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.
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blog September 12, 2019 Sen. Wyden’s Anti-Deferral Accounting Proposal Could Be a Game-Changer
Today, Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, fulfilled a promise he made several months ago to release a proposal that could fundamentally transform how the… -
September 12, 2019 Comments on Senate Finance Committee Paper on Anti-Deferral Accounting
Comments on Senate Finance Committee Paper on Anti-Deferral Accounting
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blog August 28, 2019 Updated Estimates from ITEP: Trump Tax Law Still Benefits the Rich No Matter How You Look at It
President Trump’s allies in Congress continue to defend their 2017 tax law in misleading ways. Just last week, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee stated that most “of the tax overhaul went into the pockets of working families and Main Street businesses who need it most, not Wall Street.” ITEP’s most recent analysis estimates that in 2020 the richest 5 percent of taxpayers will receive $145 billion in tax cuts, or half the law’s benefits to U.S. taxpayers.
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media mention August 23, 2019 The Hill: Conservatives Push Trump Tariff Relief over Payroll Tax Cuts
And conservatives aren’t the only critics of a potential payroll tax reduction. Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said there… -
media mention August 22, 2019 BBC: Three Ways Trump Could Juice the Economy
The policy was last used during the Obama administration in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis when it faced huge pushback from Congressional Republicans. In 2011 and 2012, the… -
blog August 20, 2019 White House Considers Payroll Tax Cut that GOP Opposed During Obama Years
The Trump Administration is considering cutting the Social Security payroll tax to prevent an economic downturn, something that seemed more justified when enacted in the aftermath of the Great Recession—when congressional Republicans largely opposed it. Here are some things to remember about this tax.
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blog August 9, 2019 Taxing Offshore Profits and Domestic Profits Equally Could Curb Corporate Tax Dodging
In recent days, presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris and New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio have called for taxing corporate profits the same whether they are earned in the United States… -
media mention August 1, 2019 Wall Street Journal: Going Out of Style: Tax-Driven Deals to Move Corporate HQs Outside U.S.
Through mergers, companies such as Allergan, Mylan, Medtronic and Johnson Controls PLC moved tax addresses abroad. The companies were often managed from the U.S. “It was always a fiction that they… -
media mention July 31, 2019 Washington Times: 2020 Democratic Candidates Put Trump’s Corporate Tax Rate Cut in Crosshairs
Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, agreed that the rate alone isn’t enough. “If we raise the corporate income tax rate… -
blog July 31, 2019 A Wealth Tax Might Be Easier to Implement than You Think
A direct federal tax on wealth, as described in a January report from ITEP and proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, could raise substantial revenue to make public investments, curb rising inequality, and is supported by a large majority of Americans. But would it work? Recent research highlighted in a new academic paper outlines approaches that would make it easier than you might think.
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blog July 24, 2019 Legislation to Block Corporate Inversions Is Still Needed
If a future Congress and president enact a real tax reform, one that requires corporations to pay their fair share and ends TCJA’s various corporate breaks for offshore profits, then companies will use inversions and other tactics to dodge taxes once again—if lawmakers let them. That’s why any real tax reform will include something like the Stop Corporate Inversions Act, introduced last week by Sens. Dick Durbin and Jack Reed to block inversions.
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media mention July 14, 2019 The Hill: 2020 Democrats Push Tax Hike on Wealthy Investors
Former President Obama proposed raising capital gains rates for high earners to 28 percent, still short of the top ordinary income tax rate. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Democratic nominee… -
ITEP Work in Action July 3, 2019 The American Prospect: Without Congressional Input, Trump May Further Widen the Gap Between Rich and Poor
“This is just another tax break for rich people,” says Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policy, who authored a blog post… -
media mention July 1, 2019 Nevada Business: Taxes and Nevada: The Give and Take
Many of those breaks and loop holes were left in place by the new policies, said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic… -
blog June 28, 2019 Why Trump Administration’s Plan to Index Capital Gains to Inflation Is Just Another Giveaway to the Wealthy
The White House is reported to be planning to unilaterally adjust the way capital gains are assessed to benefit the wealthiest Americans. The proposal would adjust capital gains for inflation, reducing taxes disproportionately for the wealthiest households who own most assets by limiting their taxable gains to those above and beyond the inflation rate.
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blog June 27, 2019 Wealth Tax Is Supported by Basically Everyone Who Is Not a Politician
A February survey found that 61 percent of registered voters supported a wealth tax proposal, including 51 percent of Republican voters. And it’s not just the non-rich wanting to tax the very rich. A June survey found that 60 percent of millionaires support the idea.
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media mention June 27, 2019 Washington Post: Democratic presidential candidates engage in ‘arms race to the left’ in first debate
On taxes, many of the candidates also emphasized their more left-leaning ideas to raise rates on corporations and make the tax system more progressive, while none touted plans to keep… -
blog June 26, 2019 Rep. Tlaib’s Tax Credit Proposal Is Most Expansive to Date
A refundable tax credit proposed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) would be more expansive than other recent tax credit proposals, new estimates from ITEP show. Rep. Tlaib’s proposal, unlike others, does not require households to work to receive the benefit.
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blog June 25, 2019 What to Watch for on Tax Policy During the Presidential Primary
America needs a new tax code. The Democratic presidential debates beginning this week present an opportunity for candidates to make clear how they would address inequality or to raise enough revenue to make public investments that make the economy work for everyone. Here are some of the big tax issues that we hope they will touch on.
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media mention June 24, 2019 The Hill: Dems Talk up Tax Credits to Counter Trump Tax Law
The left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) released a report last month finding that the bulk of the benefits for many of Democrats’ tax-credit proposals would go to… -
blog June 20, 2019 UPDATED: New ITEP Data Shows the House Ways and Means Bill to Expand EITC and Child Tax Credit Would Benefit Low- and Moderate-Income People and Families
Today the House Ways and Means Committee is marking up the Economic Mobility Act of 2019, a bill introduced by Chairman Richard Neal to expand some key tax credits to help low- and moderate-income people and families. New data generated with the ITEP microsimulation tax model show how adults and children would benefit nationally and in each state.
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blog June 18, 2019 Calling Progressive Tax Proposals “Extreme” Are Taunts Meant to Distract
Dismissing calls for progressive taxes as “radical,” “extreme,” or “socialism” are taunts meant to distract from the real question: Why should we ignore the bottom half of Americans, whose share of the economic pie shrank and now have negative net worth, while allowing the wealthy and powerful, whose net worth more than tripled, to dictate our public policies?
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media mention June 10, 2019 Bloomberg: When an Eight-Figure IPO Windfall Can Mean a Zero-Digit Tax Bill
It’s supposed to help young companies attract capital. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation says the provision costs the U.S. Treasury $1.3 billion a year. “There is no evidence that… -
blog June 6, 2019 Congress Steers Away from Entrenching So-Called Free File Program
Just before tax day in April, ITEP’s Jessica Schieder wrote that two proposals before Congress would take taxpayers in opposite directions. One was a bill passed in the House on… -
media mention May 31, 2019 Yahoo! Finance: Corporations Paid $91 Billion Less in Taxes in 2018 under Trump’s Tax Law
“There are a lot of breaks and loopholes that allow a company not to pay,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic…