Don’t Count on Much Economic Growth From Individual Tax Reform…Or From Tax...
Can individual income tax reform that cuts rates and eliminates subsidies increase economic growth? How about tax cuts by themselves? The answer is: Maybe, but not by much, according to a new paper by...
View ArticleIncome Tax Changes and Economic Growth
Policy makers and researchers have long been interested in how potential changes to the personal income tax system affect the size of the overall economy. Earlier this year, for example, Representative...
View ArticleHow Asset Building Tax Subsidies Miss Their Targets
Nearly one-third of all federal tax expenditures–$384 billion in 2013 alone– is aimed at various forms of asset building, such as retirement savings, higher education, and home ownership. Yet,...
View ArticleThe Small, Happy World of Supersized IRAs
When Mitt Romney released his tax return information during the 2012 presidential campaign, many of us were introduced to the world of supersized IRAs. Romney somehow had a tax-preferred retirement...
View ArticleWill Consumers Come To Love Longevity Annuities?
Economists love longevity annuities. But what will it take to get real people to buy them? That’s one of the questions that two panels of retirement experts will tackle at a Brookings Institution event...
View ArticleNow is the Perfect Time to Raise Gas Taxes
Let’s see if I have this right: Congress needs to finance highway and transit projects but can’t agree on how. The traditional revenue source is the gasoline tax. Gas prices are at their lowest levels...
View ArticleWhy the More Generous Child and Earned Income Tax Credits Should Be Made...
co-authored with William G. Gale While most of the tax drama these days is focused on the fate of 50+ mostly-business tax breaks that expired nearly a year ago, lawmakers are also debating two...
View ArticleAre Tax-Free ABLE Accounts The Right Financial Solution For People With...
For the first time since 2010, Congress may be about to acknowledge that people with disabilities cannot have a decent quality of life with limited financial resources and modest government support. It...
View ArticleWill Immigrants Get A Tax Windfall From Refundable Credits?
In the end-of-the-year congressional scramble, lawmakers scuttled an effort to permanently extend a number of tax breaks—largely because many feared it would open the door to widespread use of...
View ArticleTaxes, Charitable Gifts, the ACA, and Ineffective Deadlines
Scrambling to make a last-minute charitable donation to beat the New Year’s Eve deadline for a 2014 tax deduction? Take a deep breath and ask yourself, “Why am I going through this craziness now?” Why...
View ArticleThe IRS Should Fix Its Letter Audit Program
The beleaguered IRS has two enormous challenges: It must rebuild its reputation to win congressional support for the funding it needs to do its job. And, because it will never get all the money it...
View ArticleRetirement Security a Priority in the 2015 State of the Union
In the 2015 State of the Union Address, President Obama made retirement security a priority for his Administration by promoting the Automatic IRA, a retirement savings plan that originated at the...
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Obama Would Simplify and Expand Spending and Tax Subsidies for Child Care
President Obama proposed three important changes to the way the federal government helps families with child care costs – increase direct subsidies for low-income families, increase tax credits for...
View ArticleObama Would Improve Tax Subsidies for Higher Education
President Obama will feature higher education prominently in next week’s budget—a choice that makes sense, given that educational attainment is the most straightforward pathway for economic...
View ArticlePitching, Defense, and State Tax Policy
The Washington Nationals' signing of Max Scherzer—one of the best starting pitchers in baseball—ignited a few sports-talk debates: Do the Nationals have the best rotation in the history of the game?...
View ArticleThe Other Gambling Line on Super Bowl Sunday
Pop-quiz: What's the line on Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks? Answer: The Patriots are favored by one or two points (depending on what sportsbook you bet with). Next...
View ArticleBetter Ways to Link the Affordable Care Act with Tax Filing Season
The Obama Administration, finally acknowledging the seasonal mismatch between the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment season and the ACA’s tax-based penalties for failing to have insurance, decided...
View ArticleSo Far, Affordable Care Act Users Are Managing Tax Filing, Many Uninsured May...
So far, most people with Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies seem to be filing their taxes without huge problems, despite the complexity of the process. However, about half of those who have filed...
View ArticleWhat We Hear When We Talk About Taxes... Musings of a Tax Hound
It’s been just over a year since I started posting TPC’s Daily Deduction. It’s high time I let you in on a little secret: Whenever I tell people that I write about “tax news and research” I get the...
View ArticleCutting Capital Gains Taxes is a Dead End, Not a Step on the Road to a...
One of the most useful insights of public economics is the "theory of second best." The idea is that adopting some but not all of the features of optimal policy—the seminal article on the subject...
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