Tax Reform
Ineffective Sales Tax Holidays Miss the Mark
• By Miles Trinidad
Twenty states have sales tax holidays in 2026. These sales tax holidays will cost states and localities nearly $600 million in lost revenue this year, and they're poorly targeted and too temporary to meaningfully change the regressive nature of a state’s tax system.
America at 250: It’s Time for a Tax Code That Lives Up to Our Ideals
• By Brakeyshia Samms
After 250 years, our leaders must show a commitment to completing the unfinished work of American democracy.
New EU Disclosure Requirements Are Helping Identify Corporate Tax Avoiders
• By Matthew Gardner
Microsoft reports a huge share of its worldwide profit in low-tax Ireland and is achieving this despite having a very small share of its employees there. As other companies make similar disclosures between now and the end of calendar year 2026, investors and the public will likely get a much clearer sense of how much profit corporations are hiding offshore—and how much tax they’re avoiding by doing so.
Why Corporations Must Pay More
• By Steve Wamhoff, Amy Hanauer
Corporate tax reforms could be more resilient than proposals to tax wealth or unrealized capital gains while achieving the same goal of more adequately taxing the income of billionaires.
Progressives Need a Slight Course Correction on Tax Policy
• By Steve Wamhoff
Corporate tax reforms should be the backbone of any progressive tax agenda and should be counted on to remain if other changes to our tax code are later thwarted by any of the three branches of government.
A Resilient Framework for Corporate Tax Reform
• By Steve Wamhoff
The next time Congress is serious about making the wealthiest pay their fair share in federal taxes, they will need to make three key changes to the federal corporate income tax so that it applies effectively to all the businesses that generate their income.
Here’s a Tip: Keep the Taxation of Tips As-Is
• By Joe Hughes
The no tax on tips idea isn't a new one, but it's always been abandoned because it's practically impossible to do without creating new avenues for tax avoidance. Despite its embrace by the candidates from both major parties, this policy idea would do little to help the roughly 4 million people who work in tipped occupations while creating a host of problems.
Tax the Wealthy and Reject Austerity for a More Just and Thriving Democracy
• By Amy Hanauer
Two of the last five presidents won office over the objection of the majority of the people; California, with 65 times more people, has the same voting power in the U.S Senate as Wyoming; and the U.S. Supreme Court just permitted South Carolina lawmakers to dilute Black votes in drawing districts. These obvious flaws undermine our claim to be a strong democracy. One less appreciated but similarly undemocratic trend is our extreme inequality that supercharges the power…
We Can Create a Fair, Feminist Tax Code
• By Amy Hanauer
Everything! Taxing wealthy people and corporations and using the revenue for paid leave, child care, education, health care and college would transform America for girls and women of every race and family type, in every corner of this country.
“Fair Tax” Plan Would Abolish the IRS and Shift Federal Taxes from the Wealthy to the Rest of Us
• By Steve Wamhoff
The "Fair Tax" bill would impose a 30 percent federal sales tax on everything we buy – groceries, cars, homes, health care - and lead to a giant tax shift from the well-off to everyone else.
Trump’s Tax Shenanigans Show Need for Real Reforms
• By Amy Hanauer
Congress should unite around a basic principle that Republican, Democratic, and independent voters support: the wealthiest, whether they are presidents, CEOs, or just rich heirs, should pay their fair share. Using Trump's tax maneuvering as a guidebook could make the tax code much fairer for all of us.
ITEP: Inflation Reduction Act is Biggest Corporate Tax Reform in Decades
• By Amy Hanauer
Amy Hanauer, Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, issued the following statement on “The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022,” the reconciliation bill passed today by the House of Representatives. “Today Congress signed off on the biggest corporate tax reform in decades as part of a bill that will provide a […]
What Tax Provisions are in the Senate-Passed Inflation Reduction Act?
• 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
• 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…
Corporate Minimum Tax Examples: Apple Would Likely Pay More, 3M Would Not
• 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…
Top Republican Tax-Writer Falsely Claims that Minimum Tax for Huge Corporations Is a Tax Hike on Middle-Class
• 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.
ITEP: Reconciliation Deal Represents “Transformational Change” for U.S. Tax Policy
• By Amy Hanauer
Amy Hanauer, Executive Director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, issued the following statement on “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” the reconciliation bill announced yesterday by Senate Democrats. “This is a transformational change for U.S. tax and energy policy. The bill restores sorely needed and long-overdue accountability to our tax code. By […]
No Reason to Water Down the Tax Reforms in the Build Back Better Act
• By Steve Wamhoff
There is no justification for recently reported efforts to scale back the tax reforms in the Build Back Better Act, a bill passed by the House of Representatives in November that would raise significant revenue and make our tax code more progressive by enacting widely popular proposals. (See ITEP’s report on the BBBA.) Of course, […]
Public Problems Demand Public Solutions
• By Amy Hanauer
Long-term troubles for this country and this planet now demand our attention. Progressive tax policy would transform our ability to tackle them.
New ITEP Report Explains How the Biden Administration Can Act on Its Own to Fix Our Tax Code
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Biden administration should revise regulations from the TCJA to enforce the law as it was written and passed by Congress, not as big banks and multinational corporations have lobbied for it to be enforced.
What the Biden Administration Can Do on Its Own, Without Congress, to Fix the Tax Code
• By Steve Wamhoff
The Biden administration has several options to address tax reform even when Congress is unable or unwilling to help.
Women’s History Month is a Reminder that Sensible Tax Policy is Central to Women’s Economic Security
• By Brakeyshia Samms
Women’s History Month is a chance to remember what happens for women when tax policy becomes more progressive, boosts income, and helps make raising a family more affordable.
A Better Alternative: New Mexico Prioritizes Targeted, Temporary Tax Cuts
• By Marco Guzman
New Mexico stands in stark contrast to the many examples of poorly targeted tax-cut proposals currently being considered around the country.
Senate Republicans Revive the Myth of the Takers
• By Steve Wamhoff
Sen. Scott and others who favor shifting taxes away from the rich and down the income distribution often focus solely on the federal personal income tax and ignore all the other taxes that Americans pay.
Why Tax Reform Should Remain on the Table
• By Amy Hanauer
In this country, wealthier than any other and wealthier than we’ve ever been, we can create a smarter, more equitable tax code that better taxes those most able to pay.
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ITEP is a non-profit, non-partisan tax policy organization. We conduct rigorous analyses of tax and economic proposals and provide data-driven recommendations to shape equitable and sustainable tax systems.
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