Amy Hanauer is a left-of-center tax and economic policy analyst. As of April 2022, she works as the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). She is also the executive director of Citizens for Tax Justice, its affiliated organization. She is also the founder and former executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, a left-of-center think tank in Ohio, [1] and the board chair of the American Prospect magazine. [2]
Early Life
Hanauer received her bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University. She received her master’s of public affairs from the La Follette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [3]
Early Career
Hanauer worked at the think tank Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While there, she helped place women in unionized manufacturing jobs. [4]
Hanauer founded the left-of-center think tank Policy Matters Ohio in 2000. She grew it from a one-person operation to 14 staff members before she left in 2020. [5]
She also sat as the vice president of the board of the left-wing think tank Demos from 2010 to 2018. [6]
Work At ITEP
Hanauer become executive director of Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in 2020. [7]
In March 2021, she appeared on the Inside Change podcast, hosted by the left-of-center website BlueTent, arguing that progressives needed to focus on raising taxes in order to generate enough revenue to fund their desired expansion of government. [8]
She also called for the enactment of a wealth tax, arguing that it would be impossible to get to an “equitable economy” if the wealthy are allowed to pass down their wealth from generation to generation. [9]
In September 2021, she wrote an op-ed praising the Occupy Wall Street movement. In that same op-ed, she called for the enactment of tax increases to fund massive expansion of the federal government. [10]
Other Affiliations
Hanauer also chairs the board of the American Prospect magazine. In addition, she has previously held board or committee roles at the Economic Analysis Research Network and the State Priorities Partnership. [11]