Who Benefits from Tax Expenditures?

Roberton Williams (May 4, 2011) - Tax expenditures—exclusions, deductions, preferential tax rates, and credits—all serve to lower income tax bills for households across the income distribution. However, the benefits of particular tax breaks tend to concentrate on different income categories. Itemized deductions and lower tax rates on capital gains and dividends mostly benefit higher-income households, while tax credits give most benefits to those with low incomes.

Read the entire article.

Capital Income Taxation and Progressivity in a Global Economy

Rosanne Altshuler, Benjamin H. Harris, Eric Toder (April 26, 2011) - This paper estimates that taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income could finance a substantial cut in the corporate tax rate and make the tax system more progressive.

See the latest version of this paper published in the Virginia Tax Review.