Poorest Three-Fifths of Americans Get Just 18% of the Tax Cuts in the Fiscal Cliff Deal


Revenue Impacts of the Fiscal Cliff Deal


The Biden-McConnell Tax Deal Would Save Less than Half as Much Revenue as President Obama's Original Tax Proposal


Congress Should Reject the New Tax Deal


Fortune 500 Corporations Holding $1.6 Trillion in Profits Offshore


Recent Reports

  • Revenue Impacts of the Fiscal Cliff Deal

    While the White House and members of Congress have described the fiscal cliff deal as raising $620 billion in revenue, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the official revenue estimator for Congress, has projected that it will actually reduce revenue by $3.9 trillion over a decade. The widely-used $620 billion figure is calculated by comparing the bill's provisions making permanent most of the Bush-era tax cuts to a proposal for making permanent all the Bush-era tax cuts. As explained below, the revenue "savings" is likely to be offset by the business tax cuts that are also included in the bill and which are now likely to be extended over and over throughout the decade and beyond.

    01/03/2013

  • Poorest Three-Fifths of Americans Get Just 18% of the Tax Cuts in the Fiscal Cliff Deal

    The fiscal cliff deal approved by the Senate and House on New Year's Day cuts taxes substantially compared to the tax policies that would be in effect if Congress had allowed all temporary tax cuts to expire. The deal cuts taxes even for the richest Americans but directs only a fraction of the overall tax cuts to low- and middle-income Americans.

    01/03/2013

  • The Biden-McConnell Tax Deal Would Save Less than Half as Much Revenue as President Obama's Original Tax Proposal

    The tax deal negotiated between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and approved by the Senate early on January 1 would save less than half as much revenue as President's Obama's original proposal.

    01/01/2013

  • Comparing Speaker Boehner's "Plan B" Tax Proposal and President Obama's Latest Proposal

    The "Plan B" tax proposal that House Speaker John Boehner plans to put to a vote in the House of Representatives would allow the richest one percent of Americans to pay $36,000 less in federal income taxes, on average, than they would pay under President Obama's most recent proposal. Under Plan B, the poorest three-fifths of Americans would pay more in federal income taxes, on average, than they would pay under the President's latest plan.

    12/20/2012

  • Fortune 500 Corporations Holding $1.6 Trillion in Profits Offshore

    Among the Fortune 500 corporations, 290 have revealed that they, collectively, held nearly $1.6 trillion in profits outside the United States at the end of 2011. This is one indication of how much they might benefit from a so-called "territorial" tax system, which would permanently exempt these offshore profits from U.S. taxes. Just 20 of the corporations -- including household names like GE, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Coca-Cola and Goldman Sachs -- held $794 billion offshore, half of the total.

    12/13/2012

  • Reforming Tax Breaks Is Not a Substitute for Higher Tax Rates: Both Are Necessary to Raise Adequate Revenue

    The revenue goals set out by President Obama are alarmingly low, but unfortunately most proposals circulating around Washington today would fall far short of them. The $1.6 trillion of revenue that the President proposes to save over the next decade depends on allowing the Bush-era reductions in tax rates to expire for high levels of income and limiting deductions and other breaks. Doing one or the other will not raise enough revenue.

    11/30/2012

  • Making Work Pay Credit More Effective and Affordable than Other Types of Tax Cuts

    The Making Work Pay Credit, a tax credit that was in effect in 2009 and 2010, is better targeted towards low- and middle-income families than the payroll tax cut in effect today, at half the cost. It is dramatically more targeted to these families than the Bush tax cuts, at just over a sixth of the cost. Prominent Washington figures and media outlets have suggested in recent days that either the payroll tax cut might be extended or the Making Work Pay Credit might be revived.

    11/02/2012

  • Romney's Latest Proposal to Pay for His Tax Cuts Would Offset Only a Fraction of Their Costs: National & State-by-State Figures

    Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has proposed to make permanent the Bush tax cuts without offsetting the costs and also enact new, additional tax cuts that would be paid for by limiting tax expenditures (special breaks or loopholes in the tax code). Romney recently suggested that his new tax cuts could be paid for by limiting itemized deductions to $25,000 per tax return, which we estimate would offset just 36 percent of their costs. The percentage of Romney's new tax cuts offset by this limit on itemized deductions would vary dramatically by state.

    10/24/2012

  • Which Fortune 500 Companies Are Sheltering Income in Overseas Tax Havens?

    Ten corporations admit paying little tax on offshore income, and more likely do the same. Our analysis shows that ten corporations, representing over a sixth of the $1.5 trillion in unrepatriated profits, have paid little or no tax on these profits to any government. That implies that these profits have been artificially shifted out of the United States and other countries where the companies actually do business, and into foreign tax havens.

    10/17/2012

  • Tax Questions and Tax Facts for the Presidential Candidates

    As President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney face off in their first debate, a number of big-picture questions about tax policy remain unanswered by either candidate.

    10/03/2012

  • Ending the Capital Gains Tax Preference would Improve Fairness, Raise Revenue and Simplify the Tax Code

    The tax break that allows Warren Buffett, Mitt Romney and other extremely wealthy Americans to pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than many middle-income people is the special low income tax rate for capital gains, which are the profits made from selling assets for more than they cost to purchase. This tax break was made more generous and expanded to apply to stock dividends as part of the Bush tax cuts. This report explains that the capital gains break mainly benefits the richest one percent of Americans, reduces revenue by hundreds of billions of dollars each decade, gives rise to tax shelters and makes our tax code overly complicated.

    09/20/2012

  • Despite Claim of High Tax Rate, Continental Resources Paid Just 2.2% of Its Profits in Federal Income Taxes over the Past 5 Years

    Continental Resources, an American oil company that is particularly active in North Dakota and Montana, has enjoyed pre-tax U.S. profits of $1,872 million over the past five years, but paid a mere $40 million in federal corporate income taxes over that same period. Continental Resources has enjoyed an effective federal corporate income tax rate of just 2.2 percent over the past five years.

    09/13/2012

  • The Role of Revenue in Addressing America's Economic and Fiscal Issues: Testimony Before the Congressional Progressive Caucus

    Testifying before the Congressional Progressive Caucus, CTJ's legislative director explains why tax cuts are an ineffective tool to stimulate the economy and are making deficit-reduction impossible. The testimony also explains why our tax system should be made more progressive.

    09/12/2012

  • How Big Is the Romney-Ryan Tax Cut for Millionaires?

    Both Romney and Ryan's plans would give people making over $1 million an average tax cut of about $250,000 if these millionaires had to give up all of their tax expenditures. If Romney or Ryan's plan was implemented without closing any tax expenditures for the rich, then people making over $1 million would receive an average tax cut of around $400,000.

    08/29/2012

  • Mitt Romney's Tax Plan Would Give Average Tax Break of at Least $250,000 to People Making Over $1 Million

    Taxpayers making over $1 million in 2013 would receive a net tax cut of a little more than $250,000 under Romney's plan even if they had to give up ALL of their tax deductions and tax credits and the exclusion from income of the generous health benefits they receive...

    08/10/2012

  • Don't Renew the Offshore Tax Loopholes

    Congress Should Kill the "Extenders" that let G.E., Apple, and Google Send Their Profits Offshore

    08/02/2012

  • The Debate over Tax Cuts: It's Not Just About the Rich

    Tax Breaks for 13 Million Working Families with 26 Million Children Are Also at Stake: State-by-state analysis of the tax breaks for working families with children that President Obama would keep and the GOP would eliminate.

    07/19/2012

  • Senate Democrats Consider Extending More Tax Breaks for Rich Taxpayers with Dividends than Obama Proposes

    The tax cut proposal circulating among Senate Democrats would provide much larger tax breaks to high-income individuals than President Obama proposes -- including an average break of $166,500 for those making over $20 million -- because it would extend most of the Bush tax cuts for stock dividends.

    07/17/2012

  • Married Couples with Incomes Between $250,000 and $300,000 Would Lose Only 2% of Their Bush Income Tax Cuts under Obama Plan versus GOP Plan

    President Obama's proposal would allow everyone -- even billionaires -- to continue enjoying the lower Bush-era income tax rates on the first $250,000 they make (or the first $200,000 in the case of unmarried taxpayers). Couples with adjusted gross income (AGI) between $250,000 and $300,000 would retain 98% of their Bush income tax cuts, on average, under Obama's proposal.

    07/13/2012

  • Bush Tax Cut Proposal Calculator

    Citizens for Tax Justice has created an online calculator that will tell you what you're likely to pay in income taxes and payroll taxes under three different scenarios.

    07/10/2012

 

 

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