Recent Work

National and State-by-State Estimates of President Biden’s Campaign Proposals for Revenue

April 8, 2021 • By ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden proposed to change the tax code to raise revenue directly from households with income exceeding $400,000. More precisely, Biden proposed to raise personal income taxes on unmarried individuals and married couples with taxable income exceeding $400,000, and he also proposed to raise payroll taxes on individual workers with earnings exceeding $400,000. Just 2 percent of taxpayers would see a direct tax hike (an increase in either personal income taxes, payroll taxes, or both) if Biden’s campaign proposals were in effect in 2022. The share of taxpayers affected in each state would vary from a…

A Proposal to Simplify President Biden’s Campaign Plan for Personal Income Taxes and Replace the Cap on SALT Deductions

April 8, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

In this paper, we describe a tax policy idea that would simplify the proposals President Biden presented during his campaign to raise personal income taxes for those with annual incomes greater than $400,000. Our proposal would replace the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions with a broader limit on tax breaks for the rich that would raise more revenue than the personal income tax hikes that Biden proposed during his campaign. Our proposal would also achieve Biden’s goals of setting the top rate at 39.6 percent and raising taxes only on those with income exceeding $400,000.

The High Cost of Corporate Tax Avoidance (Webinar)

April 8, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer, ITEP Staff, Matthew Gardner

When communities thrive, so do corporations. But when profitable corporations build their empires by exploiting the tax code, it is workers, the environment and our communities—not CEOs or shareholders—that are harmed. Amazon posted its highest U.S. profit ever for 2020, an unprecedented year defined by a pandemic. Yet the company sheltered more than half its profits from corporate taxes—legally. While the company may be one of the most recognizable tax avoiders, it's not an outlier.

State Rundown 4/7: Tax Justice Advocates Applaud New York Budget Deal

April 7, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

New York lawmakers stole the spotlight this week as they were able to agree on—and convince reluctant Gov. Andrew Cuomo to support—strong progressive tax increases on the highest-income households and corporations in the state to fund shared priorities like K-12 education and pandemic recovery efforts. Minnesota leaders are attempting a similar performance off Broadway with progressive reforms of their own, while Kansas legislators are getting poor reviews for cutting a number of taxes and worsening their budget situation. Thankfully major tax changes stayed backstage as sessions concluded in Georgia and Mississippi.

55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits

April 2, 2021 • By Matthew Gardner, Steve Wamhoff

At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 tax law as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020.

Corporate Tax Reform in the Wake of the Pandemic

April 2, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

Read as PDF Note: This report is adapted from written testimony submitted by Amy Hanauer before testifying in person to the Senate Budget Committee on March 25, 2021. In 2020, the pandemic killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and unemployment soared to levels not seen since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting data in […]

State Rundown 4/1: Most States Resisting Foolish Tax Cut Games That Tear Revenues Apart

April 1, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

Supporters of tax fairness and adequate funding for public needs are hoping West Virginia’s income tax elimination effort turns out to be a prank, but most states are not fooling around with such harmful policies this year. For example...

Biden’s Corporate Tax Revolution

April 1, 2021 • By Steve Wamhoff

The corporate tax plan put forth on Wednesday by President Joe Biden to offset the cost of his infrastructure priorities would be the most significant corporate tax reform in a generation if enacted.

A New Look at Taxes and Race at the State and Local Levels 

March 31, 2021 • By Carl Davis, ITEP Staff, Meg Wiehe

A new ITEP report reveals how different taxes have very different impacts on racial equity and unveils data for two states showcasing the consequences of their contrasting tax policy choices. In short, we find that income taxes can help narrow the racial income and wealth divides while sales taxes generally make those divides worse.

Taxes and Racial Equity: An Overview of State and Local Policy Impacts

March 31, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

Historic and current injustices, both in public policy and in broader society, have resulted in vast disparities in income and wealth across race and ethnicity. Employment discrimination has denied good job opportunities to people of color. An uneven system of public education funding advantages wealthier white people and produces unequal educational outcomes. Racist policies such as redlining and discrimination in lending practices have denied countless Black families the opportunity to become homeowners or business owners, creating extraordinary differences in intergenerational wealth. These inequities have long-lasting effects that compound over time.

Tax Reform Must Include Adequate Funding for the IRS

March 25, 2021 • By Jenice Robinson

The Biden administration has made clear that its top priorities include a major recovery package with critical investments to boost the nation’s economy and tax increases for corporations and the wealthy. Adequately funding the IRS must be part of that agenda. It seems every week, a new study, data set or research-driven commentary reveals how […]

Looking at the Tax Code Through A Race Equity Lens Presents a Strong Case for Reforms

March 25, 2021 • By Carl Davis

An important new book from Professor Dorothy Brown at Emory University offers a timely look at the federal tax code through the lens of racial equity. The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—And How Can We Fix It uses a mix of data, legal scholarship, interviews, and personal stories to tear […]

Here Are Some Truths About Corporate Tax Avoidance

March 25, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

We all need the things that the public sector provides. When corporate taxes go unpaid, the American people have less for the things that would help our communities. That means less repair of our failing infrastructure, less investment in greening our economy, less funding to help young people attend college.

Testimony to Senate Budget Committee on Ending a Rigged Tax Code: The Need To Make the Wealthiest People and Largest Corporations Pay their Fair Share of Taxes

March 25, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

Following is testimony of ITEP Executive Director Amy Hanauer before the Senate Budget Committee to consider “Ending a Rigged Tax Code: The Need To Make the Wealthiest People and Largest Corporations Pay their Fair Share of Taxes” “Chairman Sanders and Ranking Member Graham, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this committee. My name […]

State Rundown 3/24: The Calm Before the Reform?

March 24, 2021 • By ITEP Staff

It was a relatively quiet week in state fiscal policy, likely partly due to states waiting for federal guidance on some of the details in the American Rescue Plan. As they await those details, lawmakers in Mississippi and West Virginia continue to wrangle over whether to recklessly eliminate their income taxes, while leaders in states including Connecticut and New York considered more productive and progressive reforms. And in the meantime, groundbreaking work on the intersection of race and tax policy is now available.