About The Citizens for Tax Justice

Our Mission

Citizens for Tax Justice, founded in 1979, is a 501 (c)(4) public interest research and advocacy organization focusing on federal, state and local tax policies and their impact upon our nation. CTJ's mission is to give ordinary people a greater voice in the development of tax laws. Against the armies of special interest lobbyists for corporations and the wealthy, CTJ fights for:

  • Fair taxes for middle and low-income families
  • Requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share
  • Closing corporate tax loopholes
  • Adequately funding important government services
  • Reducing the federal debt
  • Taxation that minimizes distortion of economic markets

History

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan had an epiphany. His Treasury Secretary informed him that Reagan’s former employer, General Electric, and dozens of other major American corporations did not “pay a penny in taxes to the United States government.” In fact, the Treasury Secretary added, “your secretary paid more federal taxes last year than all of those giant companies put together.”

That information, not to mention the exact phrasing, came straight from Citizens for Tax Justice. Upon hearing it, Reagan ordered his Treasury Secretary to “go full steam ahead” with what became the Tax Reform Act of 1986. That law repudiated Reagan’s earlier loophole-crazed tax policies and swept away most of the tax-shelter schemes and loopholes that cluttered the tax code.

CTJ's studies on corporate tax avoidance, including 130 Reasons Why We Need Tax Reform (1986), Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Freeloaders (1985) and Money for Nothing: The Failure of Corporate Tax Incentives, 1981-1984 (1986) have been widely cited for their key role in the enactment of this tax reform legislation in 1986. Indeed, The Washington Post called CTJ's reports a "key turning point" in the tax reform debate that "had the effect of touching a spark to kindling" and "helped to raise public ire against corporate tax evaders." The Wall Street Journal said that CTJ "helped propel the tax-overhaul effort," and the Associated Press reported that CTJ's studies "assured that something would be done . . . to make profitable companies pay their share." And in the wake of CTJ's agenda-setting role in the 1986 tax reform debate, the Washington Monthly ranked CTJ at the top of its list of America's "best public interest groups."

In 1991, CTJ's Inequality and the Federal Budget Deficit examined the linkage between tax cuts for the wealthy and the mounting federal deficit. This attention helped set the stage for President Clinton's 1993 budget act, which took back some of the tax cuts previously granted to the wealthiest Americans by the supply-side tax plan of 1981. In the mid-1990s, CTJ demonstrated to lawmakers and the public that the tax cuts pushed by Newt Gingrich and his allies were both unaffordable and hugely tilted toward the rich.

During George W. Bush’s presidency, CTJ’s work showed that the Bush tax cuts were even more unfair and unaffordable. With both the Treasury Department and the Joint Committee on Taxation refusing to publish data showing the estimated distribution of Bush’s proposed cuts, CTJ’s analyses were the primary source of information on which Congress, the media, and the public relied. The New York Times described CTJ as having “no doubt … exerted more influence on the tax debate this year than any lobbyist in town.” In a similar vein, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota said “I don’t know what we’d do without CTJ. The agencies of government that are supposed to provide this information don’t, and the only way we can get it is from CTJ.”

Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri recently appluaded CTJ for being committed to "what's fair for ordinary Americans who don't have much of a voice in our country and in our capitol, certainly on tax matters, which are usually esoteric, complicated issues that nobody quite understands."

Recently, CTJ has provided lawmakers with information to help them make the right decisions on several issues that impact the lives of ordinary Americans, including:

Each year, CTJ continues to release more valuable and insightful analyses of legislative proposals, and works closely with lawmakers and other organizations in support of fairness and simplicity in tax policy. CTJ staff hold briefings with lawmakers, testify before legislative committees, and explain their work and the implications of tax policy issues directly to policymakers and policy advocates across the nation. Recently, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan called this work "indispensible" and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon praised CTJ for being "on the side of the typical working person, the person without the lobbyist" in the debate over tax fairness.

CTJ’s work is frequently featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications – big and small – across the country. Through press, television and radio coverage, CTJ's message gets out – to the public and policymakers alike.

Working with a growing network of labor, community, and church groups from every part of the country, CTJ's goal is to make taxes a better deal for middle- and low-income American families.