Hunter Blair, budget analyst for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, agrees — to some extent. “This is a slight tax cut on average for most people,” he says. But, he adds, “It’s tilted to the top 1%” of income earners.” The top one-fifth of households would save an average 3.3% of their after-tax income, and the top 1% would save an average 8.5%, or $129,000.
USA Today
November 1, 2017
As the Economic Policy Institute’s Josh Bivens points out, “the gains from smart investments like early childhood education are more diffuse — they show up in thousands of kids doing a bit better throughout their entire schooling and working careers. But these latter benefits are bigger, and much more equitably shared.” … Becoming a member of the top 1% requires some serious loot — an income of about $390,000 in the U.S., according to data released last year by the Economic Policy Institute. And you’re far more likely to make it into that coveted group if you’re a man, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, which examined the gender breakout of the 1% from 1981 – 2012.
Jacobin
November 1, 2017
Tip theft and other forms of wage theft is already a serious problem, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. It estimated workers lost more than $50 billion a year in wage theft in 2014, or far more than the cost of robberies, burglaries and other property crimes. About $1 billion in stolen wages and tips were recovered for workers in 2012, thanks to federal or state agencies and private lawyers. Wage theft ranges from failing to pay for overtime to skimming tips that should go to tipped workers.
CBS News
October 31, 2017
And beyond that, current law holds that when you die, your unrealized capital gains on assets you never sold are simply wiped away. Your heirs start fresh, a process known as “stepped-up basis.” For that reason, the only tax ever paid on such gains is the estate tax. If Congress repeals the estate tax, it’s unclear whether it would also change the stepped-up basis rules. Trump suggested such a change during his campaign—but that proposal hasn’t reappeared since he took office. If there’s no change, “that would be a huge benefit to very, very rich estates,” said Hunter Blair, a budget analyst at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg
October 31, 2017
The kindergarten-readiness gap between low-income and high-income students has not closed in a generation, even though parents are more involved than ever in their children’s education and state-funded pre-K, nutrition programs, and prenatal care are more accessible now than in the late 1990s. That is the major finding of a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, in which researchers Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss analyzed kindergarten readiness data for socioeconomic groups in 1998 and 2010 to see if gaps in academic readiness have shrunk over time. The researchers found that large gaps for both reading and math performance between kindergarteners of high and low socioeconomic status were nearly the same in 1998 and 2010 even though there are more anti-poverty programs than ever before. (whole story)
The Hechinger Report
October 31, 2017
America is not the highest taxed nation in the developed world and the argument that a lower corporate tax rate would result in more jobs and higher wages for middle-class Americans is not supported by evidence. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that cutting taxes for corporations does not boost wages, calling the claim “clearly wrong.”
Think Progress
October 30, 2017
Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute said in a statement that the topline growth number overstates the strength of the economy, with other indicators slowing and remaining in line with the Great Recession recovery period. “All in all, today’s report is consistent with an economy that has steadily improved since mid-2009, with the pace of improvement too-slow but steady,” he said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
October 30, 2017
But not everyone is convinced that the numbers are as good as they seem. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the growth rate was better than expected given the particularly bad hurricane season. But measures like the final sales to domestic purchasers grew substantially slower in the third quarter. EPI research director Josh Bivens notes the economy appears to be growing at a rate consistent with past years. “Final sales to domestic purchasers—a measure of domestic demand growth that strips out the volatile component of inventories—grew substantially more slowly this quarter (1.8 percent), and this number seems like the more informative one about the underlying strength of the U.S. economy’s expansion: slow but almost exactly in line with the entire post-Great Recession period,” Bivens wrote.
Inside Sources
October 30, 2017
Josh Bivens, research director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, noted that domestic final sales, a separate measure which tracks domestic demand but strips out the inventories segment, had seen only 1.8 percent growth, down from 2.7 percent in the second quarter. “This number seems like the more informative one about the underlying strength of the US economy’s expansion: slow but almost exactly in line with the entire post Great Recession period,” he said in a research note.
Agence France Press (AFP)
October 30, 2017
Stuart Hoffman of PNC bank says the “solid” growth data is likely to help corporate profits and reinforce the U.S. central bank’s determination to raise interest rates in December. Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute says the figures “overstate” growth, and he notes inflation is still below the Fed’s two percent target, making an interest rate hike unnecessary at this time.
Voice of America
October 30, 2017