Steve Wamhoff
Steve Wamhoff is ITEP’s director of federal tax policy. In this role, he is responsible for setting the organization’s federal research and policy agenda. He is the author of numerous reports and analyses of federal tax policies as well as in-depth policy briefs that outline how the federal income tax and corporate tax code can be overhauled to improve tax fairness.
-
media mention February 25, 2020 The Hill: Financial trade tax gains traction with 2020 Democrats
Democratic presidential candidates across the ideological spectrum are calling for taxes on financial trades, breathing new life into an idea that for many years was promoted primarily in progressive circles.… -
blog February 21, 2020 Tax Cuts Floated by White House Advisors Are an Attempt to Deflect from TCJA’s Failings
Now that multiple data points reveal the current administration, which promised to look out for the common man, is, in fact, presiding over an upward redistribution of wealth, the public is being treated to pasta policymaking in which advisors are conducting informal public opinion polling by throwing tax-cut ideas against the wall to see if any stick. But the intent behind these ideas is as transparent as a glass noodle.
-
blog February 19, 2020 How Democratic Presidential Candidates Would Raise Revenue
One of the biggest problems with the U.S. tax code in terms of fairness is that investment income, which mostly flows to the rich, is taxed less than the earned income that makes up all or almost all of the income that working people live on.
-
media mention February 12, 2020 Yahoo! Finance: In Search of the ‘Disappearing Corporate Income Tax’
Those losses, driven by generous rule-writing and interpretations of the 2017 tax law by the U.S. Treasury, are so substantial that they were deemed “tax cuts 2.0” by the liberal-leaning… -
blog February 12, 2020 Hearing Witness: Trump Administration Giving Tax Breaks Not Allowed by Law
The Treasury Department, tasked with issuing regulations to implement the hastily drafted Trump-GOP tax law, is concocting new tax breaks that are not provided in the law. This is the short version of what we learned while watching Tuesday’s House Ways and Means Committee hearing on “The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax.”
-
blog February 11, 2020 Why Today’s Congressional Hearing on “The Disappearing Corporate Income Tax” Is Imperative
The United States is collecting a historically low level of tax revenue from corporations. In 2018, corporate tax revenue as a share of gross domestic product (the nation’s economic output)… -
blog February 10, 2020 President Trump’s 2021 Budget: Promises Made, Promises Broken
President Trump has kept only one of his promises–his pledge to lower taxes for corporations and their investors.
The budget plan he released today again breaks his promise to reject cuts in Medicaid that would affect millions of people. His budget once again fails to eliminate the deficit, much the less the national debt, during his presidency as he promised. It cuts trillions from safety net programs and student aid programs despite his pledge to stand for forgotten Americans.
-
blog February 4, 2020 Trump Already Did Tax Cuts 2.0… For Corporations
If President Trump puts forth another tax proposal this year, as he is hinting, it will be his third. The second round, already costing the U.S. Treasury billions, was implemented largely out of the public’s view.
-
media mention January 17, 2020 McClatchy: Lifting the Cap on This Tax Break Would Benefit California’s Rich
The figures were developed by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. to project the likely effects if the Democrats’ proposal went into effect in 2022. That’s likely the… -
blog January 15, 2020 The 2013 Biden-McConnell “Fiscal Cliff” Deal Shows Why the Next President Needs a New Approach to Taxes
Americans have long wanted more progressive tax policies and have told pollsters for years that they want wealthy individuals and big corporations to pay more, not less, in taxes. The only way forward is for lawmakers and the next president to take a dramatically different approach to tax policy.
-
blog January 13, 2020 Time to Throw Cucumbers
A basic understanding and idea of fairness is a trait we share with intelligent primates, which is precisely why more than two years ago as Congress was debating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the American public disapproved of the tax bill.
-
media mention January 6, 2020 Capital and Main: Two Years Later: What Has Trump’s Tax Law Delivered?
Promise: “We’re also going to eliminate tax breaks and complex loopholes taken advantage [of] by the wealthy.” – President Trump, November 29, 2017. Reality: The law kept tax loopholes in place and added new… -
media mention December 22, 2019 Quartz: Two Years into Trump’s Tax Cut, the Results Are Not Promising
Despite what the Democrats claimed, most people did actually pay less tax. But the wealthy got a far bigger cut than the rest of society, according to various studies. Next… -
blog December 19, 2019 Corporate Tax Avoidance Is Mostly Legal—and That’s the Problem
As usual, corporate spokespersons and their allies are trying to push back against ITEP’s latest study showing that many corporations pay little or nothing in federal income taxes. One way they respond is by stating that everything they do is perfectly legal. This is an attempt by the corporate world to change the subject. The entire point of ITEP’s study is that Congress has allowed corporations to avoid paying taxes, and that this must change.
-
media mention December 19, 2019 Washington Post: House Narrowly Passes Bill That Would Restore SALT Tax Benefits to Higher-income Americans
“This mostly benefits rich people,” Steve Wamhoff, a tax analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a left-leaning think tank, said of repealing the SALT cap. “There’s… -
media mention December 17, 2019 Bloomberg Tax: Tax Perk to Boost Investment May Work—For Small Businesses
The 2017 tax law allowed businesses to use full expensing, or 100% bonus depreciation, for both new and used assets, a benefit that begins phasing out in 2023. Republicans heralded… -
report December 16, 2019 Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law
Profitable Fortune 500 companies avoided $73.9 billion in taxes under the first year of the Trump-GOP tax law. The study includes financial filings by 379 Fortune 500 companies that were profitable in 2018; it excludes companies that reported a loss.
-
blog December 11, 2019 House Democrats’ Latest Bill on SALT Deductions Would Mean Bigger Tax Cuts for the Rich
ITEP estimates show that if the House Democrats’ proposal was in effect in 2022, it would have a net cost of $81 billion in that year alone. The estimates also show that 51 percent of the benefits would go to the richest 1 percent of taxpayers in the U.S. Clearly, lawmakers concerned about the SALT cap need to go back to the drawing board.
-
media mention November 26, 2019 The News Tribune: How Did Tacoma Do Under Trump Tax Cuts? You Can Calculate it for Yourself
President Donald Trump has said it’s time to consider another tax cut — as evidence mounts that wealthier taxpayers in the Tacoma area and around the nation benefited a lot… -
media mention November 14, 2019 USA Today: Trump Is Floating Another Tax Cut. But the Last Thing We Need Is More Breaks for the Rich.
Why is it so important that the rich pay more? Those at the top benefit much more from all the public investments we finance with our tax dollars. President Donald… -
media mention November 7, 2019 Capitol and Main: Trump Boasts of Economic Growth as Inequality Deepens
A second term for Trump would likely mean a doubling down on his inequality exacerbating tax and regulatory agenda. “There will be more tax cuts and further inequality,” said Steven… -
media mention November 7, 2019 Fast Company: While Trump Boasts of Economic Growth, Inequality Deepens
“There will be more tax cuts and further inequality,” said Steven Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Republicans have already proposed… -
blog November 1, 2019 Sen. Warren Proposes Sweeping Tax Changes to Finance Medicare for All
Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren released a plan today to offset the costs of Medicare for All, a publicly funded single-payer health care program. While ITEP has not crunched the numbers, it seems likely overall that her proposals would raise trillions of dollars and leave costs and taxes either unchanged or lower for most low- and middle-income people.
-
blog October 28, 2019 A Financial Transaction Tax Could Raise Revenue, Curb Inequality
A new report from ITEP explains the potential benefits of a financial transaction tax (FTT), which is supported by several presidential candidates. Few proposals can be said to raise revenue for public investments, make our tax code more progressive, and improve the efficiency of our financial system all at the same time. An FTT can do all of that.