Washington
If lawmakers truly want to create an environment in which economic mobility is possible for more working people, budget-busting tax cuts are the wrong way to achieve this goal. Dramatic tax giveaways would force cuts to programs that provide early education, health care, job training, affordable housing, nutrition assistance, and other vital services that promote economic mobility. Further, current tax proposals from Congress and the Trump Administration defy what most Americans would consider true reform and, instead, embrace supply-side economic theories. This policy brief outlines two sensible, broad objectives for meaningful federal tax reform and discusses six tax policies that…
State Rundown 4/27: States Finally Reaching Resolution on Gas Taxes
April 27, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
This week, transportation funding debates finally concluded with gas tax updates in Indiana, Montana, and Tennessee, and appear to be nearing an end in South Carolina. Meanwhile, Louisiana and Oregon lawmakers debated new Gross Receipts Taxes, and Texas legislators considered eliminating the state’s franchise tax. — Meg Wiehe, ITEP Deputy Director, @megwiehe Louisiana Gov. Bel Edward’s Commercial Activities Tax (CAT) was pulled from committee early this week without a vote due to opposition, […]
The Seattle Times: Washington State Relies on a Rotten Tax System
April 24, 2017
Poor people across the country pay a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than do wealthier people, but Washington is the worst offender in that regard. A report by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that in our state the 20 percent of households with the lowest income […]
Carl Davis
April 21, 2017 • By ITEP Staff
Carl is the research director at ITEP, where he has worked since 2008. As ITEP’s research director, Carl is responsible for exploring new and emerging trends in tax policy. In this role, he has authored reports on proposals to legalize and tax cannabis sales, to implement vehicle-miles-traveled taxes, to update the tax treatment of the “gig economy,” and to improve the enforcement of sales taxes as they relate to online shopping. Carl has also conducted extensive research into private school tax credits. That research helped reveal the profitable tax shelters that these credits created for some upper-income donors to private…
Charleston Gazette-Mail: Cutting WV Income Tax Likely to Backfire
April 11, 2017
There are nine states with no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Tennessee. Only Texas has seen job growth — as a result of being the center of the oil industry. The others have not; job growth has trailed population growth in the other eight. This is based […]
Washington Post: How a GOP tax plan would help Caterpillar after a raid by federal agents
March 22, 2017
“Caterpillar appears to have elevated international tax avoidance to an art form,” said Matt Gardner, the former director of the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. “From that perspective, this plan is exactly backwards. It would leave the barn door wide open for companies like Caterpillar to continue shifting their profits on paper offshore.” […]
Queen Anne News: Seattle’s proposed soda tax doesn’t go far enough
March 22, 2017
According to the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington has the most unfair state and local tax system in the country. Read more According to the non-partisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington state has the most unfair state and local tax system in the country. The state’s reliance on sales taxes […]
Alaska Dispatch News: How billion-dollar companies paid nothing in taxes
March 13, 2017
Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. Eighteen, including General […]
CNBC: Shares of General Electric rise on report that Immelt could be ‘pushed into retirement’
March 13, 2017
An uptick in stock price comes as a report was issued Thursday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, claiming that 100 corporations, including GE, paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. The report also says that GE incurred a total federal income […]
Washington Post: Undocumented and paying taxes, they seek a foothold in the American Dream
March 13, 2017
About half of undocumented immigrants file personal tax returns, channeling $1.1 billion to state coffers, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The IRS could not say how much ITIN filers paid in income taxes last year, but past federal reports have estimated that they pay billions of dollars in federal taxes over […]
The Columbian: Teachers, parents and legislators gather for school funding forum
March 13, 2017
Stonier said the state should look to raise more revenue. Heather Lindberg, an education activist who ran for the Vancouver School Board in 2015, said the state’s tax code is “completely upside down” in making the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the wealthy. (A 2015 study by the nonpartisan Institute on […]
Washington Post: We Didn’t Think We Agreed on Undocumented Immigrants
March 13, 2017
In fact, undocumented residents in the United States pay an estimated $11.74 billion annually in state and local taxes, an amount that would increase significantly if these immigrants were given a pathway to citizenship, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
New York Times: Profitable Companies, No Taxes: Here’s How They Did It
March 9, 2017
Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. Eighteen, including General […]
The Seattle Times: Tax Code Upside Down
March 9, 2017
According to a 2015 state-by-state report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, middle-and lower-income households in Washington state pay up to 17 percent of their incomes in taxes while the average rate among the very wealthiest households is less than 3 percent. Washington has the most inequitable tax system in the nation. Read […]
Thursday, March 8 is International Women’s Day. The day draws attention to the progress that has been made and the work that still needs to be done in advancing gender equality. Many campaigns on issues like equal pay or paid family leave acknowledge that economic policies impact women and men differently. But we often overlook […]
The Christian Science Monitor: Why Authorities Just Raided Caterpillar
March 8, 2017
The questions go beyond whether the financial activities were legal or illegal. The news puts names and faces on the problems of political cronyism and tax evasion by the wealthy, and on the global scale of these problems. That’s politically volatile in its own right. But the news, arriving at a time income inequality is […]
News 7: Undocumented people would be able to use Social Security card to get license in Colo. under bill
March 8, 2017
The bill comes at the same time that a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington, that says Colorado has an estimated 163,000 undocumented immigrants who contributed $139.5 million to the state in income, property, sales and excise taxes in 2015. Read more
Atlanta Journal Constitution: Proposal Advanced to Cut Top Rate on Ga. Income Taxes
February 28, 2017
The left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute said the measure could save Georgia taxpayers — and cost the state — about $154 million. That estimate comes from the Washington-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
The Sun-Sentinel: Undocumented Immigrants Contribute $437 Mil to South Florida Economy
February 28, 2017
The FIU institute compiled its figures from new undocumented immigrant population estimates by the Pew Research Center and effective tax rates for sales, property and income taxes paid by low- and moderate-income families in states as reported by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Both Pew and the taxation institute are nonpartisan organizations located […]
Washington Post: The New Immigration Order, a Disaster in the Making
February 28, 2017
And the cost of the undocumented? Their contributions to the economy far outweigh their burden. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants pay $11.6 billion in taxes each year. According to the Social Security Administration, undocumented workers contribute $15 billion annually to the fund, but only withdraw an estimated $1 billion. […]
Common Dreams: Taking on the Billionaires
February 22, 2017
The result has been to make state and local taxes, on the whole, regressive. The share of income paid by the poorest 20 percent is twice that of the richest 1 percent. Unsurprisingly, the disparity is widest in states without an income tax. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Washington’s working class […]
Mic: Taxpayers in These Seven States Don’t Pay State Income Tax
February 22, 2017
As a result of Washington’s various consumption taxes, its low-income residents wind up paying a disproportionately higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Read more
Alternet: It’s Time to Take America’s Billionaire Class Head on
February 3, 2017
The result has been to make state and local taxes, on the whole, regressive. The share of income paid by the poorest 20 percent is twice that of the richest 1 percent. Unsurprisingly, the disparity is widest in states without an income tax. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reports that Washington’s working class […]
What to Watch in the States: Further Attempts to Weaken or Eliminate Progressive Taxes
February 2, 2017 • By Aidan Davis
This is the third installment of our six-part series on 2017 state tax trends. The introduction to this series is available here. As we described last week, many states are gearing up for challenging budget debates this year. But the need to address revenue shortfalls has not stopped lawmakers in many states from pursuing harmful […]
This week’s Rundown brings news of tax cuts passed in Arkansas and advanced in Idaho, proposals to exempt feminine hygiene products from sales taxes in Nevada and Michigan, revenue shortfalls forcing tough choices in Louisiana and Maine, and more governors’ state of the state addresses and budget proposals setting the stage for yet more tax […]
