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House Democrats today introduced a proposal that responds to our staggering economic crisis with the right policies at the necessary scale. It’s a refreshing change from some of the misdirected ideas that have passed or been floated in these alarming economic times.
Which Workers Wouldn’t Be Helped by a Payroll Tax Cut?
May 8, 2020 • By Jessica Schieder, Lorena Roque
New data released today estimates 20.5 million jobs were lost in the month of April alone. Workers not currently receiving paychecks would be left out of any benefits provided by a payroll tax cut.
Harris-Sanders-Markey Cash Payment Proposal Would Dwarf Checks Sent Under the CARES Act
May 8, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff
Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Edward Markey released a proposal to provide a monthly payment of $2,000 for each member of a household (including up to three dependents), with benefits phased out at income levels starting at $200,000 for married couples. The proposal is partly a response to concerns that one-time cash payments under the CARES Act, which amount to $1,200 ($2,400 for married couples) and $500 for each child under age 17, are not sufficient to help families make ends meet or boost the economy.
State Rundown 5/7: State Fiscal Responses to Pandemic Starting to Get Real
May 7, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
State lawmakers are starting to use fiscal policy levers to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but the actions vary greatly and are just a start. Mississippi, for example, is one state still clarifying who has authority to determine how federal aid dollars are spent. Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, and Ohio are among the many states identifying painful funding cuts they will likely make to shared priorities like health care. The Louisiana House and the Minnesota Senate each advanced tax cuts and credits that could dig their budget holes even deeper. Connecticut leaders are looking at one of the more comprehensive packages, which…
Trump’s Latest Tax Break Proposals Include Everything—Except Helping Regular People
May 6, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff
None of the tax proposals considered by the administration would provide help to those who need it or do much, if anything, to boost investment.
Trump’s Payroll Tax Cut Makes Even Less Sense as Job Losses Mount
May 5, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff
Last August, long before COVID-19 ravaged the U.S. economy, the Trump Administration began touting a payroll tax cut as a stimulus. Now, with more than 30 million official unemployment claims and projections that the jobless rate could grow to Depression-era levels, the White House is claiming that a payroll tax cut is the best way […]
There is every reason to believe that Amazon will continue its tax-avoidance ways in 2020. The entirely-legal tax avoidance tools the company used to zero out its federal income tax bills over the last three years remain entirely legal today. From accelerated depreciation to the research and development tax credit to the deduction for executive stock options, Amazon’s tax avoidance tools have been blessed by lawmakers, and presidents, of all stripes.
Intended Consequences: Deliberate Disinvestment Caused Florida’s Unemployment Disaster
May 4, 2020 • By Stephanie Clegg
Florida politicians deliberately rigged the unemployment system after the Great Recession to avoid raising taxes on businesses. Now, in a pandemic, some out-of-work residents are left waiting more than six weeks for unemployment benefits while more than 280,000 others have been inexplicably denied. What’s happening in Florida underscores deeper challenges with systems that should help those in need, but instead are designed to fail them.
COVID-19 has revealed a policy apparatus that reflexively prioritizes those who need it least, a wholly inadequate safety net, an underfunded public health infrastructure, and an inefficient national health stockpile. If the nation stays this course, it will make only cosmetic restorations to a shoddily built house.
State Rundown 4/29: State Responses and Federal Aid Could Be Among “May Flowers” to Come
April 29, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
April has brought relentless showers of troublesome tax and budget news as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on communities and the public services and institutions that both support and depend on them. There is hope, however, that these troubles have opened the eyes of policymakers and that May will bring more clarity and strong action in the form of federal fiscal relief as well as home-grown state and local responses.
A bipartisan group of governors and senators from Louisiana to Maryland to Ohio have called for at least $500 billion in state and local fiscal relief. They also need specific help with testing, protective equipment, unemployment costs, Medicaid costs, social services, education and infrastructure. States can’t be on their own as they address the double whammy of plunging revenue and skyrocketing needs.
Pandemic Profits: Netflix’s Record Profit Haul, Past Tax Avoidance Raise Questions about Tax Law’s Weaknesses
April 29, 2020 • By Matthew Gardner
At a time when many companies are facing existential threats due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic shutdown, it is vital to ensure that our corporate tax laws apply fairly to companies that are still turning a profit in these turbulent times.
Sales Tax Policy in a Pandemic: Exemptions for Digital Goods and Services Are More Outdated Than Ever
April 29, 2020 • By Estefan Hernandez Escoto
Many states are making the decline in sales tax collection worse by failing to apply their sales taxes to digital goods (such as downloads of music, movies, or software) and services (such as digital streaming). A state that taxes movie theater tickets but not digital streaming, for instance, is needlessly hastening the decline of its own sales tax.
The CARES Act Provision for High-Income Business Owners Looks Worse and Worse
April 24, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff
A select group of millionaires will receive an average tax break of $1.6 million thanks to a CARES Act provision that is receiving delayed but well-deserved scrutiny. Wealthy business owners are receiving this windfall because the CARES Act provides tax breaks to people with losses from a business they own. This approach may seem sensible because businesses small and large are taking a hit from the economic recession, but on close inspection, these provisions benefit those least in need and can be easily abused.
Partying Like It’s 2017: How Congress Went Overboard on Helping Businesses with Losses
April 24, 2020 • By Steve Wamhoff
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides some needed relief for individuals and families, but two arcane tax provisions related to business losses will further enrich the wealthy and fail to boost our economy more broadly.
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