May 6, 2016 08:33 AM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | 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: Honest Taxpayers Get Stuck with […]
May 3, 2016 01:21 PM By Lisa Christensen Gee, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | It could have been different, but it wasn’t different. Gov. Sam Brownback’s supply-side economics “real live experiment” in Kansas has not lacked critics since the unprecedented tax cuts for the wealthy and elimination of taxes on certain business income […]
May 2, 2016 01:27 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | We all know you shouldn’t leave a restaurant without paying your bill. Unfortunately, our corporate tax laws don’t adhere to this principle, and allow corporations to exit the United States (at least on paper) without paying their full tax […]
April 29, 2016 01:34 PM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | A new report from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that the “tax gap,” meaning the amount in taxes that are owed but go unpaid each year, was $406 billion on average between 2008-2010. This is a $406 billion […]
April 28, 2016 02:37 PM By Lisa Christensen Gee, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Headlines about the happenings (or non-happenings) at the Illinois Statehouse this past year have been dismal as the state enters the 11th month of the fiscal year without a budget. While the budget stalemate is unlikely to be resolved […]
April 28, 2016 10:19 AM By Richard Phillips, Senior Policy Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | If you are looking for an example of how corporate interests continue to dominate the agenda in Congress, a recent hearing on business tax reform held by the Senate Finance Committee is Exhibit A. Over the past several years, […]
April 22, 2016 01:34 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Hundreds of Fortune 500 corporations routinely lower their federal tax bills by taking advantage of a tax break that allows them to write off executive compensation in the form of stock options. As we have noted previously, the tax break […]
April 21, 2016 05:06 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | People may disagree about what exactly Donald Trump is, but almost no one would call him a farmer. Well, no one except the property tax department of New Jersey. According to a recent report from the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump […]
April 21, 2016 02:42 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Thanks for reading the State Rundown. Here’s a sneak peek: Illinois lawmakers push to change state’s income tax structure to a graduated one, could ask voters to change state constitution. Kansas lawmakers have had it with Brownback, and refuse […]
April 21, 2016 12:30 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | 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. Alaska’s Historic Income Tax ProposalIn an attempt to help solve Alaska’s $4 billion budget […]
April 21, 2016 11:32 AM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | This Tuesday, the front page of Mississippi’s capital city newspaper, the Clarion-Ledger, featured a three-word plea to state lawmakers: “STOP THE MADNESS.” The accompanying editorial re-capped a legislative session in which legislators, largely as a result of having cut taxes […]
April 21, 2016 08:04 AM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Tax cuts in Maryland seemed inevitable at times this year, as lawmakers in the House and Senate seemed to be in agreement on some key issues. Both chambers sought to improve the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless low- […]
April 19, 2016 11:51 AM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Two years ago, the Koch-brothers-backed group Americans for Tax Reform and anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist launched an aggressive effort in Tennessee to eliminate the Hall Tax, a modest tax on capital gains and dividends that primarily falls on the very […]
April 15, 2016 02:48 PM By Lisa Christensen Gee, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | At the state and local level alone, undocumented immigrants nationwide collectively pay an estimated $11.64 billion each year in taxes, according to a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Our calculations, based on academic, congressional, […]
April 14, 2016 05:59 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Just in time for Tax Day, CTJ and ITEP have prepared a variety of materials […]
April 14, 2016 04:26 PM By Aidan Russell Davis, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | Alaska is grappling with one of the most serious budget shortfalls in the nation. The state currently faces a budget gap exceeding $4 billion and current revenues are expected to cover just 25 percent of the state’s costs, despite major […]
April 14, 2016 02:12 PM By Dylan Grundman, Senior Analyst at ITEP | Permalink | In his 2013 book, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth and the Origins of Inequality, Nobel Prize winning economist Angus Deaton wrote, “The very wealthy have little need for state-provided education or health care; they have every reason … to fight […]
April 14, 2016 01:16 PM By Bob McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice | Permalink | Righteous indignation can be very effective, but sometimes it’s not all that righteous. Such is the case with recent op-eds penned by the CEOs of General Electric and Verizon, each of whom argue that contrary to the stump […]
April 13, 2016 05:23 PM By Citizens for Tax Justice Staff | Permalink | The most recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that the United States is one of the least taxed developed nations. A tally of all taxes collected at the federal, state and local levels reveals based […]
April 8, 2016 01:08 PM By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Communications | Permalink | In the Tax Justice Digest we recap the latest reports, posts, and analyses from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. This week CTJ and ITEP weighed in on the Panama Papers leak, new U.S. Treasury […]
April 8, 2016 10:13 AM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Thanks for reading the State Rundown! Here’s a sneak peek: St. Louis, Missouri residents renew earnings tax by a wide margin. Ferguson, Missouri, voters reject property tax increase to fund police reform but approve sales tax increase. Mississippi House passes scaled-down tax cut package. Ohio Gov. John […]
April 7, 2016 01:23 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | “Political casualties are mounting fast in the wake of the Panama Papers—a historic leak of confidential documents from a Panama-based law firm that revealed connections between a number of world leaders and nearly 215,000 offshore shell companies. The prime minister […]
April 7, 2016 12:59 PM By Bob McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice | Permalink | Almost 70 years ago, Circuit Judge Learned Hand established an important tax principle. To paraphrase the judge, nobody has to pay more in taxes than the law requires, but would-be tax avoiders cannot make stuff up. Unfortunately, over […]
April 5, 2016 02:27 PM By Matt Gardner, Senior Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | “Anonymous shell corporations and secret bank accounts are vital resources for those engaged in tax evasion and money laundering. But this web of secrecy has started to crumble in recent years due in part to revelations from whistle-blowers embedded in […]
April 1, 2016 02:31 PM By Sebastian Johnson, State Policy Fellow at ITEP | Permalink | Click Here to sign up to receive the State Rundown in your inbox. Thanks for reading the State Rundown! Here’s a sneak peek: New York lawmakers reach agreement on a $4 billion per year income tax cut. Connecticut lawmakers want to […]