, and foreign investors.
Joe Hughes
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blog September 27, 2023 Government Shutdown is Rooted in Hypocrisy, Dysfunction, and, As Always, Tax Cuts for the Rich
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blog September 12, 2023 Lapse of Expanded Child Tax Credit Led to Unprecedented Rise in Child Poverty
The new Census data should provide both concern and optimism for lawmakers. The steep rise in child poverty is an inexcusable tragedy. But it shows that child poverty is avoidable when Congress makes the decision to make tax policy for those who need the hand up rather than for the rich and powerful.
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report August 29, 2023 Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Advance Racial Equity in the Tax Code
Expanding the federal Child Tax Credit to 2021 levels would help nearly 60 million children next year. It would help the lowest-income children the most and would particularly help children and families of color.
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blog August 14, 2023 Celebrating One Year Since the Landmark Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act was a course correction from decades of tax cuts that primarily went to the richest Americans and left the rest of us with budget shortfalls that conservative lawmakers now seek to plug with cuts to Social Security and Medicare. For the first time in generations we are finally asking those who have benefited the most from our economy to contribute back.
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report July 11, 2023 ‘Fair Share Act’ Would Strengthen Medicare and Social Security Taxes
The Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act would reform the taxes that Americans pay to finance these two important programs so that the richest 2 percent of Americans pay these taxes on most of their income the way that middle-class taxpayers already do.
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brief June 13, 2023 Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Help Nearly 60 Million Kids, Especially Those in Families with Low Incomes
Restoring the federal Child Tax Credit to 2021 levels would benefit nearly 60 million children. Three-quarters of the benefit would go to families in the bottom three quintiles, consisting of households with less than $86,600 in income.
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media mention June 12, 2023 Video: ITEP’s Joe Hughes Talks Child Tax Credit Expansion on Scripps News Live
ITEP Federal Policy Analyst Joe Hughes joined Scripps News Live to talk about the American Family Act, which would permanently expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to 2021 levels, helping… -
media mention June 9, 2023 Los Angeles Times: As IRS Funding Shrinks, California’s Wealthiest Can Breathe a Bit Easier
California millionaires and billionaires who were set to face the full auditing firepower of a revamped Internal Revenue Service can breathe a bit easier, thanks to congressional Republicans. Read more. -
blog May 9, 2023 The House’s Debt Ceiling Smoke Screen: The GOP Budget Plan Gives Cover for Tax Cuts for the Rich
While it isn’t reasonable in the first place for Congress to debate whether it will pay the bills it has already incurred, some of the same lawmakers who are holding the economy hostage to exact budget cuts have decided to make the conversation even more irrational by proposing to increase deficits with tax cuts that enrich the already rich.
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report May 4, 2023 Extending Temporary Provisions of the 2017 Trump Tax Law: National and State-by-State Estimates
The push by Congressional Republicans to make the provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent would cost nearly $300 billion in the first year and deliver the bulk of the tax benefits to the wealthiest Americans.
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blog May 3, 2023 The GOP is Finally Ready to Raise Taxes. (Or, When a Tax Hike is Not a Tax Hike.)
House Republicans recently voted to rescind the green energy and electric vehicle tax credits that were enacted last Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This newfound willingness to raise taxes stands in contrast to the recent position of almost the entire House Republican Caucus.
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blog April 18, 2023 Why is My Refund So Much Smaller This Year? Only the Good (Tax Credits) Die Young.
This year millions of American families are finding that their refunds are much smaller than last year—or that they even owe taxes back to the government—because of the expiration of the expanded Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit that were in effect in 2021. The lapse of the expanded credits affects a majority of the middle class, but lower-income households are particularly likely to feel the sting.
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blog April 3, 2023 It’s the Revenue Shortfall, Stupid
Lawmakers have repeatedly stepped on the same rake of slashing tax rates and expecting revenues to magically go up. Now they want middle-class Americans to be the ones who get hit in the face. The con is getting tired. If Congress wants to reel in the debt then it’s time to raise taxes on the wealthy.
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media mention March 23, 2023 Deseret News: Biden Wants to ‘Tax the Rich.’ Does a Tax Hike Make Sense?
The U.S. had about 720 billionaires at the start of his presidency, President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union speech. “Now we have about 1,000,” he said.… -
report March 16, 2023 Effects of President Biden’s Proposal to Expand the Child Tax Credit
In his latest budget proposal, President Biden proposes enhancing the Child Tax Credit (CTC) based on the temporary credit that was in effect for 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. In this report we analyze how that proposal would help children and families.
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blog March 8, 2023 President’s Budget Would Strengthen Medicare Taxes Paid by the Wealthy
As part of his new budget plan, President Biden is asking the richest Americans to pay a little bit more to strengthen Medicare. The proposal includes raising taxes related to Medicare very slightly for the highest earners and closing a loophole that some wealthy individuals use to avoid Medicare taxes altogether.
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media mention February 13, 2023 Yahoo Finance: Stock Buybacks Have Surged in the Weeks Since Washington Began Taxing Them
A new excise tax on stock buybacks went into effect Jan. 1 and has been followed by what seems to be an unexpected development: corporate share repurchase announcements have exploded.… -
blog February 13, 2023 Biden Says the Stock Buyback Tax Should Be Higher. Here are Three Reasons Why He’s Right.
A higher tax on stock buybacks would reduce the tax disparity between dividends and buybacks, raise more revenue for productive public investments, and recoup some of Trump’s corporate tax cuts that went to wealthy shareholders.
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brief February 13, 2023 Higher Stock Buyback Tax Would Raise Billions by Tightening Loophole for the Wealthy
A higher excise tax rate on buybacks is completely reasonable. Quadrupling the rate, as the President proposes, would raise more revenue and cut into the tax advantage buybacks have over dividends. When a company uses their cash holdings to repurchase their own stock, it is an admission that they have few productive investment opportunities. The public does have productive uses for the tax revenue like infrastructure and schools that create value for the entire economy.
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blog January 10, 2023 New House Rules: Low Taxes for the Wealthy on Cruise Control, Tax Credits for Working People Face Roadblock
Two new rules will hamper the new Congress’s ability to pass tax legislation in the next two years. One requires a supermajority for legislation that increases income tax rates, and the other requires cuts to mandatory spending programs—like Medicare, Social Security, veterans’ benefits or unemployment insurance—in exchange for changes to the Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit that would mostly help low-income families.
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blog December 21, 2022 The European Union Moves Forward on Global Minimum Tax. Time for the U.S. to Follow.
The European Union has reached unanimous agreement to implement a global minimum tax beginning in 2024. With the EU and UK fully on board, it’s time for Congress to follow suit and implement the plan negotiated by the Biden administration. Doing so would improve the corporate tax system here and around the world while making the United States economy stronger and more competitive.
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blog December 20, 2022 The Tax Deal That Wasn’t: Congress Decides Corporate Tax Cuts Are Too Expensive if it Means Also Helping Children
Congressional leaders announced their long-awaited omnibus spending package which will fund the government through September 2023. The good news: the bill does not include needless corporate tax giveaways. The bad news: it also leaves out any expansion of the child tax credit.
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media mention November 23, 2022 CNBC: As a Key Deadline Looms to Claim 2021 Tax Credits, Republicans Complain of ‘Suspicious Timing’ of IRS Letters
Certain tax credits were made temporarily more generous in 2021. For certain people, there still may be time to claim the money, which may add up to thousands of dollars… -
blog November 3, 2022 Key Republicans Say Negligible Decline in Economic Growth Outweighs Enormous Drop in Child Poverty
The expanded Child Tax Credit reduced child poverty dramatically and immediately. There is no debate or murkiness on this. Some lawmakers have decided that cutting child poverty in half is not worth the cost if it means an ambiguous and negligible decline in GDP growth. This view is not just cruel, it is bad economics.
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brief September 20, 2022 How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Reforms Can Help Close the Racial Wealth Gap
Lawmakers have many opportunities to pass reforms that will make our tax code fairer and further reduce racial inequity in our economy. The Inflation Reduction Act is a great step forward; better taxing wealth and income from wealth and expanding targeted refundable tax credits would build on this progress.