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 April 21, 2022 Biden’s Proposals Would Fix a Tax Code that Coddles Billionaires
Billionaires can afford to pay a larger share of their income in taxes than teachers, nurses and firefighters. But our tax code often allows them to pay less, as demonstrated… -
media mention April 19, 2022 McClatchy: A Republican senator has a plan to ‘Rescue America.’ Here’s what it could cost Californians
But it’s the lowest wage earners who would pay more taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center reached the same conclusion. The… -
blog April 6, 2022 President Biden’s Proposed Billionaires’ Minimum Income Tax Would Ensure the Wealthiest Pay a Reasonable Amount of Income Tax
The Billionaires’ Minimum Income Tax included in President Biden’s budget plan would limit an unfair tax break for capital gains income and complement proposals the president has offered previously to limit other tax breaks for capital gains.
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blog April 6, 2022 Frequently Asked Questions and Concerns About the President Billionaires’ Minimum Income Tax
Find the answers to some frequently asked questions about President Biden’s Billionaires’ Minimum Income Tax, which would limit very wealthy individuals’ ability to put off paying income taxes on capital gains until they sell assets.
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media mention March 29, 2022 Associated Press: How Would a Billionaire Tax Work?
Steve Wamhoff, director of tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says the Democrats “have got this reconciliation vehicle that they can use that to pass legislation.”… -
media mention March 29, 2022 MarketWatch: Can Biden turn his ‘billionaire minimum income tax’ into law?
The minimum tax payments would count as a “prepayment,” credited against future capital-gains taxes, the Treasury Department said. That way, when the asset was finally sold off, it would not… -
media mention March 29, 2022 Fortune: President Biden says his ‘Billionaire Minimum Income Tax’ would raise $360 billion. How does it work?
The highest likelihood is through “reconciliation” — a budget process for passing fiscal legislation with a simple majority of Senate votes. That will require buy-in from West Virginia Sen. Joe… -
blog March 25, 2022 New ITEP Report Explains How the Biden Administration Can Act on Its Own to Fix Our Tax Code
The Biden administration should revise regulations from the TCJA to enforce the law as it was written and passed by Congress, not as big banks and multinational corporations have lobbied for it to be enforced.
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blog March 25, 2022 Excess Profits Tax Proposals Meet the Moment, But Lawmakers Should Keep Their Eye on Fundamentally Fixing Our Corporate Tax
New corporate tax proposals address the current situation, but ultimately leaders in Washington must fix federal law to tax all corporate profits and stop the tax dodging that is rampant today.
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report March 25, 2022 What the Biden Administration Can Do on Its Own, Without Congress, to Fix the Tax Code
The Biden administration has several options to address tax reform even when Congress is unable or unwilling to help.
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media mention March 11, 2022 McClatchy: Would a gas tax break help drivers save that much money? Here’s what experts say
According to the American Petroleum Institute, the federal tax on gas is about 18 cents per gallon. National gas prices average about $4 per gallon as of March 11, according… -
blog March 11, 2022 What We Can Learn Today from the American Rescue Plan – and Sen. Rick Scott’s Proposed Tax Increases
The success of the American Rescue Plan Act is worth revisiting today. Instead of pursuing Sen. Rick Scott’s agenda of making life more difficult for those already working the hardest, Congress should extend or make permanent some of the beneficial policies in ARPA.
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report March 7, 2022 State-by-State Estimates of Sen. Rick Scott’s “Skin in the Game” Proposal
A proposal from Sen. Rick Scott would increase taxes for more than 35% of Americans, with the poorest fifth of Americans paying 34% of the tax increase.
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media mention February 25, 2022 Politifact: States’ Pursuit of Top-Heavy Tax Cuts Is Disconnected from Reality
Steve Wamhoff, the director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said that group includes many retirees or people with disabilities who are collecting Social Security benefits,… -
blog February 22, 2022 Senate Republicans Revive the Myth of the Takers
Sen. Scott and others who favor shifting taxes away from the rich and down the income distribution often focus solely on the federal personal income tax and ignore all the other taxes that Americans pay.
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blog February 17, 2022 The Federal Gas Tax Holiday is Not a New Idea, Just a Bad One
The argument for suspending the gas tax, which would cost $20 billion, is weaker than ever.
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report January 25, 2022 Revenue-Raising Proposals in the Evolving Build Back Better Debate
The United States needs to raise more tax revenue to fund investments in the American people. This revenue can be obtained with reforms that would require the richest and wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share to support the society that makes their fortunes possible.
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blog December 14, 2021 ITEP Data on Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit Provisions Before Congress
Congress expanded the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). The additional benefits that millions of… -
blog December 7, 2021 Latest Proposal from Senate Democrats Would Bar the Rich from SALT Cap Relief
Richest taxpayers would receive $0 benefit under new compromise compared with 51 percent of the benefit of House-passed SALT provision DOWNLOAD NATIONAL AND STATE-BY-STATE ESTIMATES In the latest chapter of… -
report November 18, 2021 Analysis of the House of Representatives’ Build Back Better Legislation
If the bill becomes law, in 2022 federal taxes would go up for the average taxpayer among the richest one percent and down for the average taxpayer in other income groups.
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media mention November 8, 2021 Star-Ledger: On SALT, Dems push tax relief for the rich, not the middle class
It’s true: Eliminating the limit on the SALT deduction would be more costly than the other parts of Biden’s social spending agenda, including the extension of the child tax credit,… -
blog November 3, 2021 Senators Menendez and Sanders Show the Way Forward on the SALT Cap
Amending the Build Back Better bill to fully repeal the SALT cap would mean that the richest 1 percent could pay less in personal income taxes than they do now, which goes against everything President Biden has said for the past year as he promoted this legislation.
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media mention November 3, 2021 Washington Post: Democrats look at expanding minimum tax on wealthy in exchange for state and local tax break
“The majority of benefits from repealing the SALT cap just go to the 1 percent,” said Steve Wamhoff, a tax expert at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “If… -
media mention November 3, 2021 Newsmax: Dems Consider Upping Minimum Tax on Rich in Exchange for SALT Deduction Cap
Steve Wamhoff, an expert on taxes with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said that “the majority of benefits from repealing the SALT cap just go to the 1… -
media mention October 30, 2021 CNBC: Democrats still weighing changes to limit on state and local taxes deduction
One proposal, for example, removes the cap for 2022 and 2023 and restores it for 2026 and 2027, after it’s scheduled to sunset per the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.…