Recent Publications

  • Five Things You Should Know on Tax Day

    1. The nation's tax system is barely progressive. 2. The U.S. statutory corporate income tax rate is 35 percent, but many companies pay at a much lower rate. 3. Taxes in the United States are well below those of most developed nations. 4. U.S. multinational corporations are aggressively shifting their profits into low-rate foreign tax havens. 5. Various presidential candidates are proposing huge tax cuts that would paradoxically make most Americans worse off.

    04/14/2016

  • Who Pays Taxes in America in 2016?

    The federal income by itself is progressive. But when all of the taxes we pay are taken into account, most of that progressivity disappears.

    04/12/2016

  • Fifteen (of Many) Reasons Why We Need Corporate Tax Reform: Companies From Various Sectors Use Legal Tax Dodges to Avoid Taxes

    This CTJ report illustrates how profitable Fortune 500 companies in a range of sectors of the U.S. economy have been remarkably successful in manipulating the tax system to avoid paying even a dime of tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits.

    04/11/2016

  • American Corporations Tell IRS the Majority of Their Offshore Profits Are in 10 Tax Havens

    Recently released data from the Internal Revenue Service show that U.S. corporations claim that 59 percent of their foreign subsidiaries' pretax worldwide income is being earned in ten tiny tax havens.

    04/07/2016

  • U.S. Corporate Taxes Are Below Developed Country Average

    Corporate income taxes in the United States as a share of the economy are significantly less than the average among developed nations, according to an analysis of the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

    04/07/2016

  • The U.S. Is One of the Least Taxed Developed Countries

    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.

    04/07/2016

  • News Release: Pfizer Inversion Failure Is an Example of What Happens When Elected Officials Stand up to Special Interests

    The truth is that only Pfizer executives and shareholders stood to financially and handsomely benefit from the inversion if the company could avoid paying taxes on the $200 billion in profits it has stashed offshore.

    04/06/2016

  • News Release: New Treasury Regulations Are Good, But Not Sufficient to Stop Inversions

    Even if Treasury further cracks down on U.S. companies that claim foreign residency for tax purposes, congressional action remains necessary to put a full stop to corporation inversions.

    04/05/2016

  • CTJ Letter to Treasury on Inversion Regulations

    We urge the Department of Treasury to take all action within its authority to curb the ability of corporations to avoid taxes by engaging in corporate inversions. Specifically, we believe that Treasury could take further steps to curb inversions through the use of its regulatory authority under Section 956 and Section 7701.

    03/23/2016

  • Donald Trump's Tax Plan Would Cost $12 Trillion

    A new Citizens for Tax Justice analysis of presidential candidate Donald Trump's tax plan reveals that it would add $12.0 trillion to the national debt over a decade. More than one-third of these tax cuts, $4.4 trillion, would go to the top one percent of taxpayers. Trump's tax cuts would have to be paired with $12 trillion in spending cuts to avoid massive budget deficits, meaning this plan could require eliminating 94 percent of all discretionary spending to make up for its cost. This analysis also finds that if Congress chooses to pay for the Trump plan's tax cuts with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, the net impact of the Trump tax plan would provide an even greater boon to the wealthy and be even more detrimental to low- and middle-income taxpayers.

    03/17/2016

  • Ted Cruz's Tax Plan Would Cost $13.9 Trillion, While Increasing Taxes on Most Americans

    A new Citizens for Tax Justice analysis of presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz's tax plan reveals that it would add $13.9 trillion to the national debt over a decade. Despite proposing the largest tax cut of any candidate, Cruz's tax plan would actually increase taxes on 60 percent of Americans. Cruz's tax cuts would have to be paired with $13.9 trillion in spending cuts to avoid massive budget deficits, meaning that even eliminating all discretionary spending would not be enough to make up for its cost. This analysis also finds that if Congress chooses to pay for the Cruz plan's tax cuts with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, the net impact of the Cruz tax plan would provide an even greater boon to the wealthy and be more detrimental to low- and middle-income taxpayers.

    03/16/2016

  • The Net Effect: Paying for GOP Tax Plans Would Wipe Out Income Gains for Most Americans

    A complete analysis of each candidate's tax plan should include the impact of necessary future spending cuts and tax increases that the plans would require. This CTJ report not only provides a distributional analysis of how the candidates' plans would affect taxpayers on average based on income quintile, it also provides a blanket distributional analysis of the economic impact on each quintile of tax increases and spending cuts. This analysis concludes that when the tax cuts and their likely offsets are accounted for, only the wealthiest Americans would receive a net benefit, while the vast majority of Americans would be much worse off.

    03/09/2016

  • News Release: Paying for GOP Tax Plans Would Wipe Out Income Gains for Most Americans

    When the tax and spending implications of GOP tax plans are considered, the vast majority of Americans would be worse off, according to a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice that sheds more light on the true impact of GOP tax plans.

    03/09/2016

  • Fortune 500 Companies Hold a Record $2.4 Trillion Offshore

    All told, American Fortune 500 corporations are avoiding up to $695 billion in U.S. federal income taxes by holding $2.4 trillion of "permanently reinvested" profits offshore. In their latest annual financial reports, 27 of these corporations reveal that they have paid an income tax rate of 10 percent or less in countries where these profits are officially held, indicating that most of these monies are likely in offshore tax havens.

    03/04/2016

  • Ten Corporations Would Save $97 Billion in Taxes Under "Transition Tax" on Offshore Profits

    Earlier this week, President Barack Obama released details of his proposed federal budget for the fiscal year ending in 2017. The proposal includes a one-time "transition tax" on the offshore profits of all U.S.-based multinational corporations. The President's plan would tax these profits at a 14 percent rate immediately, rather than at the 35 percent rate that should apply absent the "deferral" loophole. This proposal, like an alternative Republican plan that would tax these profits at an even lower 8.75 percent rate, would lavish huge tax cuts to the many corporations currently holding such profits, often actually earned in the U.S., in low-rate foreign tax havens. Ten of the biggest offshore tax dodgers would receive a collective tax break of $97 billion under Obama's plan, and $121 billion under the Republican alternative.

    02/16/2016

  • President Obama's FY17 Budget Proposal: A First Look At Its Major Tax Provisions

    Earlier this week, President Barack Obama released details of his proposed federal budget for the fiscal year ending in 2017. While many cynical observers and some members of Congress immediately derided the budget blueprint as an irrelevant exercise in political theatre, the President's plan actually includes a number of sensible ideas that could help point the way to meaningful federal tax reform in years to come. Here's a quick overview of the best--and the rest--of the tax policy ideas in the Obama 2017 budget plan.

    02/11/2016

  • Bernie Sanders' Health Care Tax Plan Would Raise $13 Trillion, Yet Increase After-Tax Incomes for All Income Groups except the Very Highest

    A new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' recently released "Medicare for All" tax plan finds that Sanders' health-related taxes would raise an estimated $13 trillion over 10 years. The analysis also finds that the plan would raise average after-tax incomes for all but the top income groups.

    02/08/2016

  • The Tax (and Wage) Implications of Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" Health Plan

    A new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ recently released “Medicare for All” tax plan finds that Sanders’ health-related taxes would raise an estimated $13 trillion over 10 years. The analysis also finds that the plan would raise average after-tax incomes for all but the...

    02/08/2016

  • News Release: Sen. Bernie Sanders' Tax Proposal Would Increase Federal Revenue and Increase after Tax Wages for All but the Top 5 Percent

    A new analysis of Sen. Bernie Sanders' tax plan finds that it would increase federal revenue by $13 trillion over a decade, while increasing after-tax income for all groups except the very highest earners. The top 1 percent would see an average reduction in after-tax income of $159,000, while almost all other income groups would see an increase in after-tax income.

    02/08/2016

  • Press Statement: Clinton Tax Reform Proposals Are a Step Toward Tax Fairness

    For decades, the wealthy have used their clout to create a tax system riddled with special carve outs and loopholes, allowing them to pay relatively low tax rates. Clinton's call to enact the Buffett Rule and a "Fair Share Surcharge" on income over $5 million would help level the playing field between wealthy investors, who benefit from a special low rate on their investment income, and everyday Americans.

    01/12/2016

 

 

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