Background on ITEP:

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) is one of the leading research and education organizations in the country working on government taxation and spending policy issues. Since its founding in 1979, ITEP's work has played a key role in educating the public and informing federal and state tax reform debates.

For the first 15 years of its existence, ITEP worked extensively with Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), providing much of the research for important studies released by that organization. CTJ's studies of federal corporate income taxation in the early 1980s are widely credited with fomenting an intense public debate over the wisdom of tax-based corporate subsidies. This debate eventually helped lead to a bipartisan consensus that many of these tax provisions were unwise public policy.

ITEP and CTJ reports, such as Inequality & the Federal Budget Deficit (1991), helped inspire new thinking about tax policy that later lead to the federal tax reforms adopted in 1993.

The development of the ITEP Microsimulation Tax Model, completed in 1996, marked the beginning of a new era for ITEP. This model is capable of calculating the impact of current tax law and tax change proposals on taxpayers by income level. The model can also project potential revenue yields of tax law changes. The ITEP model is unique in its ability to produce analysis at the federal and state levels and to analyze income, consumption and property based taxes.

ITEP has continued some of its work with CTJ, primarily on federal tax issues. In particular, in May of 1996, CTJ and ITEP published The Hidden Entitlements, a detailed analysis and critique of the hundreds of billions of dollars in hidden spending programs buried in the federal tax code. ITEP tax model analyses have also been used by CTJ to show the likely impacts of various flat tax and national sales tax proposals on the federal budget and the direct tax consequences for families at different income levels. ITEP is also frequently called upon to analyze many federal tax proposals and to look at the impact of current tax policies on issues of public concern.

Over the years, ITEP has played a key role in tax reform debates in the states. ITEP's capacity in this area was greatly expanded by the creation of the ITEP Microsimulation Tax Model. In June 1996, ITEP published Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States. This report analyzed the distributional effects of all major state and local taxes, on a state-by-state, tax-by-tax basis. The report found that all but a handful of states have regressive tax systems that impose higher effective tax rates on lower- and middle-income families than on the well off. It also outlined possible reforms that state and local government could adopt to make their tax laws more equitable.

Who Pays? received extensive media coverage and is currently being used by public and private sector analysts nationwide. Recently, ITEP has completed detailed studies of the Iowa, Minnesota and Arkansas tax systems. CTJ, using ITEP research, has also conducted major tax studies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Indiana, Florida and several other states.

In addition to studies, ITEP is frequently called on to do less comprehensive analyses and to testify before state legislatures.

In 1998, ITEP began a new project called Good Jobs First (GJF). The GJF project is already a national leader on the issue of state and local government subsidies for corporations. GJF studies corporate subsidies and is working to catalog corporate accountability "best practices" for state and local governments. GJF's first major study was released in January 1999. This report, Economic Development in Minnesota: High Subsidies, Low Wages, Absent Standards, found that many companies receiving substantial government subsidies in Minnesota pay extremely low wages.

ITEP works with a broad spectrum of local organizations on tax, corporate subsidy, and other issues relating to government taxation and spending policy. Tax and budget advocates, unions, community organizations, religious groups, living wage campaigns, environmentalists, and economic development networks consult with ITEP regularly. For information on how to apply for funding for an ITEP analysis, click here.

ITEP's work is relied upon by officials at all levels of government and their professional staffs as a source of high quality, accurate analysis of issues directly affecting economic well-being. ITEP's studies and reports are also used by economists, professors in classrooms, and research institutions around the country.

ITEP efforts to educate the public are augmented by the widespread media coverage that ITEP receives. In addition to the flurry of attention that occurs when a major study is issued, ITEP receives many calls daily from media outlets needing information and comment on a variety of issues. ITEP's staff members are frequently quoted in newspapers, write articles and op-ed pieces in numerous papers and magazines, and have appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows (including all of the national network news shows) to explain to the public the effects of current and proposed tax and corporate subsidy laws.