Publications by Topic
Topic: Taxation of Households
Credits and Exemptions for Children (Article/Tax Facts)
Author(s):
Elaine Maag
The Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit (CTC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), and the dependent exemption all provide benefits to families
with children. In 2009, a single mom (or dad) with two children can receive benefits ranging from $0 to about $7,500 - depending on her income, age of the children,
and where the children live. While this assistance is extremely important to many low-income families, they
must navigate a bewildering set of rules to take full advantage of the credits. Due to the piecewise implementation of these credits and exemptions, total benefits bounce around erratically as income grows.
Published: 10/14/09
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The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Historical Data and Projections, Updated October 2009 (Research Report)
Author(s):
Katherine Lim , Jeff Rohaly
The alternative minimum tax (AMT), which originally targeted high-income taxpayers, requires annual legislation to prevent it from affecting millions of middle-income individuals each year. There are two primary reasons for the AMT’s broadening impact; its parameters are not indexed for inflation and the 2001-2006 tax cuts reduced regular tax liability without changing AMT liability. In 2009, four million taxpayers will pay $33.5 billion in AMT, but without congressional action that number will rise to 27 million owing $102 billion in 2010. This paper describes the AMT and provides TPC’s latest estimates of AMT coverage, revenue, and distribution.
Published: 10/05/09
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Financing Health Care Reform: Before the Senate Committee on Finance (Testimony)
Author(s):
Leonard E. Burman
The latest statistics show that 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2007. Health care costs threaten to bankrupt the nation if we can't figure out a way to slow their growth and pay for the government's growing share. Adding to the government's unfunded health care obligations would be reckless and irresponsible. In this statement, I will discuss some issues involved in measuring the impact of health care financing options, discuss an option to pay for universal health care coverage with a value added tax (VAT), and examine several incremental options to pay for all or part of health care coverage expansions.
Published: 05/12/09
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Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans : Implications for Those with High Medical Costs, Low Incomes, and the Uninsured (Policy Briefs/Timely Analysis of Health Policy Issues)
Author(s):
Linda J. Blumberg , Lisa Clemans-Cope
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and high-deductible health plans are prominently featured in many discussions of health reform. The hope of supporters is that they will make individuals more prudent purchasers of medical care. However, the tax structure and incentives built into HSAs make them most attractive to the high-income and the healthy, populations already advantaged by the current system. HSA/high deductible plans shift more of the health financing burden onto those using significant amounts of care, with negative ramifications for the low-income and high-need. Nor is it clear that cost-containment, higher value shopping, or reductions in the uninsured will follow.
Published: 02/03/09
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Using Taxes to Reform Health Insurance (Book)
Author(s):
Henry J. Aaron , Leonard E. Burman
Few people realize that one of the nation’s largest health programs runs through the tax system. Reformers of all stripes propose to modify current tax rules as part of larger programs to increase coverage and control costs. Is the current system working? Will tax-based reforms achieve their goals? Several of the nation’s foremost experts on taxation and health policy address these questions in Using Taxes to Reform Health Insurance, a joint product of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and the American Tax Policy Institute.
Published: 11/17/08
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Back from the Grave: Revenue and Distributional Effects of Reforming the Federal Estate Tax (Research Report)
Author(s):
Leonard E. Burman , Katherine Lim , Jeff Rohaly
In this paper we review the current wealth transfer tax rules and the changes introduced in 2001. We offer an overview of the methodology underlying the TPC's estate tax model and then use the model to estimate the number of estate tax filers, taxable returns, and the distribution of burden under current law. Finally, we investigate the revenue and distributional effects of several proposals to reform the estate tax, including those put forth by the presidential candidates.
Published: 10/20/08
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The Impact of the Presidential Candidates' Tax Proposals on Effective Marginal Tax Rates (Occasional Paper)
Author(s):
Katherine Lim , Jeff Rohaly
A taxpayer's effective marginal tax rate (EMTR) is the percentage of an additional dollar of income that would be paid in federal income tax. An individual's EMTR could affect the decision to work or save more, or avoid income tax. We use the TPC's microsimulation model of the federal tax system to calculate EMTRs under current law and under the presidential candidates' proposals. The Obama plan would lower EMTRs for the majority of households in 2009. Close to 80 percent of the population would see no change in their EMTR under Senator McCain's plan; most others would face lower rates.
Published: 09/30/08
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Solvency Recommendations for Ohio (Research Report)
Author(s):
Wayne Vroman
This report examines the funding of unemployment insurance (UI) in Ohio. It proposes seven recommendations to improve program solvency, both in the short run and in the long run. The two main recommendations to improve short-run solvency are to: 1) implement a substantial increase in the taxable wage base and 2) institute a temporary freeze in weekly benefits, both recommendations to be effective in 2009. Indexation of the taxable wage base is a principal recommendation to improve solvency in the long-run.
Published: 07/28/08
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An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans (Research Report)
Author(s):
Leonard E. Burman , Surachai Khitatrakun , Greg Leiserson , Jeff Rohaly , Eric Toder , Roberton Williams
Tax and fiscal policy will loom large in the next president's domestic policy agenda. Nearly all of the tax cuts enacted since 2001 expire at the end of 2010 and the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) threatens to ensnare tens of millions of Americans. While a permanent fix palatable to both political parties has proven elusive, both candidates have proposed major tax changes. This report describes how we performed our modeling and analysis, outlines the major tax proposals, and discusses the implications of their policies for the revenue raised, taxpayer economic activity, and the distribution of the tax burden.
Published: 07/23/08
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An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Executive Summary (Summary)
Author(s):
Roberton Williams , Howard Gleckman
Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to an updated analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.8 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. Under current law, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would expire in 2010 and the Alternative Minimum Tax would remain in full force.
Published: 07/23/08
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