Recent Work

State Rundown 11/6: State Voters Show Readiness to Fix Broken Tax Codes

November 6, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

Many of yesterday’s Election Day votes came down to questions of whether or not to improve on upside-down and often inadequate state and local tax systems. The status quo was maintained in Colorado, where voters failed to approve a proposition to allow the state to invest tax revenue in education and other needs, and in Texas, where a constitutional amendment was approved to prohibit the state from creating an income tax. But voters supported important reforms in other states by approving needed funding for schools in Idaho, opting to legalize and tax recreational cannabis in California. And for more on…

Sen. Warren Proposes Sweeping Tax Changes to Finance Medicare for All

November 1, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren released a plan today to offset the costs of Medicare for All, a publicly funded single-payer health care program. While ITEP has not crunched the numbers, it seems likely overall that her proposals would raise trillions of dollars and leave costs and taxes either unchanged or lower for most low- and middle-income people.

There’s a lot more to Corporate Tax Reform than Tax Rates

October 30, 2019 • By Lorena Roque

Several Democratic candidates have proposed raising the statutory corporate tax rate from its current level of 21 percent to fund their spending proposals. Political reporters and observers may read a great deal into the different corporate rates proposed by candidates, but the truth is that rates mean very little on their own.

A Financial Transaction Tax Could Raise Revenue, Curb Inequality

October 28, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

A new report from ITEP explains the potential benefits of a financial transaction tax (FTT), which is supported by several presidential candidates. Few proposals can be said to raise revenue for public investments, make our tax code more progressive, and improve the efficiency of our financial system all at the same time. An FTT can do all of that.

Benefits of a Financial Transaction Tax

October 28, 2019 • By Jessica Schieder, Lorena Roque, Steve Wamhoff

A financial transaction tax (FTT) has the potential to curb inequality, reduce market inefficiencies, and raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue over the next decade. Presidential candidates have proposed using an FTT to fund expanding Medicare, education, child care, and investments in children’s health. Any of these public investments would be progressive, narrowing resource gaps between the most vulnerable families and the most fortunate.

State Rundown 10/24: State Tax Talk Makes Like a Tree and Gets Colorful

October 24, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

As autumn brings a colorful display of foliage to many states, so too are tax proposals taking on interesting hues as states move from the summer off-season toward 2020 legislative sessions. Ohio lawmakers are blue in the face from debating and re-debating tax and budget issues there. Maryland residents again showed they can’t be called yellow-bellied when it comes to footing the bill for needed education improvements, showing their broad support for higher taxes to fund those needs even despite a hefty price tag. Alaska, Michigan, and other states are giving the green light to laws implementing their new ability…

House Passes Landmark Bipartisan Bill to Crack Down on Shell Companies Used for Tax Evasion and Other Crimes

October 24, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

On Tuesday night, 25 Republicans joined nearly all the chamber’s Democrats to approve the Corporate Transparency Act, a bill that would require those creating a company to report its owners to the federal government. The White House expressed support but called for the House and Senate to work on certain details, creating the possibility that the measure could be enacted.

Depreciation Tax Breaks Are a Problem that Deserves More Attention

October 18, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ recently released corporate tax plan would shut down the major breaks and loopholes that allow corporations to dodge taxes. The reforms in his plan that are most likely to get attention are proposals to shut down offshore tax dodging, as ITEP has long called for.

What is the Gas Tax Rate Per Gallon in Your State?

October 16, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

Every state levies excise taxes on motor fuel, including gasoline, to pay for transportation infrastructure. People who drive far distances or heavy vehicles tend to pay more tax, which helps offset the wear-and-tear they inflict on the roads.

Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman’s New Book Reminds Us that Tax Injustice Is a Choice

October 15, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

Cue Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. In their new book, The Triumph of Injustice, the economists, who already jolted the world with their shocking data on exploding income inequality and wealth inequality, tell us to stop acting like we are paralyzed when it comes to tax policy. There are answers and solutions. And in about 200 surprisingly readable pages, they provide them.

State Rundown 10/10: Always Something Old, Something New in State Tax Debates

October 10, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

Creative thinking from Pennsylvania lawmakers has helped them discover that the Wayfair ruling allowing states to collect sales tax from online retailers can also help them identify and tax corporate profits earned in their borders. Similarly, New York leaders had the vision to put bold environmental goals in place and identify a carbon price as a potential pay-for. Gubernatorial candidates in Mississippi and Kentucky showed less ingenuity, proposing tax cuts even though Mississippi is still phasing in a massive tax cut from a few years ago and Kentucky’s next election isn’t until 2020. Meanwhile, the old idea of eliminating income…

How a Federal Wealth Tax Can Help the Economy

October 2, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

A New York Times article explained that proponents of a federal wealth tax hope to address exploding inequality but then went on to list the fears of billionaires and economic policymakers, finding that “the idea of redistributing wealth by targeting billionaires is stirring fierce debates at the highest ranks of academia and business, with opponents arguing it would cripple economic growth, sap the motivation of entrepreneurs who aspire to be multimillionaires and set off a search for loopholes.” A wealth tax will not damage our economy and instead would likely improve it. Here’s why.

The Nation’s Income Inequality Challenge Explained in Charts

September 27, 2019 • By Stephanie Clegg

Income inequality has reached its highest level since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking the measure more than 50 years ago, according to recent data. While recent Census data show modest increases in median household income and average hourly wages—numbers anti-tax politicians and pundits have used to deny rising inequality—a deeper look at some of the latest numbers reveals a decades-long trend of widening economic inequality.

State Rundown 9/26: Shady State Business Tax Subsidies Coming to Light

September 26, 2019 • By ITEP Staff

Lawmakers in Michigan and New Hampshire made progress toward enacting their state budgets, though Michigan may yet end up in a government shutdown. Leaders in Wyoming advanced a proposal to create a limited tax on large corporations to raise some revenue and add a progressive element to their state’s tax code. Georgia agencies are forced to recommend their own funding cuts amid state income tax cuts. And business tax subsidies are looking particularly bad in Maryland, where subsidy money has been handed out without verification that companies were creating jobs, and New Jersey, where a false threat to leave the…

A Well-Designed Carbon Tax Could Curb Emissions, Offset Costs for Many Families

September 26, 2019 • By Carl Davis

A well-designed carbon tax package—that is, levied at a sufficiently high rate and paired with equitable offsets for lower- and middle-income families—could improve both our environment and the fairness of our tax system.