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CTJ Celebrates 30 Years

Members of Congress and others reflect on CTJ's work at our 30th anniversary celebration.

(Pictured: former CTJ director Daivd Wilhelm, Sen. Carl Levin)


My Image

CTJ Celebrates 30 Years

Members of Congress and others reflect on CTJ's work at our 30th anniversary celebration.

(Pictured: Sen. Ron Wyden addresses CTJ supporters)


My Image

CTJ Celebrates 30 Years

Members of Congress and others reflect on CTJ's work at our 30th anniversary celebration.

(Pictured: former CTJ director Daivd Wilhelm, Rep. Lloyd Doggett)


My Image

CTJ Celebrates 30 Years

Members of Congress and others reflect on CTJ's work at our 30th anniversary celebration.

(Pictured: former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt)


Recent Reports

  • Judging Tax Expenditures: Review is Needed for Spending Programs Burried Within the Tax Code

    Each year, the federal government actually spends more on programs it administers via the tax code - i.e. "tax expenditures" - than it does on discretionary spending programs. A new report from Citizens for Tax Justice, titled "Judging Tax Expenditures," explains why it's time for the federal government to finally follow through on its long-unfulfilled promise to evaluate the usefulness of these special tax breaks.

    11/13/2009

  • Health Care Reform Financing Options: The Millionaires' Surcharge in the House-Passed Health Care Reform Bill

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) H.R. 3962, the health care reform bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 7, includes a 5.4 percent surcharge on adjusted gross income (AGI) above $1 million for married couples and $500,000 for singles. Our calculations confirm statements from the House Ways and Means Committee that this would affect only the richest 0.3 percent of taxpayers in 2011, the first year the surcharge would take effect.

    11/13/2009

  • CTJ's Written Testimony on Proposed U.S. Tax Treaties with France, New Zealand, and Malta

    Written testimony of Michael J. McIntyre, professor of law at Wayne State University in Detroit, and Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, on the proposed tax treaties with France, New Zealand, and Malta. Submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

    11/10/2009

  • The Senate Unemployment Insurance Bill: Must Everything Involve Tax Cuts?

    Efforts by Congressional leaders to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are entirely reasonable. It is unfortunate, however, that the price of providing this necessary help will be tax breaks to corporations and to the housing industry. The expansion and extension of both the homebuyer credit and the "net operating loss carryback" are ill-advised.

    11/02/2009

  • CTJ's Suggested Principles for Tax Reform

    President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) recently requested ideas from the public about how the federal tax system could be reformed. The following comments were submitted by Citizens for Tax Justice.

    10/16/2009

  • Health Care Financing Options: Review and Comparison of Six Progressive Options to Finance Health Care Reform

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) This report compares the revenue impact and distributional effects of six progressive revenue measures that have been discussed by members of Congress in recent months as options for financing health care reform. All of the six revenue measures examined here would make our tax system fairer, which is badly needed after the regressive tax cuts enacted over the past several years.

    09/24/2009

  • Health Care Reform Financing Options: Extend the Medicare Tax to Investment Income

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to begin work this week on an overhaul to the American health care system. Many lawmakers and health experts have expressed concern that the proposal put forward by the committee's chairman, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, does not provide enough resources to make health care affordable for working families. One option being discussed in the Senate is to reform the Medicare tax to raise the revenue needed to improve the affordability provisions.

    09/21/2009

  • The Bush Tax Cuts Cost Two and a Half Times as Much as the House Democrats' Health Care Proposal

    Newly revised estimates from Citizens for Tax Justice show that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade after they were first enacted (2001-2010). Preliminary estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show that the House Democrats' health care reform legislation is projected to cost $1 trillion over the decade after it would be enacted (2010-2019). And yet, many of the lawmakers who argue that the health care reform legislation is "too costly" are the same lawmakers who supported the Bush tax cuts.

    09/08/2009

  • Multinational Corporate Tax Abuses and Proposed Solutions: Summary of Remarks by Robert S. McIntyre

    On July 24, three organizations, Global Financial Integrity, the Tax Justice Network, and Citizens for Tax Justice, briefed Congressional Hill staff on proposals to crack down on offshore tax abuses. Here is a summary of the remarks of CTJ director Robert McIntyre.

    07/24/2009

  • Congressional Briefing: Tax Evasion and Incorporation Transparency

    On July 24, three organizations, Global Financial Integrity, the Tax Justice Network, and Citizens for Tax Justice, briefed Congressional Hill staff on proposals to crack down on offshore tax abuses. Here are the complete materials from the briefing.

    07/24/2009

  • Addressing Tax Havens and Offshore Tax Evasion: Legislation Pending in the 111th Congress

    Detailed explanation of proposals before Congress to address offshore tax abuses.

    07/24/2009

  • Fact Sheet: House Surcharge Proposal Unlikely to Have Noticeable Impact on Small Businesses

    Very few small business owners would pay the surcharge included in the House health care reform legislation. Even for those few business owners rich enough to pay the surcharge, the incentives to create jobs would not change.

    07/21/2009

  • Health Care Reform Financing Options: House Proposal to Apply a Graduated Surcharge to Incomes Over $350,000

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) H.R. 3200, the new health care bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, includes a graduated surcharge on families with incomes above $350,000 to finance health care reform. Under this proposal, the richest 1.3 percent of U.S. taxpayers would have an estimated total tax increase of $543 billion over ten years, which is considerably less than the amount this group received from the Bush tax cuts over the 2001-2010 period.

    07/15/2009

  • Health Care Reform Financing Options: Make the Medicare Tax a More Progressive Tax that Wealthy Investors Pay Just Like Everyone Else

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) The Medicare payroll tax is the one important tax we already have that is dedicated to funding health care, but it completely exempts wealthy investors whose income takes the form of capital gains, stock dividends, interest and other types of investment income. Congress could change this and at the same time raise the revenue needed to finance health care reform.

    07/07/2009

  • Health Care Reform Financing Options: President Obama's Proposal to Limit Itemized Deductions for High-Income Families

    (State-by-State Figures in Appendix) Itemized deductions provide subsidies for certain activities (like buying a home or giving to charity) through the tax system. But they unfairly subsidize these activities at higher rates for wealthy families than they do for middle-income families. The President's proposal to reduce this unfairness would only impact 1.3 percent of taxpayers. Almost all of these taxpayers are among the very richest Americans.

    07/07/2009

  • Caviar, Cruises, and Cocaine: Two New Studies from a Right-Wing Foundation Say the Estate Tax Causes the Rich to Stop Working and Spend Away their Millions

    A new report from CTJ examines a duo of new "studies" claiming that repeal of the estate tax is crucial to our economy. The studies, which were commissioned by a foundation established to promote repeal of the estate tax, use one-sided analysis to produce the conclusions that their funders desire.

    06/12/2009

  • President Obama's Revenue Proposals and Other Progressive Revenue Options

    Citizens for Tax Justice presentation to Rebuild and Renew America Now (RRAN) member organizations on June 3, 2009.

    06/03/2009

  • Progressive Revenue Options to Fund Health Care Reform

    There are straightforward ways to raise revenue that will not be overly burdensome for taxpayers and which will not harm the economy. They involve eliminating or reducing several subsidies and preferences provided in the federal tax code to the wealthiest and most powerful among us. Combined with savings in the existing health care system, these measures could raise enough revenue to adequately fund health care reform.

    05/21/2009

  • President Obama's Proposals to Raise Revenue

    On May 11, the Treasury Department released new details on President Obama's proposed changes to the tax code. In addition to extending the Bush tax cuts for all but the richest Americans and making permanent many of the tax cuts in the recently enacted economic recovery act, the President would also make many changes that would raise revenue by closing loopholes, blocking tax avoidance schemes and making the tax code more progressive.

    05/15/2009

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