The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) generally reduces marriage penalties for head of household filers marrying single filers, with combined incomes up to $80,000. The law's relevant marriage penalty provisions in order of effect are (1) the refundable, doubled...
GAO released an analysis on January 11 of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility and participation rates. The study estimates that one fourth of all eligible households do not claim the EITC. However, GAO's study was based on information from two mismatched databases and its conclusions...
The 2001 tax act was only one in a long series of tax laws complicating an already byzantine tax system. Ever the bridesmaid, simplification seems never to get the attention it deserves, no matter which political party is in powermainly because broader agendas are always being pursued.
[Contra Costa Times] Economics can sometimes go round the bend. For instance, in theory, you could avoid the drawbacks of taxes - discouraging work and saving and encouraging tax shelters - by taxing people randomly. The idea is that you can't avoid taxes if you can't anticipate them....
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle argues that in a world with multiple transfer and tax programs, one can't solve the issue of how to set tax rates unless the tax and spending sides of the budget are analyzed together, and unless phaseouts of various tax and expenditure benefits are considered along...
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle describes how tax legislation in 2001 brought to light the difficulty with trying to deal with only one side of the budget at a time, especially with regard to the progressivity issue.
[Houston Chronicle] Why is the tax code so complicated? Because whenever politicians face important tax policy choices, they always compromise with more complexity. That way they can avoid painful trade-offs.
The bias against tax simplification is strong, and history does not provide many examples of success. Nonetheless, conventional wisdom on the history lesson may be mistaken.
How Marriage Penalties Change Under the 2001 Tax Bill
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) generally reduces marriage penalties for head of household filers marrying single filers, with combined incomes up to $80,000. The law's relevant marriage penalty provisions in order of effect are (1) the refundable, doubled...
Analysis of GAO Study of EITC Eligibility and Participation
GAO released an analysis on January 11 of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility and participation rates. The study estimates that one fourth of all eligible households do not claim the EITC. However, GAO's study was based on information from two mismatched databases and its conclusions...
Tax Simplification
The 2001 tax act was only one in a long series of tax laws complicating an already byzantine tax system. Ever the bridesmaid, simplification seems never to get the attention it deserves, no matter which political party is in powermainly because broader agendas are always being pursued.
New Tax Laws A Bizarre and Confounding Mix
[Contra Costa Times] Economics can sometimes go round the bend. For instance, in theory, you could avoid the drawbacks of taxes - discouraging work and saving and encouraging tax shelters - by taxing people randomly. The idea is that you can't avoid taxes if you can't anticipate them....
The Merger of Tax & Expenditure Policy in the 2001 Tax Legislation (Part 2 of 2)
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle argues that in a world with multiple transfer and tax programs, one can't solve the issue of how to set tax rates unless the tax and spending sides of the budget are analyzed together, and unless phaseouts of various tax and expenditure benefits are considered along...
The Merger of Tax & Expenditure Policy in the 2001 Tax Legislation (Part 1 of 2)
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle describes how tax legislation in 2001 brought to light the difficulty with trying to deal with only one side of the budget at a time, especially with regard to the progressivity issue.
What Next if Not Simplification?
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle argues for simplification as a main goal of tax reform.
Think FRED: Tax Cuts Just Add to Complexity
[Houston Chronicle] Why is the tax code so complicated? Because whenever politicians face important tax policy choices, they always compromise with more complexity. That way they can avoid painful trade-offs.
The Optimistic View on Simplification
The bias against tax simplification is strong, and history does not provide many examples of success. Nonetheless, conventional wisdom on the history lesson may be mistaken.
Opportunity at Hand: Revising the Child Credit
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle describes how a child credit revision has a chance to achieve bipartisan support.