Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Recent Work

2052 items
Boosting Incomes and Improving Tax Equity with State Earned Income Tax Credits in 2022

States continued their recent trend of advancing EITCs in 2022, with nine states plus the District of Columbia either creating or improving their credits. Utah enacted a 15 percent nonrefundable EITC, while the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Vermont and Virginia expanded existing credits. Meanwhile, Connecticut, New York and Oregon provided one-time boosts to their EITC-eligible populations.

More States are Boosting Economic Security with Child Tax Credits in 2022

After years of being limited in reach, there is increasing momentum at the state level to adopt and expand Child Tax Credits. Today ten states are lifting the household incomes of families with children through yearly multi-million-dollar investments in the form of targeted, and usually refundable, CTCs.

Census Data Shows Need to Make 2021 Child Tax Credit Expansion Permanent

The Child Tax Credit expansion led to a 46 percent decline in childhood poverty. That it could be accomplished during the largest economic disruption in most of our lifetimes underscores a basic fact: thoughtful, decisive government action to combat poverty works.

Billionaires Should Pay Taxes on Their Income Every Year Like the Rest of Us

The Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden last month will crack down on corporate tax dodgers and strengthen enforcement of tax laws already on the books, raising hundreds of billions of dollars to be spent on climate, health and other priorities. But these reforms will not directly raise taxes on even the wealthiest individuals. […]

State Rundown 9/7: Labor Day Week Provides Sobering Reminder of Steps Forward, Back

Though Labor Day has passed, advocates on the ground in states across the country are continuing to uphold the spirit of the labor movement...

Romney Child Tax Credit Plan Would Leave Millions of Children Worse Off and Raise Taxes for the Average Black Family

Sen. Romney’s plan would expand the Child Tax Credit and offset the costs by scaling back other tax benefits. All told, it would raise taxes on a fourth of all kids in the U.S. This includes about a fourth of the children among the poorest fifth of U.S. families.

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National and State-by-State Estimates of Two Approaches to Expanding the Child Tax Credit

September 7, 2022 • By Emma Sifre, Joe Hughes, Steve Wamhoff

National and State-by-State Estimates of Two Approaches to Expanding the Child Tax Credit

The Romney Child Tax Credit plan would leave a quarter of children worse off compared to current law and help half as many low-income children as the 2021 expansion of the credit.

Four Tax Policy Wins in the Inflation Reduction Act and Four More That Can Build on This Progress

With four major tax policy provisions, the IRA takes a huge step toward a fairer tax code and a more equitable economy. But as always, there are more steps lawmakers should take to build on this progress.

Putting Cleveland and the Nation on a Path Toward Tax and Climate Justice

Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. When I left Cleveland to work on federal tax policy after 20 years running Policy Matters Ohio, I knew Ohio would stay in my heart and fuel my work.  Accustomed to an America that often ignores our toughest problems, I understood […]

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The Case for More IRS Funding

August 22, 2022 • By Jon Whiten

The Case for More IRS Funding

Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in The Hill. Though the Inflation Reduction Act is enormously popular, some politicians and pundits are trying to generate hysteria about one feature: Funding for the IRS. All the false claims are distracting us from two important things: how necessary the funding increase is to reverse […]

Gimmicky Sales Tax Holidays Are Short-Term and Ineffective

Everyone loves a deal, so it’s no surprise why the appeal of the state sales tax holiday continues to persist. This year, 20 states will forgo more than $1 billion in combined revenue to enact a variety of sales tax holidays that—like most things that are too good to be true—will do little to provide meaningful benefits and instead undermine funding for public services.

Lawmakers Must Choose Between Funding the IRS or Protecting Wealthy Tax Cheaters

Grasping for some way to criticize the popular Inflation Reduction Act as it approaches final passage, Congressional Republicans have decided to attack its provisions that will reverse a decade of budget cuts to the IRS and instruct the agency to crack down on tax evasion by big corporations and individuals making more than $400,000. Of […]

State Rundown 8/10: States Still Talking Taxes as IRA Dominates Headlines

While federal tax policy has dominated the headlines with the Senate’s recent approval of the Inflation Reduction Act, lawmakers in statehouses across the country...

What Tax Provisions are in the Senate-Passed Inflation Reduction Act?

The Inflation Reduction Act approved by the Senate on Aug. 7 would raise more than $700 billion in new revenue over a decade by closing corporate tax loopholes, empowering the IRS to enforce the tax laws on the books, taxing stock buybacks, and extending a limitation on deductions for business losses. The IRA – if […]

They Might Really Do It: The Senate Is About to Reform Our Tax Code

For now, the Senate is poised to reverse cuts to the IRS enforcement against wealthy tax evaders for the first time in a decade, crack down on tax-dodging by huge corporations for the first time since 1986, and finally address the method increasingly used by corporations to transfer income to shareholders to avoid federal taxes. The multi-decade winning streak of corporate lobbyists and special interests who have practically written many of our tax laws in recent years is about to come to an end.

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