The Tax Policy Center's
Briefing Book
A citizen's guide to the fascinating (though often complex) elements of the federal Tax System.
Tax Policy Center Briefing Book
Table of Contents
- Chapters
- Overview
- Prologue
- Some Background
- The Numbers
- Budget Process
- Taxes and the Budget
- Taxes and the Economy
- Economic Stimulus
- Distribution of Tax Burdens
- How are federal taxes distributed?
- Are federal taxes progressive?
- How should progressivity be measured?
- What is the difference between marginal and average tax rates?
- What criticisms are levied against standard distributional analysis?
- How should distributional tables be interpreted?
- Who bears the burden of the corporate income tax?
- Who bears the burden of federal excise taxes?
- How do financing methods affect the distributional analyses of tax cuts?
- Tax Expenditures
- Tax Gap
- Tax Shelters
- History of the Tax Code
- Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System
- Income Tax
- Taxation and the Family
- What is the personal exemption?
- Has the personal exemption kept up with prices and incomes?
- What is the child tax credit (CTC)?
- What is the adoption tax credit?
- What is the earned income tax credit (EITC)?
- How does the tax system subsidize child care expenses?
- What tax benefits exist for K-12 education?
- What tax incentives exist to help families save for college?
- What tax incentives exist to help families pay for college?
- What are marriage penalties and bonuses?
- Taxes and the Poor
- How does the federal tax system affect low-income households?
- What is the difference between refundable and nonrefundable credits?
- Can poor families benefit from the child tax credit?
- Why do low-income families use tax preparers?
- How does the EITC affect poor families?
- What are error rates for refundable credits and what causes them?
- How do IRS audits affect low-income families?
- Savings and Retirement
- What kinds of tax-favored retirement accounts are there?
- How large are the tax expenditures for retirement saving?
- What are defined-benefit retirement plans?
- Who uses tax-favored retirement savings accounts?
- What are defined-contribution retirement plans?
- What types of nonemployer-sponsored retirement accounts are available?
- What are Roth individual retirement accounts?
- How does tax-favored retirement saving affect national saving?
- What’s the difference between front-loaded and back-loaded retirement accounts?
- What is an automatic 401(k)?
- How might low- and middle-income households be encouraged to save?
- What is the myRA
- AMT
- Tax Complexity
- Health Care
- How much does the federal government spend on health care?
- Who has health insurance coverage?
- What tax provisions subsidize the cost of health care?
- How does the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance work?
- How does the employer-sponsored insurance exclusion affect health insurance coverage?
- What are premium tax credits?
- What is the Cadillac tax?
- What tax changes did the Affordable Care Act make?
- Homeownership
- Capital Gains and Dividends
- Wealth Transfer Taxes
- Payroll Taxes
- What are the major federal payroll taxes, and how much money do they raise?
- What is the unemployment insurance trust fund, and how is it financed?
- What are the Social Security trust funds, and how are they financed?
- Are the Social Security trust funds real?
- What is the Medicare trust fund, and how is it financed?
- Federal Excise Taxes
- Taxes and Energy
- Taxes and the Environment
- Business Taxation
- Tax Incentives for Economic Development
- Tax-Exempt Organizations
- International Taxation
- How does the current system of international taxation work?
- What are the consequences of the US International Tax System?
- How does the tax system affect US competitiveness?
- How would formulary apportionment work?
- What are inversions, and why do they happen?
- What are the options for reforming our international tax system?
- How Could We Improve the Federal Tax System?
- Incremental Reforms
- Comprehensive Tax Reform
- Broad-Based Income Tax
- National Retail Sales Tax
- What is a national retail sales tax?
- What would and would not be taxed under a national retail sales tax?
- What would the tax rate be under a national retail sales tax?
- What is the difference between a tax-exclusive and a tax-inclusive sales tax rate?
- Who bears the burden of a national retail sales tax?
- Would tax evasion and avoidance be a significant problem for a national retail sales tax?
- What would be the effect of a national retail sales tax on economic growth?
- What transition rules would be needed for a national retail sales tax?
- Would a national retail sales tax simplify the tax code?
- What has been the state and local experience with retail sales taxes?
- What is the experience of other countries with national retail sales taxes?
- Why wouldn't the rate for a national retail sales tax be 23 percent?
- What did the President’s Advisory Panel on Tax Reform say about the national retail sales tax?
- Value Added Tax
- What is a VAT?
- How would a VAT be collected?
- What would be taxed under a VAT?
- What would the rate be under a VAT?
- What is the difference between zero-rating and exemption a good in the VAT?
- Who would bear the burden of a VAT?
- Is the VAT a money machine?
- How would small businesses be treated under a VAT?
- What is the Canadian experience with a VAT
- Why is the VAT administratively superior to a retail sales tax?
- What is the history of a VAT?
- How are different consumption taxes related?
- Flat Tax
- X-Tax
- Recent Comprehensive Tax Reform Proposals
- Simple, Fair, and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America’s Tax System, Report of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, November 2005
- The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, December 2010
- Debt Reduction Task Force, Restoring America's Future, Bipartisan Policy Center, November 2010
- The Tax Reform Act of 2014: Fixing Our Broken Tax Code So That It Works for American Families and Job Creators, House Ways and Means Committee
- The Graetz Competitive Tax Plan: Update for 2015
- Return-Free Filing
- What is it return-free filing and how would it work?
- What are the benefits of return-free filing?
- What are the drawbacks of return-free filing?
- How would the tax system need to change with return-free filing?
- Who would qualify for return-free filing?
- Would return-free filing raise taxes?
- What was the experience in California with return-free filing?
- What other countries use return-free filing?
- The State of State (and Local) Tax Policy
- State and Local Revenues
- Specific State and Local Taxes
- Fiscal Institutions and Intergovernmental Relations
- Overview
-
Chapter 1Overview
-
Chapter 2Some Background
-
Chapter 3Key Elements of the U.S. Tax System
-
Chapter 4How Could We Improve the Federal Tax System?
-
Chapter 5The State of State (and Local) Tax Policy