Recent Work

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

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

August 22, 2022 • By Joe Hughes, Jon Whiten

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

August 22, 2022 • By Amy Hanauer

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 […]

The Case for More IRS Funding

August 22, 2022 • By Jon Whiten

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

August 18, 2022 • By Marco Guzman

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

August 12, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

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

August 10, 2022 • By ITEP Staff

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?

August 9, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

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

August 5, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

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.

Corporations are Shifting Profits to Wealthy Investors Tax-Free—Stock Buyback Tax Would Change That

August 5, 2022 • By Joe Hughes

Senate Democrats have announced an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act that, among other changes to a previous version of the bill, would apply a 1 percent tax on corporations repurchasing their own stock. This proposal was included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act last year and was estimated at that time to raise $124 billion over 10 years. This measure would ensure that income transferred from corporations to wealthy shareholders does not continue to escape taxation.

Corporate Minimum Tax Examples: Apple Would Likely Pay More, 3M Would Not

August 5, 2022 • By Matthew Gardner

Apple, one of the largest corporations in the United States despite manufacturing most of its physical products offshore, would likely pay the corporate minimum tax that is included in the Inflation Reduction Act that the Senate is debating this week. 3M, a manufacturer that has about 40 percent of its workforce in the United States, likely would not pay the corporate minimum tax if current trends in the company’s profits and taxes continue, because it is already paying above 15 percent of its profits in taxes.

Opponents of Inflation Reduction Act Call for Continued Tax Avoidance by Large Manufacturers

August 2, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

The biggest revenue-raising provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, the 15 percent minimum tax for corporations that have more than a billion dollars in profits, is under attack from members of Congress who argue that manufacturing companies should not be required to pay any minimum amount of tax. Sen. Mike Crapo, the top Republican on […]

Top Republican Tax-Writer Falsely Claims that Minimum Tax for Huge Corporations Is a Tax Hike on Middle-Class

August 2, 2022 • By Steve Wamhoff

Opponents of requiring corporations to pay even a minimum amount of taxes hold an unpopular position. But Sen. Mike Crapo, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and a leader of that opposition, is using a one-sided and incomplete analysis to claim that the corporate minimum tax would raise taxes on low- and middle-income people.

State Rundown 7/27: It’s (Sales Tax) Holiday Season, But Who’s Really Celebrating?

July 27, 2022 • By ITEP Staff

It’s the holiday season – well, the sales tax holiday season, that is. But after taking a closer look, you may notice that there is little to celebrate...

Legislative Momentum in 2022: New and Expanded Child Tax Credits and EITCs

July 22, 2022 • By Neva Butkus

State legislatures across the country made investments in their future, centering children, families, and workers by enacting and expanding state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs), Child Tax Credits (CTCs), and other refundable credits this session. In total, seven states either expanded or created CTCs this session. Connecticut, New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont […]