Jon Whiten
Deputy Director
Areas of Expertise
State Taxes Federal Taxes CommunicationsAs Deputy Director, Jon helps guide ITEP’s overall strategy and approach to policy change, works to properly resource ITEP’s work, and leads ITEP’s work to shape the public debate around tax policy and ensure that policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders are using ITEP’s data and analysis in order to make sound decisions.
Before joining ITEP in 2022, Jon was the Director of State Communications at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. At CBPP, he led a team that helps boost the communications capacity and provide strategic direction to the more than 40 state-based policy and advocacy organizations that make up the State Priorities Partnership. This work included everything from working on in-depth messaging and public-opinion research to managing state policy report rollouts to overseeing training and peer-learning opportunities for communicators throughout the network, and more.
Before that, he was Vice President at New Jersey Policy Perspective, where he led the organization’s strategic communications and advocacy campaigns and oversaw its policy development. His work at NJPP helped lead to a range of policy victories, including several increases in the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, tax increases on the wealthiest New Jerseyans, more accountability of corporate tax breaks, boosts to the state’s minimum wage, Medicaid expansion, a statewide earned sick leave law, the first increase in TANF cash assistance in decades, and more. He also managed NJPP’s finances and operations and researched tax, budget, and economic issues. In New Jersey, he also served on Gov. Phil Murphy’s transition team, advising on tax and budget policy.
Jon has also worked as a writer and editor for a wide range of publications, nonprofit organizations, and authors. He holds an M.A. in media ecology from New York University and a B.S. in communications from Boston University. He currently serves on the Steering Committee of Americans for Tax Fairness. You can find him on Twitter at @WhitenJon.
jon at itep.orgRecent Publications and Posts view more
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How Tax Decisions in 2025 Can Advance Racial Justice
In the coming 14 months, federal lawmakers should address longstanding issues of racism in the tax code. With a presidential election this fall and many provisions of 2017’s Trump tax law expiring at the end of 2025, the debate over tax policy and economic fairness is in full swing.
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How Would the Harris and Trump Tax Plans Affect Different Income Groups?
Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have put forward a wide range of different tax proposals during this year’s campaign. We have now fully analyzed the distributional impacts of the major proposals of both Vice President Harris and former President Trump in separate analyses. In all, the tax proposals announced by Harris would, on average, lead to a tax cut for all income groups except the richest 1 percent of Americans, while the proposals announced by Trump would, on average, lead to a tax increase for all income groups except the richest 5 percent of Americans.
Media Mentions view more
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Bloomberg: Election-Day Ballot Measures Offer Preview of 2024 Fights
Ahead of next year’s presidential election, voters will weigh state and local proposals on abortion, taxes and housing. Read more.
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Route Fifty: In One State, a Fight Over How Tax Hikes are Passed at the Ballot Box
In Arizona, Republican legislators are asking residents to make it tougher for voters to pass ballot measures that would raise…