It’s become increasingly clear who GOP leaders are drafting legislation for as they hurriedly rush to re-write the tax code before the new year. New York Rep Chris Collins said on Nov. 7, 2017, “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.'” Donald Trump told members of the elite […]
May 22, 2017 11:01 AM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | ITEP today is pleased to announce that we’re launching an overhauled website, ITEP.org, that better reflects the work of our organization and makes our federal and state tax policy research more accessible. For years, ITEP has been known mostly […]
May 18, 2017 01:13 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | This week saw tax debates heat up in many states. Late-session discovered revenue shortfalls, for example, are creating friction in Delaware, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, while special sessions featuring tax debates continue in Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Meanwhile […]
May 18, 2017 10:40 AM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Today the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its first tax reform hearing of 2017, which marks the official opening of the tax reform debate in Congress. True tax reform, if the committee sought to achieve it, could […]
May 17, 2017 02:11 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, details how tax subsidies that funnel money toward private schools are being used as profitable tax shelters by high-income taxpayers. By exploiting […]
May 12, 2017 11:01 AM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | South Carolina lawmakers this week raised the state’s gas tax for the first time in 28 years, a time period that tied for the third-longest in the nation. While the increase was meaningful and hard-fought, the final result remains flawed […]
May 10, 2017 03:56 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | This week saw a springtime mix of state tax debates in all stages of life. In West Virginia and Louisiana, debates over income tax reductions and comprehensive tax reform are full of vigor. Other debates that bloomed earlier are now […]
May 10, 2017 02:20 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | As expected, 2017 has brought a flurry of action relating to state gasoline taxes. As of this writing, six states (California, Indiana, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah) have enacted gas tax increases this year, bringing the total number of […]
May 9, 2017 02:40 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Lawmakers across the political spectrum recognize the need for additional spending to maintain and upgrade our nation’s transportation infrastructure. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there is a backlog of $836 billion in needed repairs and improvements to roads […]
May 5, 2017 05:23 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | President Donald Trump’s tax sketch released in late April is the starting point for federal tax reform discussions. For now, the sketch includes too few details to properly analyze its revenue and distributional impacts, but based on limited information, […]
May 4, 2017 01:09 PM By Aidan Russell Davis, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Two states are on the verge of embracing a tried and tested anti-poverty policy, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In the past two weeks, lawmakers in both Hawaii and Montana passed EITC legislation, which governors in both states […]
May 4, 2017 11:56 AM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Nebraska lawmakers had a long and contentious tax-cut debate this session but ultimately chose the wise path and rejected attempts to give a massive tax cut to the wealthy at the expense of the state’s schools, other public services, low- […]
May 4, 2017 10:12 AM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | The Apple corporation made waves earlier this week with its disclosure that its worldwide cash now exceeds $250 billion. Less noticed was a separate disclosure on Wednesday that the company’s offshore cash now exceeds $239 billion, meaning that more than […]
May 3, 2017 12:58 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | This week, Kansas lawmakers found that they’ll have to roll back Gov. Brownback’s tax cuts and then some to adequately fund state needs. Nebraska legislators took notice of their southern neighbors’ predicament and rejected a major tax cut. Both Hawaii […]
May 2, 2017 03:18 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – or FATCA – is a financial disclosure and transparency law designed to crack down on international tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers who hold financial assets offshore. This law, passed in 2010 as […]
May 1, 2017 04:16 PM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Three of the biggest needs facing state policymakers right now are new revenues to fund their priorities in the face of budget shortfalls and federal funding cuts, ways to insulate those revenue streams from unpredictable tax changes at the federal […]
April 27, 2017 03:22 PM By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Staff | Permalink | In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, blog posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been working on lately. Here we […]
April 27, 2017 03:06 PM By Meg Wiehe, Deputy Director at ITEP | Permalink | 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 […]
April 27, 2017 02:24 PM By Guest Blogger | Permalink | Guest Blogger; Josue Chavarin, Program Associate at the California Endowment California’s counties gain hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from undocumented residents— collectively over $1.53 billion according to a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Public debates in […]
April 27, 2017 01:21 PM By Aidan Russell Davis, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | States are experiencing a rapid decline in state corporate income tax revenue, and the downward trend has become increasingly pronounced in recent years. Despite rebounding bottom lines for many corporations, a new ITEP report, 3 Percent and Dropping: State […]
April 27, 2017 12:57 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | The most complimentary thing that can be said about the corporate tax changes outlined by President Donald Trump earlier this week is that they weren’t scribbled on a napkin. Unlike supply-side architect Arthur Laffer, who infamously sketched out his explanation […]
April 25, 2017 05:27 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | President Donald Trump has promised to release new details Wednesday on what he says could be “the biggest tax cut we’ve ever had.” While much is unclear about the shape this plan will take, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday […]
April 25, 2017 01:37 PM By Carl Davis, Research Director at ITEP | Permalink | Earlier this month the Alaska House of Representatives voted 22-17 in favor of implementing a personal income tax for the first time in over 35 years. Gov. Bill Walker praised the bill shortly after passage, citing its ability to “provide […]
April 25, 2017 01:24 PM By Misha Hill, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | A few weeks ago, a young undocumented immigrant posted a photo on Facebook after filing her taxes that went viral. The young woman, Belen Sisa, is one of 1.3 million young people who are currently eligible for temporary work […]
April 21, 2017 05:11 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday asks that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin review significant tax regulations issued in 2016. The broader context of the order is that President Trump is seeking to roll back […]