We demand economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure Black communities have collective ownership, not merely access.
Race Equity
-
ITEP Work in Action February 27, 2024 Movement for Black Lives (M4BL): Economic Justice
-
report February 6, 2024 Tax Policy to Reduce Racial Retirement Wealth Inequality
Historic and ongoing discrimination have created stark racial disparities in the US, and the racial retirement wealth gap is one such example.
-
blog February 1, 2024 State Rundown 2/1: Black History Month Begins as Tax Debates Heat Up Nationwide
This week the showdown between the Kansas legislature and governor continued as Gov. Kelly vetoed the legislature’s latest attempt to pass a flat personal income tax. Elsewhere, the focus is… -
blog November 21, 2023 Hidden in Plain Sight: Race and Tax Policy in 2023 State Legislative Sessions
Race was front and center in a lot of state policy debates this year, from battles over what’s being taught in schools to disagreements over new voting laws. Less visible, but also extremely important, were the racial implications of tax policy changes. What states accomplished this year – both good and bad – will acutely affect people and families of color.
-
brief November 2, 2023 America Used to Have a Wealth Tax: The Forgotten History of the General Property Tax
Over time, broad wealth taxes were whittled away to become the narrower property taxes we have today. These selective wealth taxes apply to the kinds of wealth that make up a large share of middle-class families’ net worth (like homes and cars), but usually exempt most of the net worth of the wealthy (like business equity, bonds, and pooled investment funds).The rationale for this pared-back approach to wealth taxation has grown weaker in recent decades as inequality has worsened, the share of wealth held outside of real estate has increased, and the tools needed to administer a broad wealth tax have improved.
-
ITEP Work in Action November 1, 2023 DC Fiscal Policy Institute: Taxing Capital Gains More Robustly Can Help Reduce DC’s Racial Wealth Gap
The federal and DC governments tax income from wealth more favorably than income from work. This preferential treatment means we under tax the most well-off, tax their wealth less often,… -
blog October 30, 2023 Free Tax Filing Option from the IRS Would Benefit People of Color, Contrary to Corporate Warnings
There’s a patchwork of programs and preparers for people of color to turn to when filing taxes, and most come from corporations that profit from providing a service that the government could provide more effectively and efficiently for free. The Direct File program can change that and is a great step forward in the IRS’ work addressing racism in the tax code.
-
blog October 17, 2023 The Moore Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court Could Widen the Racial Wealth Gap
Moore v. United States, already a cause for concern for tax lawyers, could create more barriers for racial equity advocates working to reverse the economic plight of many households of color.
-
report August 29, 2023 Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Advance Racial Equity in the Tax Code
Expanding the federal Child Tax Credit to 2021 levels would help nearly 60 million children next year. It would help the lowest-income children the most and would particularly help children and families of color.
-
ITEP Work in Action May 17, 2023 Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center: What’s Race Got to Do With It? Some Tax Proposals Would Widen Racial Inequality, Others Would Advance Equity
Lawmakers have proposed a variety of tax cuts, some of which would provide outsize benefits to the most affluent households and widen existing racial and economic disparities. Other proposed tax… -
blog May 10, 2023 Voters Could Approve Local Capital Gains Tax in Oregon
At nearly every turn, Oregon’s tax policies widen inequality; as a result, the top 1 percent pay less state and local taxes as a share of income than the poorest residents. Taxing capital gains at the local level is an important and exciting move in the other direction – to tax income from wealth and use it to address crucial needs.
-
blog April 24, 2023 Racial Justice Requires Tax Justice: Our Analysis Helps Deliver Both
ITEP’s analytical approach, our comprehensive microsimulation model, and our unique state-level capacities enable us to do pioneering analyses that enrich the debate on racial justice in tax policy that no other entity can do.
-
blog March 27, 2023 Race-Conscious Tax Policy Discourse is Shifting the Conversation About the Tax Code
As we look ahead to what comes next in our journey to a more race-conscious tax policy debate, it’s worth reflecting on how we got here and what we’ve learned along the way.
-
news release March 22, 2023 Costly and Poorly Targeted Senior Tax Subsidies Widen Economic, Racial, and Generational Inequalities
Contact: Jon Whiten – [email protected] Costly and Poorly Targeted Senior Tax Subsidies Widen Economic, Racial, and Generational Inequalities State lawmakers should focus on improving overall tax fairness, not creating special… -
blog February 1, 2023 By Fighting Audit Bias, Funding for Tax Enforcement Can Advance Racial Equity
Black households are between 2.9 and 4.7 times more likely to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service than non-Black households. This disparity is driven in part but not wholly by a lack of resources at the IRS, which itself is driven by years of budget cuts the agency has faced.
-
blog November 21, 2022 Child Tax Credit Expansion Would Shrink the Racial Wealth Gap
Extending the expanded Child Tax Credit would benefit nearly every child in low- and middle-income families. Under current rules, 24% of white children, 45% of Black children, and 42% of Hispanic children will not receive the full credit in 2023 because their families make too little. These figures would drop to zero if the provisions were extended, helping families of all races and disproportionately helping families of color.
-
brief September 20, 2022 How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Reforms Can Help Close the Racial Wealth Gap
Lawmakers have many opportunities to pass reforms that will make our tax code fairer and further reduce racial inequity in our economy. The Inflation Reduction Act is a great step forward; better taxing wealth and income from wealth and expanding targeted refundable tax credits would build on this progress.
-
blog June 22, 2022 New ITEP Report Examines the Path to Equitable Tax Policy in the South
“From the inception of the emerging American nation, the South is a central battleground in the struggles for freedom, justice, and equality. It is the location of the most intense… -
report June 21, 2022 Creating Racially and Economically Equitable Tax Policy in the South
The South’s negative outcomes on measures of wellbeing are the result of a century and a half of policy choices. Lawmakers have many options available to make concrete improvements to tax policy that would raise more revenue, do so equitably, and generate resources that could improve schools, healthcare, social services, infrastructure, and other public resources.
-
blog April 4, 2022 Punitive Fines and Fees Are an Invisible Cost of State Tax Cuts
The deck is stacked against those who have the least, and ongoing racism makes it even more difficult for people of color to avoid punitive systems that are intentionally structured to extract what, for poor people, can be usurious penalties. The nation collectively shrugs about such injustices because they are either invisible or we chalk up entanglements in any legal morass to personal behavior. But the truth is that, indirectly, we are all part of the fines-and-fees matrix that entraps poor people in debt or keeps them tethered to the criminal justice system. None of us should look away.
-
blog March 31, 2022 Racial Discrimination in Home Appraisals Is a Problem That’s Now Getting Federal Attention
With both assessments and appraisals being unfair, homeowners of color are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to determining the worth of what is, for most homeowners, their most valuable asset.
-
blog January 31, 2022 Build Back Better’s Tax Provisions Would Help Advance Racial Equity
Build Back Better can help ensure that all people are provided with the chance to lead healthy lives, have access to quality education, are treated fairly and justly, and thrive in today’s economy.
-
blog January 11, 2022 School’s In: Tackling College Affordability Through State Tax Codes
Given that a sweeping federal solution to the college affordability crisis does not appear to be on the immediate horizon, it is even more important that states take whatever steps they can to expand college access and affordability. While most of that effort will need to occur on the spending side of the ledger—such as through lowering tuition costs, expanding financial aid, or perhaps even funding free college outright—tax policy also has a role to play.
-
blog January 10, 2022 The New Trend: Short-Sighted Tax Cuts for the Rich Will Not Grow State Economies
The same legislators who touted tax cuts for the rich as solution to our problems before the pandemic are also saying tax cuts for the rich are a solution during the pandemic. Tax cuts cannot be a solution to everything, especially at a time when the richest Americans are amassing more wealth than ever.
-
blog December 21, 2021 Why Treasury’s Pending Race-Based Analysis of Stimulus Payments is Important
One important data inadequacy is the lack of demographic information in tax data. While the IRS data offers rich data on taxpayer income, it does not collect information on important demographic characteristics like race and ethnicity. This presents a challenge for researchers interested in the racialized impacts of the U.S. tax system and has prompted many researchers and organizations to advocate for public-use tax data that is disaggregated by race and ethnicity.