Washington
Washington Post: As IRS audits waned, big businesses racked up unapproved tax breaks
July 14, 2021
One challenge for the IRS is that each company tends to interpret tax laws differently, says Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning Washington nonprofit organization. Corporate accountants are “exercising their own judgment about what constitutes [an unrecognized tax benefit] and what is not,” Gardner said. Read […]
Washington State Budget & Policy Center: New Reforms Bring Balance and Equity to State’s Tax Code and Economy
July 9, 2021
People seeking a more equitable state tax code and stronger supports for parents scored major victories earlier this year in Washington state, after more than a decade of hard work and focused advocacy by community leaders. By enacting a new excise tax on extraordinary stock profits (capital gains) and an expansive new tax credit for […]
State Rundown 7/7: The New Fiscal Year Starts off With a Bang, And Not Just Fireworks
July 7, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
States were busy over the past week despite the Fourth of July holiday. Many are gearing up for upcoming tax and budget clashes that could shape their futures for some time...
President Joe Biden's American Families and Jobs plans intend to “build back better” and create a more inclusive economy. To fully live up to this ideal, the final plan must include undocumented people and their families.
VOA News: IRS Data Leak Reveals How Little America’s Wealthiest Pay in Taxes
June 11, 2021
“I think it’s a big wake-up call,” said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. “It tells us things that tax experts have already known for a long time. But it’s the amount of detail, the specific names, that we don’t normally see,” Wamhoff said. […]
New York Times: Investors Fret as Biden Takes Aim at a 100-Year-Old Tax Loophole
June 8, 2021
In this congressional session, Democrats appear to be placing enormous emphasis on creating a fairer tax code along with investing in infrastructure and social programs, said Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonprofit group in Washington that advocates equitable revenue-raising measures. Read more
Washington Post: Plans for a Global Minimum Tax Revolution, Explained
June 8, 2021
Many big corporations do. At least 55 large U.S. companies, including Nike Inc. and FedEx Corp., reported paying no U.S. federal income taxes in 2020 even though they were profitable, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. And some nations benefit by attracting businesses with low rates. Read more
Washington Post: Biden offers tax concession in infrastructure talks with key Republican
June 3, 2021
Members of both parties have expressed concern with the number of large corporations paying little to nothing in federal income taxes. Fifty-five corporations in the Fortune 500 paid no federal income tax in 2020, according to a report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. Corporations have paid a declining […]
Jacobin: In Washington State, the Left Won a Major Victory for Taxing the Rich
May 14, 2021
Last week, Washington State passed a capital gains tax aimed at the state’s ultra-wealthy. The tax is historic because Washington, despite its progressive reputation, until now had the worst tax code in the nation when it comes to fairness, behind Texas, Florida, and South Dakota. A landmark 2018 report by the Institute on Taxation and […]
This week’s state fiscal news brings a reminder that even though advocates for great economic and racial justice have won some major progressive victories recently, anti-tax zealots have been hard at work too. Lawmakers advanced or enacted troubling regressive tax cuts or shifts in Idaho, Kansas, and Montana, and are actively debating them in Iowa, […]
Washington Governor’s Office: Inslee signs economic justice legislation to help working families
May 4, 2021
Gov. Jay Inslee today signed an economic justice legislative package, including the Working Families Tax Credit and the capital gains excise tax, that starts the process of making Washington’s upside-down tax system fairer and more equitable. Read more
OPB: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs capital gains tax into law even as legal challenges loom
May 4, 2021
While Democrats and Republicans came together around the tax credit, the capital gains tax fiercely divided the two parties. Throughout the legislative session, Democrats insisted a tax on capital gains is an excise tax that will make Washington’s tax code less regressive. They often point to a report by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and […]
New York Times: Amazon Had a Big Year, but Paid No Tax to Luxembourg
May 4, 2021
Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, said Amazon’s Luxembourg filing showed why there was such urgency, not only in the European Union but also in the United States, to require a global minimum tax. “This is a stark reminder of the high […]
MarketWatch: The fight over SALT is heating up. What’s next?
May 3, 2021
“I’m surprised that it just continues to come up,” said Tracy Gordon, acting director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “In Washington there seems to be this broad consensus that repealing it would be a bad idea and yet people in affected areas feel it in a visceral way.” A “bad idea,” analysts say, not […]
New York Times: Why a $10,000 Tax Deduction Could Hold Up Trillions in Stimulus Funds
May 1, 2021
There’s no debate that the SALT deduction goes mostly to wealthier taxpayers. About 85% of its benefits accrue to the richest 5% of households, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington. Were the cap to be repealed, about two-thirds of the benefits — about $67 billion — would […]
The Sacramento Bee: California parents would get big tax breaks under Biden proposal. Here’s how much to expect
May 1, 2021
Low and middle income families struggling to pay for child care and other expenses would see big new tax breaks through 2025 under the White House’s new child tax credit plan, according to a new analysis. Most of the breaks would go to households with incomes less than $51,700, but even those with lower six […]
North Carolina lawmakers may have approved a massive tax subsidy giveaway to Apple, but we won’t let that news spoil our barrel this week. Nor will we be discouraged by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s threats to upset the apple cart full of positive progressive tax reforms state lawmakers recently came together to approve...Why all the optimism? Because the apple of our eye this week is Washington State, where advocates and lawmakers succeeded in a decade-long fight...
Washington Post: Fact-checking Biden’s 2021 address to Congress
April 28, 2021
In a report released in April, the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) concluded that 55 profitable companies in the Fortune 500 did not pay any federal income tax, largely as a result of the 2017 tax law, such as through deductions for investment that President Donald Trump promoted in the bill. This […]
Bold Progressive State Tax Victories Provide Bright Spots in Difficult Year
April 27, 2021 • By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
“Bold progressive victories” is probably not the first phrase that comes to mind when thinking about state laws enacted so far in 2021...But progressive advocates, lawmakers, and voters have won some tremendous victories in states recently...We should celebrate them for the achievements they are—and closely study them for lessons they can teach about how to bring about positive progressive change in these and other states.
Washington Post: The Federal Government Is Losing Billions in Unpaid Taxes, in Part Due to Racial Disparities in the Tax Code
April 23, 2021
Drawing from a report by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Wyden said an estimated 80 percent of the individual benefits under the Trump administration’s tax cuts went to White Americans. Read more
Washington Center for Equitable Growth: Weekend reading: Inequities in U.S. taxation and homeownership edition
April 23, 2021
Homeowners of color who sell their homes receive lower prices due to such factors as reduced neighborhood school quality, but they pay the same property taxes because these factors are not incorporated into tax assessments. Black and Hispanic homeowners also face discrimination in assessment appeals. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy explains the regressivity […]
Just as a recent cold snap reminded us that spring has not fully sprung yet, this week’s news has been full of reminders that state fiscal debates aren’t quite finished either...
The Washington Post: Biden Wants to Crack Down on Corporate Tax Loopholes, Resuming a Battle His Predecessors Lost
April 20, 2021
More than 60 percent of U.S. multinationals’ reported foreign income is booked in seven small countries that promise to only nibble at corporate profits, about twice the share as in 2000, according to Bank of America. The tax avoidance efforts — entirely legal under U.S. law — resulted in 55 of the nation’s largest corporations […]
Washington Post: Biden proposals may not guarantee all Fortune 500 corporations pay federal income taxes, experts say
April 15, 2021
Of the 55 corporations that did not pay federal income taxes in 2020, only five had more than $2 billion in net income, according to the report by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank. That means the overwhelming majority of them would not be subject to the book tax. Matt […]
Washington Post: Opinion: Americans are liberals on taxes, living under a conservative system
April 15, 2021
When you combine all the kinds of taxes people pay, you see the system is almost flat. As this report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows, in 2018, Americans in the middle of the income distribution paid 25.4 percent of their income in taxes, while those in the top 1 percent paid […]
