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    <title>Tax Policy Center: General Tax Policy</title>
    <link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org</link>
    <description>Tax Policy Center reports on: General Tax Policy - The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. The Center is comprised of nationally recognized experts in tax, budget, and social policy who have served at the highest levels of government.</description>
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    <copyright>Copyright 2012 Tax Policy Center</copyright>
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Measuring Effective Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Effective tax rates (ETRs) measure how much people pay in taxes as a percentage of their pretax incomes. That seems simple, but theres an important complication: there are different ways to measure how much someone pays in taxes and how much he collects in pretax income. Those choices matter a great deal. As a result, it is essential to use the same ETR measure when comparing tax burdens across individual taxpayers or groups.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412497&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rachel M. Johnson, Joseph Rosenberg, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Distributional Effects of Individual Income Tax Expenditures: An Update]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax expenditures on average raise after-tax incomes more for upper-income than for lower-income taxpayers. As a share of income, special rates for capital gains and dividends and itemized deductions provide the largest benefits for taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution, exemptions and exclusions benefit taxpayers in upper middle-income groups the most, and refundable credits provide the largest benefits to those in the bottom two quintiles of the distribution. Interactions among provisions make the revenue cost of all tax expenditures about 10 percent larger than the sum of the costs of the separate provisions.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412495&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Daniel Baneman, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Curbing Tax Expenditures]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This paper takes a broad look at tax expenditures in the context of revenue raising tax reform. It first reviews how tax expenditures have changed over the past 25 years and provides estimates of the distribution of tax savings resulting from tax expenditures today. The paper then examines three approaches for applying across-the-board limits to a selected group of the largest and most widely utilized tax preferences. The three optionsa fixed percentage credit, a cap based on income, and a constant percentage reductioncan all be designed to raise significant revenue for deficit reduction in a progressive manner.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412493&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Daniel Baneman, Joseph Rosenberg, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Health Reform's Tax on Investment: Facts and Myths]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[To help pay for expanded health insurance coverage, the health reform legislation enacted in 2010 included a new 3.8 percent tax on the net investment income of high-income taxpayers. When it goes into effect in 2013, it will increase the top tax rate on capital gains, dividends, and other investment income, regardless of whether the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are allowed to expire. Almost all the burden will be borne by taxpayers with extremely high incomes. More than half the burden, for example, falls on taxpayers in the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001585&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Using a VAT to Reform the Income Tax]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 100 Million Unnecessary Returns, Columbia University law professor Michael J. Graetz proposed a sweeping reform of the federal tax system that is intended to simplify the tax system, improve economic incentives, and maintain fairness. The Graetz proposal would remove most current taxpayers from the income tax rolls, reform the corporate income tax, significantly reduce the top individual and corporate rates, and adopt a value-added tax (VAT). This paper describes the Graetz proposal in detail and analyzes its effects on federal revenues, spending and the deficit, the distribution of tax burdens, economic incentives, and tax administrative and compliance costs.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412489&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder, Jim  Nunns, Joseph Rosenberg)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[America Owes $10 Trillion! No, $50 Trillion! Let Me Explain.]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses the estimates of America's debt which vary by tens of trillions of dollars, depending on how you count. The bottom line: It's deep but not yet fatal.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901476&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Rates on Capital Gains]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax rates on capital gains have fluctuated over the past century, sometimes matching the rates for ordinary income but more often substantially below them. The current top gains tax rate is 15 percent, less than half the 35 percent top rate on ordinary income and lower than at any time since the depression. But if Congress does not change the law, the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and imposition of taxes associated with the 2010 healthcare legislation will boost the maximum tax rate on gains to 25 percent in 2013.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001583&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Twelve Days of Christmas Hopes for Tough Economy, Deadlocked Congress]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses hopes for the global economy and the political leaders struggling to keep it on an even keel.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901471&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Real Tax Reform: Flat-Tax Simplicity with a Progressive Twist]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron agrees that there are good reasons for a simpler tax system, as found in the flat-tax plans of GOP hopefuls Perry, Gingrich, and Cain. But they need to be made more progressive to amount to real tax reform that can pass muster politically.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901465&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Using a VAT for Deficit Reduction]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Two ways of reducing the deficit are imposing a broad VAT with a rebate to offset the burden on low-income households and increasing marginal income tax rates.  The prototype VAT would impose a larger burden on low- and middle-income households than raising income tax rates and increase compliance costs for taxpayers and administrative costs for the government, especially during a startup period.  But the VAT would lead to a smaller increase in marginal tax rates on labor income than an income tax, not affect incentives to save and invest, and impose fewer, but not necessarily smaller, distortions on economic decisions.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001567&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jim  Nunns, Joseph Rosenberg, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Congress Begs a Crisis to Fix the Debt]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the CNNMoney.com, Rudolph Penner discusses the super committee's failure to fix the deficit.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901464&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rudolph G. Penner)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[California's Initiative Turns 100: What's the Single Best Thing We Can Do to Improve the Initiative Process? Make it harder.]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This year marks the 100th Anniversary of California's initiative process. In 1911, California famously adopted the direct initiative process and ballot box decision-making has become almost as synonymous with the Golden State as beaches, hi-tech innovation, and Hollywood. While 75% of voters in California still see direct initiatives as a good thing, a similar percentage thinks it could use some tweaking. In honor of the anniversary, Zcalo Public Square garnered commentary on the initiative process.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901457&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Kim Rueben)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Simple Tweak, Profound Effects]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the New York Times' Room for Debate, Roberton Williams suggests Congress scale back on tax subsidies in a way that protects America's hard-hit middle class.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901454&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Energy Policy and Tax Reform]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Donald Marron's testimony before the House Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures and the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means on energy policy and tax reform.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901452&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Five Tough Deadlines for Decisions on Spending, Government Debt]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses the five deadlines that will force Congress to address spending and government debt.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901453&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Trends in Tax Expenditures, 1985-2016]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986 greatly changed the cost of tax expenditures. The revenue lost to tax expenditures declined sharply after enactment of the 1986 Act, falling from nearly 9 percent of total GDP in fiscal year 1985 to 6 percent in 1988. Since then, tax expenditures have gradually increased as a share of GDP but have remained below the 1985 level. Furthermore, the composition of tax expenditures has changed significantly.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412404&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Allison  Rogers , Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Poverty and Income Tax Entry Threshold]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The tax entry threshold is the income level at which a person begins paying federal income taxes. Unlike payroll taxes, income taxes do not start at the first dollar of earnings. Rather, the federal income tax system exempts an amount of income from taxation based on the type of tax unit (married or unmarried, with or without children) and the number of people in the tax unit.  Tax credits can raise the tax entry threshold further. This article compares the tax entry threshold to the poverty line providing one way to judge how the tax system treats low-income families and providing a comparison of the relative generosity of the income tax for families with and without children.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001555&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Budget Hawks, Doves Deadlocked? Send in the Foxes!]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron argues for a new way of approaching the U.S.'s budget woes.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901443&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Options to Limit the Benefit of Tax Expenditures for High-Income Households]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This analysis measures the revenue and distributional impacts of three proposals to limit tax expenditures for higher-income households: the Obama Administration's plan to cap the value of itemized deductions at 28 percent; an effective minimum tax (EMT) to ensure that tax liability is at least a certain percentage of a taxpayer's income; and a modified version of a recent proposal to limit the value of specific tax expenditures to two percent of adjusted gross income (AGI).]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001548&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Daniel Baneman, Jim  Nunns, Jeff Rohaly, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001548-Limit-Tax-Expenditures-High-Income.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="401052"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Why Some Tax Units Pay No Income Tax]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[About 46 percent of American households will pay no federal individual income tax in 2011, roughly half of them because of structural features of the income tax that provide basic exemptions for subsistence level income and for dependents. The other half are nontaxable because tax expenditures special provisions in the tax code that benefit selected taxpayers or activitieswipe out tax liabilities and, in the case of refundable credits, yield net payments from the government. Provisions that benefit senior citizens and low-income working families with children particularly affect households with income under $50,000 but other factors make higher-income households nontaxable.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001547&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rachel M. Johnson, Jim  Nunns, Jeff Rohaly, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Spending in Disguise]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[A great deal of government spending is hidden in the federal tax code in the form of deductions, credits, and other preferences  preferences that seem like they let taxpayers keep their own money, but are actually spending in disguise.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001542&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Any Difference Between Tax Breaks and Spending Programs?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses the recent Supreme Court ruling that state tax breaks are different from spending programs, but the effect of each is the same]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901422&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[How Large Are Tax Expenditures?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax expenditures are getting increased scrutiny from budget hawks and tax reformers. New Treasury estimates, released as part of President Obamas recent budget, indicate that these tax preferences will reduce individual and corporate income tax revenues by almost $1.1 trillion in 2011. Those provisions will also increase spending on refundable tax credits by $108 billion and will reduce payroll and excise tax receipts by $111 billion. Together, the tax expenditures identified by Treasury will total almost $1.3 trillion this year.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001526&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Responses to Tax Incentives in a Complex and Uncertain Tax Law : Before the Senate Committee on Finance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Eric Toder's testimony before the before the Senate Finance Committee on how tax law complexity limits the effectiveness of tax incentives.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901418&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901418-Responses-Tax-Incentives.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="277240"/>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Proposals in the 2012 Budget]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[President Obama's 2012 Budget contains a number of tax provisions that would cut taxes for low- and middle-income households and raise taxes on wealthier taxpayers. This resource guide describes the tax proposals, offers more detailed commentary on key provisions, and links to tables showing the distributional effects of the overall proposal and various elements of the plan.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001524&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Benjamin H. Harris, Elaine Maag, Donald Marron, Jim  Nunns, Joseph Rosenberg, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001524-2012-Budget.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="846998"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Policy and Small Business : Before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Committee on Ways and Means]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Donald Marron's testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Committee on Ways and Means on tax policy and small business.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=9001412&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Reform: The Wheels Are Beginning To Turn]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses strategies to reform Americas broken tax code. Marron proposes ridding the system of corporate and individual tax preferences to create a fairer, simpler, and revenue-generating system with fewer tax breaks and lower rates across the board.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901407&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Fix the CLASS Act, Don't Repeal It]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act is a national, voluntary long-term care insurance program included in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Some congressional critics would repeal the law. But while the measure is poorly designed, it should be reformed. Changes could increase the marketability of the policies and avoid adverse selection that threatens this insurance program. A successful CLASS program would be a first step towards transforming long-term care from Medicaid to an insurance-based system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901405&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Howard Gleckman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Cutting Tax Preferences is Key to Tax Reform and Deficit Reduction : Before the Senate Committee on the Budget]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Donald Marron's testimony before the Senate Committee on the Budget on reforming the tax code.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001492&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[It's Not About Economic Equality]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In the New York Times' Room for Debate, Roberton Williams discusses the estate tax and why, despite its shortcomings, it still has an important role in federal tax policy.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901394&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Extending Tax Credits for Low-Income Families]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Policymakers should be thinking hard about low-income families with children and the tax code. In 2010, the federal income tax system will deliver substantial assistance to these families through refundable tax credits. The Tax Policy Center estimates a third fewer children would be in poverty if tax credits were counted in a persons available resources when measuring poverty. They are among the most potent anti-poverty programs for families with children. In 2011, some aid targeted to the poorest families will disappear as the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901365&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Future of Individual Tax Rates: Effects on Growth and Distribution : Donald Marron's Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Finance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Donald Marron's testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on the individual tax system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901360&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901360_marron_future_rates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="301897"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Future of Individual Tax Rates: Effects of Economic Growth and Distribution : Leonard Burman's Testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Leonard Burman's testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on whether and how to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901361&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901361_burman_future_rates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="131750"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Impact of the Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010 ("Wyden-Gregg") on Effective Marginal Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Wyden-Gregg tax reform proposal would represent a broad reform of the federal income tax system. This paper examines the plan's impact on individuals' effective marginal tax rates (EMTR), the incremental amount of tax owed on an additional dollar of income. We examine the impact on the EMTR for both wage income and realized capital gains against current law and current policy baselines.
We find the Wyden-Gregg plan would lower the overall average EMTR on wages relative to both current law and current policy, but would raise the overall average EMTR on gains when compared with those same two baselines.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901362&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Katherine Lim, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901362_WG_MTR.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="440089"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Top Federal Individual Income Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The reduction in individual income tax rates and the other tax cut provisions enacted in 2001 and 2003 were "sunset" at the end of 2010.  Unless Congress acts to delay the expiration of the rate reductions, the top individual rate will rise from 35% in 2010 to 39.6% for 2011 and later years.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412113&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jim  Nunns)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412113_top_federal_income.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="481329"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Why Nearly Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[During the recent tax filing season, cable news and talk radio repeatedly discussed the Tax Policy Center's (TPC's) estimate that 47 percent of Americans would pay no federal income tax for 2009.  However much of the commentary failed to explain why.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412106&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412106_federal_income_tax.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="83079"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Preliminary Revenue Estimates and Distributional Analysis of the Tax Provisions in the Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010 ("Wyden-Gregg," introduced as S. 3018) is a broad reform of the federal income tax system. Some provisions would also expand the Social Security payroll tax base. This paper presents the Tax Policy Center's estimates of the revenue and distributional effects of the income and payroll tax provisions in Wyden-Gregg.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412098&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jim  Nunns, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412098_wyden_gregg.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="106071"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Capital Income Taxation and Progressivity in a Global Economy]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Corporate level income taxes encourage the outflow of capital and the shifting of reported profits to other jurisdictions.  The outflow of capital shifts some of the burden of the tax from owners of capital to workers.  In contrast, individual level taxes on corporate income lower the after-tax return to saving, but have less effect than corporate level taxes on the location of investment.   Reversing recent cuts in the tax rates on capital gains and dividends would finance a substantial cut in the corporate tax rate, reduce the outflow of capital, and make the tax system more progressive.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412093&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Benjamin H. Harris, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412093_progressivity_global.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="226546"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[State Individual Income Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Personal income tax systems vary widely across states, leading to different levels of progressivity.  Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have an individual income tax. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming do not tax personal income, while New Hampshire and Tennessee only tax dividends and interest.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001379&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Carol Rosenberg, Kim Rueben)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 11 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001379_state_individual_income.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="635857"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Countdown to Catastrophe]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This article, written for a lay audience, discusses the causes and consequences of catastrophic budget failure.  When Americas ballooning federal debt becomes unmanageable, we might simply refuse to honor our obligations, triggering a worldwide financial collapse and an economic downtown that would make the recent unpleasantness seem like a walk in the park. Or we might create enough money to pay back our creditors, domestic and foreign, triggering a hyperinflation reminiscent of failed states like the Weimar Republic in the 1930s (or, more recently, Zimbabwe) that would wipe out the savings of anyone caught holding wealth in dollars.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001372&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 26 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001372_catastrophe.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="2511737"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Government Spending Undercover : Spending Programs Administered by the IRS]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 2011, the U.S. government will spend over $1 trillion on tax expenditures.  These programs often fly under the radar of media and public opinion. This paper discusses obstacles to subjecting tax expenditures to the same scrutiny as direct outlays and offers some recommendations for incorporating them in the budget process.  It then provides a framework of questions and principles policymakers should consider in evaluating these programs.  We conclude that the size of tax subsidies should not be based on a claimant's marginal tax rate or itemizing status, implying that refundable credits are usually the best way to deliver them.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001365&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Lily L. Batchelder, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001365_undercover_spending.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="549178"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Myth of Income Tax Freeloading]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This year's tax season controversy surrounds the Tax Policy Center's estimate that 47% of households do not owe income tax. The estimate has raised concerns about equity (nearly half of families free-riding on the rest of us) and civic responsibility (can democracy work when half of voters get government for free?). It also just ticked off some people who feel they're bearing more than their fair share of the tax burden.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901340&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Health mandate: It's just a tax break in disguise]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[CNNMoney.com.  Len Burman discusses the health insurance mandate.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901338&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Effects of Imposing a Value-Added Tax To Replace Payroll Taxes or Corporate Taxes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This report examines the effects of imposing a new value added tax (VAT) in the United States and using the revenue raised to lower payroll tax and corporate income tax rates.  We summarize how different forms of VAT operate and compare how a VAT, payroll tax, and corporate income treat different sources of income and the different ways each tax distort economic decision-making.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412062&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Joseph Rosenberg, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412062_VAT.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="322907"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[5 Myths about your taxes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[April is here, which means it's almost time to pony up and render unto  Caesar. We've gathered our receipts and other documents, and dragged ourselves  to the strip-mall tax preparer or fired up do-it-yourself software to determine  how big our refund is -- or how much we owe Uncle Sam. No one likes to pay  taxes, but as we get ready to stand in line at the post office on the 15th, it  might be useful to dispel some of the most common myths about this springtime  ritual.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901335&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxes and the Budget]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Leonard Burman's testimony before the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures House Ways and Means Committee on taxes and the federal budget.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901330&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901330_burman_testimony.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="134395"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Preliminary Revenue Estimate and Distributional Analysis of the Tax Provisions in A Roadmap for America's Future Act 2010]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010 is a detailed reform package that overhauls Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. federal tax system. In a January 27, 2010, report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the spending provisions of the plan. This paper presents the Tax Policy Center's estimates of the revenue and distributional impact of the Roadmap's tax provisions.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412046&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Joseph Rosenberg)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412046_ryan_taxplan.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="62016"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Held Harmless by Higher Income Tax Rates?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 2010, 45 percent of tax returns will either remit no federal income tax or receive a net tax refund.  But this figure overstates the share of taxpayers who would be unaffected by higher income tax rates.  Raising all rates by 1 percent would hold only 34 percent of tax returns harmless; others would either pay higher taxes or receive smaller net rebates.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001359&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rachel M. Johnson, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001359_harmless_income.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="485402"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Variation in Effective Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The expansion of refundable tax credits and the proliferation
of specialized tax breaks means that households
with similar incomes can face wildly different
effective federal tax rates. For example, among middle-income
households, the median effective income tax rate
is 3 percent, but 10 percent of those households face
effective rates exceeding 9 percent and another 10 percent
receive a net government subsidy greater than 4 percent
of their cash income.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412032&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Katherine Lim, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412032_effective_tax_rates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="1903730"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Proposals in the 2011 Budget]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Tax Policy Center has examined the key tax proposals in President Obama's 2011 budget. Separate discussions below describe each of the proposals including current law, proposed changes, and, when appropriate, the distributional effects. The budget as presented by the president lacks complete details on many of the tax proposals. Some provisions had virtually no detail and our discussion of them is necessarily limited.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412029&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Dan Halperin, Benjamin H. Harris, Joseph Rosenberg, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412029_2011_budget.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="572143"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Let's freeze more than chump change]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[President Obama has proposed to freeze most domestic discretionary spending -- a step in the right direction, but not enough. The $250 billion in expected savings over the next decade is chump change compared with deficits that could top $10 trillion if policy doesn't change.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901319&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Desperately Seeking Revenue]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In August 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2009) projected that the federal budget deficit would total $7.1 trillion over the 2010-2019 decade-under current law. That outcome would require the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress to stop "patching" the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to minimize its bite. If neither of those things happens, CBO says the cumulative deficit over the decade would jump to $11.1 trillion, more than doubling the national debt. CBO characterizes that situation as being unsustainable and it is hard to find anyone who would disagree.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412018&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Katherine Lim, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/412018_seeking_revenue.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="147739"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Status Report: Obama and the Tax System]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[illiam Gale and Benjamin Harris give the president a B, noting their approval of the administration's aggressive use of tax and fiscal policy in pursuing the paramount goal of saving the economy-but also concern about the resulting lack of progress in efforts to reform the tax and fiscal system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001357&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( William G. Gale, Benjamin H. Harris)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[We need to ban the evil Santas]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The two Santas came to Washington in 2000 and threaten to never leave. If we don't send them packing, Christmas Future could be very bleak indeed.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901315&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Where, Oh Where, Has the Estate Tax Gone?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Unless Congress changes the law, the federal estate tax
will disappear on January 1, 2010. For the first time since
the 1916 inception of the tax, the estate of anyone dying
in 2010 will go to heirs tax free, a result of the 2001 tax
law that phased out the estate tax over 10 years. But that
law itself expires in 2011 and the estate tax will revert to
pre-2001 law.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001354&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001353_estate_tax.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="487018"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Comparing Subsidies for the House and Senate Health Care Bills]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Consider an employer who bears an equal cost for their employees and must choose between the proposed subsidy for those on the exchange and the current subsidy for those who get employer-provided health insurance.  What are the consequences for the employee? This article discusses the results for the employee under the current health care bills in the House and the Senate.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001352&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Stephanie Rennane, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001352_comparing_subsidies.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="479143"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxation of Credit Derivatives]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One arguably good thing about the current financial crisis is that it has broadened public understanding of the global financial system. Few people had heard of credit default swaps two years ago, but these instruments have, since then, forced themselves on the attention the most casual reader of financial news. Credit default swaps brought insurance giant AIG to its knees, and precipitated a $100 billion U.S. government bailout of the company. More recently, it has been reported that hedge fund manager John Paulson made more than $3 billion during 2008 using credit default swaps to bet against subprime mortgages.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001350&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Lawrence Lokken)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001350_credit_derivatives.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="176051"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Personal savings need a boost]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Washington Times.  America's days of economic  dominance are numbered because we don't save. The government is borrowing like  crazy, and households aren't doing much better. The personal savings rate --  the share of after-tax income that people set aside for a rainy day -- has been  falling like a stone since the early 1980s.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901298&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Considerations in Efforts to Restructure Work-Based Credits]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Internal Revenue Code has replaced traditional means-tested programs as the principal means for transferring income to low earners. The largest vehicle is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), now supplemented by both the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Making Work Pay tax credit (MWP).
This paper looks at the system's evolution, the important role played by the tax system in assisting low earners, and the complexities presented by the current approach. It offers principles to guide the design of a worker credit and child benefit that would replace the EITC, CTC, and MWP, along with a specific proposal.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001347&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Steve Holt, Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001347_refundable_work.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="187878"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Opacity of Marginal Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Suppose that a taxpayer earns an additional dollar of
income. How much tax would she owe on that dollar? A
natural way to answer this question would be to look up
the taxpayers statutory tax rate - the tax rate corresponding
to her tax bracket and filing status.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001336&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Jacob Goldin)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001336_opacity.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="477887"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Focus on the Tax 'Avoidance' Gap]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[President Obama's tax reform task force has been asked to propose ways to close the $300 billion tax gap, which is the estimated difference between taxes owed and taxes paid either voluntarily or through enforcement. But the amount of money lost to legal tax avoidance - the difference between an income tax without special tax preferences and taxes under current law - at least double that lost to outright evasion. The perpetrators of this second, "avoidance" tax gap are legislators, not taxpayers. The panel's main focus should be on finding appropriate ways to close this second tax gap.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001315&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001315_tax_avoidance.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="37048"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Pyrrhic victory on health reform?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Washington Times op-ed.  Leonard Burman discusses the politics of the health care reform debate.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901281&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Automatic Enrollment in IRAs: Costs and Benefits]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[To encourage better retirement saving, President Obama recently proposed policies that would require firms without retirement savings plans to automatically enroll their workers in IRAs. In addition, the president proposed an expansion of the Saver's Credit to be fully refundable and available to middle-income taxpayers. This report estimates the revenue costs and distributional effects of the president's proposals.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001312&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Benjamin H. Harris, Rachel M. Johnson)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001312_auto_enroll.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="518451"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxing Adjusted Gross Income Instead of Taxable Income]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The House leadership has proposed to finance health care reform with a surtax on adjusted gross income (AGI) of high-income individuals, while the president's budget would increase the two top marginal tax rates on taxable income.  Income taxed at statutory marginal rates is 58 percent of AGI for all taxpayers but only 46 percent of AGI for taxpayers with income over $1 million.  While personal exemptions and deductions account for most of the difference between the two tax bases for the population as a whole, capital gains and qualified dividends make up most of the difference for very high income taxpayers.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001298&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jacob Goldin, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001298_adjusted_gross.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="87030"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Activist Fiscal Policy to Stabilize Economic Activity]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Facing the most severe recession since the 1930s, and probably the longest as well, the
U.S. government has adopted an aggressive countercyclical fiscal policy stance, beginning with the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 in February of that year, shortly after the recessions designated starting date, and followed one year later by the much larger American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. These two bills, adopted under different presidents, both contained temporary tax rebates for households and temporary investment incentives for firms, indicating at least limited bipartisan acceptance of these approaches to countercyclical stimulus.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001311&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001311_activist_fiscal.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="168734"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Distribution of Federal Taxes, 2009-12]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Overall, the federal tax system is progressive. On average, households with higher incomes pay taxes that are a larger share of their income. But barring legislative action, the numerous sunsets and phase-ins that Congress has written into the tax code will result in a tax system that is in a state of flux over the next few years. As a result, current law dictates significant changes in the degree of progressivity in the federal tax system between now and 2012. This paper summarizes the Tax Policy Center's latest estimates of the distribution of federal taxes for 2009 through 2012.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411943&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rachel M. Johnson, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411943_distribution_federal.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="485932"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[AMT Coverage by State, 2007]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Many taxpayers must calculate their federal income tax liability under two sets of rules: those applying to the regular income tax and those of the alternative minimum tax. If a taxpayer owes more tax under the alternative rules, then the difference is paid as AMT. The AMT hits people in some states harder than it does in others because state and local income and property taxes are not allowed as itemized deductions against the AMT and because income varies across states. This column discusses AMT participation rates by state.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001299&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Carol Rosenberg)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001299_AMT_07.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="650707"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax subsidies for private health insurance: Who benefits and at what cost?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Policymakers are considering modifications to the tax treatment of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) as a way to raise revenue to help pay for health reform and provide incentives to reduce health care costs. Understanding how current subsidies work is important to assessing health reform proposals. This brief presents essential information about the structure and distribution of existing tax subsidies for ESI and the implications for policy options.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001297&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Sarah Goodell, Surachai Khitatrakun)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001297_tax_subsidies.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="335388"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Mitigating the Potential Inequity of Reducing Corporate Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Some tax proposals would reduce the marginal corporate tax rate. Others would boost the top individual rate. Although a differential between corporate and individual rates could reduce the overall tax on distributed corporate income, it could also enable higher-income taxpayers to shelter income from taxation. This paper explains how denying the lower corporate rate to income from services and passive investments combined with provisions that prevent people from permanently escaping tax on retained earnings would mitigate this problem.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411931&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Dan Halperin)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411931_mitigating_corporate_rates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="232723"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Conversations: Leonard Burman]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax Notes, July 27, 2009. Leonard E. Burman is a fellow at the Urban Institute and director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis at the Treasury Department from 1998 to 2000 and as senior analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. This fall, he will become the first Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Policy at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Burman recently sat down with Tax Analysts' Sam Young to discuss his future plans, the outlook for healthcare reform in Congress, and his proposal to create a VAT to pay for healthcare.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001294&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Sam  Young)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001294_burman_interview.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="556686"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Here Comes the Next Fiscal Crisis]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Los Angeles Times op-ed, July 8, 2009. In the immediate future, policymakers will face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale examine the economic challenges facing the U.S.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001291&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Who Pays No Income Tax?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Nearly half of all tax units will pay no income tax in 2009. The fraction of non-taxpayers differs widely, depending on income, tax filing status, and whether the unit is elderly or contains children.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001289&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001289_who_pays.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="497881"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Update on the Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[his paper reviews recent economic events and their impact on U.S. fiscal performance and prospects. We highlight the historic nature of the 2009 budget outcomes, the unsustainability of plausible ten-year budget projections, and the increasingly dire long-term fiscal problem. These conditions leave federal policy makers with difficult choices. Over the next several years, as the recession ends and the economy recovers, policy makers will face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. Even if a successful recovery ensues, however, medium-term and long-term fiscal problems have become increasingly urgent.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001284&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001284_economic_crisis.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="222069"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Do We Need a Value-Added Tax to Solve Our Long-Run Budget Problems?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The U.S. budget is on an unsustainable path. That is because Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which together constituted almost one half of noninterest spending before the recent stimulus plan, are all growing faster than tax revenues. If these programs are not reformed, tax burdens raised, or other spending decimated, deficits and the national debt will explode. It is difficult to imagine solving the entire budget problem by slowing spending growth, because benefits would then be far below those previously promised. It is equally unlikely that tax increases could solve the whole problem because the tax burden would then be so far above any ever experienced by Americans. To the extent that tax burdens are to be increased, there are three options. Tax rates could be raised in the existing system, but that would be extremely inefficient. Tax reform might raise revenues more efficiently, but that is excruciatingly difficult politically. That leaves the possibility of a brand new tax and a VAT is a very likely candidate.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411912&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rudolph G. Penner)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411912_vat_budget_speech.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="41922"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Future of Long-Term Care: What Is Its Place in the Health Reform Debate?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[More than 10 million Americans require long-term care supports and services. Yet the system for delivering and paying for this assistance is deeply flawed. While most of the frail elderly and those with disabilities prefer assistance at home, many must live in nursing homes to receive Medicaid benefits, care coordination for those with multiple chronic illnesses is poor, and the system for financing care impoverishes many middle-income families. The national health reform debate allows policymakers to reconsider long-term care as well. This paper assesses proposals to restructure the delivery and financing of long-term care services.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411908&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Howard Gleckman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411908_longterm_care.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="350526"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Beyond the Storm: New Reforms for 401(k) Plans]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The financial crisis has provoked calls for a fundamental reform of the nation's retirement saving structure. This article argues that rather than dismantle the existing system, policymakers should build on existing reforms and expand the automatic 401(k) to help eligible workers save more and make better investment decisions. In addition, retirees should be given the opportunity to test-drive annuity products to realize the benefits of receiving stable retirement income, and near-retirees should be provided the option of incrementally purchasing annuity units over time to help mitigate the risk associated with varying interest rates.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001279&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Benjamin H. Harris, Lina Walker)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001279_beyond_storm.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="494749"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Different Way to Pay for Health Reform]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Washington Times op-ed, May 19, 2009. Expanding health-care access is a top priority for the Obama administration, and leaders in Congress are on board. Political leaders also agree that any health insurance expansion must not increase the deficit. So how do we pay for health care without sinking the economy? The best option would be to phase in a value-added tax (VAT) dedicated to paying for health care. Packaged with the right bells and whistles, the VAT would help revive the economy, offset the burden on low-income families, and help slow health-care costs.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901254&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901254_burman_health_editorial.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="42418"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[A Blueprint for Tax Reform and Health Reform]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This paper outlines a plan for a VAT dedicated to paying for a new universal health insurance voucher combined with a vastly simplified and much flatter income tax. Top income tax rates could be cut to 25% or less and most taxpayers would not have to file returns. The health care voucher would offset the inherent regressivity of a VAT, since the voucher would be worth more than the VAT tax paid by most households. Moreover, with the VAT rate tied to health spending, the public would have a vested interest in reining in the growth of health care costs.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001262&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001262_blueprint_reform.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="224545"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxing Capital Gains in Australia: Assessment and Recommendations]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One of the most vexing and contentious issues in taxation is the proper treatment of capital gains-the increase in value of an asset such as shares of company stock or a business. In principle, under an income tax, capital gains should be included in the tax base as they accrue. In practice, if they are taxed at all, capital gains are almost always taxed only when an asset is sold (or "realized") and generally at lower rates than other income.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411857&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411857_capgains_australia.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="124572"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Proposals in the 2010 Budget]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[President Obama's 2010 Budget contains a number of tax provisions that would cut taxes for low- and middle-income households and raise taxes on wealthier taxpayers. This resource guide describes the tax proposals, offers more detailed commentary on key provisions, and links to tables showing the distributional effects of the overall proposal and various elements of the plan.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411849&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard E. Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411849_2010_budget.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="410067"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 2009, the federal deficit will be larger as a share of the economy than at any time since the 1940s.   After 2009, we project an average deficit of $1 trillion per year for the next 10 years, under optimistic assumptions.  The longer-run picture is even bleaker, with a fiscal gap of 7-9 percent of GDP -- between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion annually in current dollars.  Recent trends in credit default swap markets suggest that although fiscal policy problems are usually described as medium- and long-term issues, these problems may be upon us much sooner than previously expected.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411843&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411843_economic_crisis.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="126716"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Stimulus Report Card: Conference Bill]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This report card evaluates the provisions of the Finance and Ways & Means Committees' conference tax stimulus bill (the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009"). The evaluation is preliminary and does not include all of the provisions in the bill most notably we omit provisions related to state and local debt and recovery zone credits. TPC will update the report card if significant changes occur before Congress passes the bill.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411839&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard E. Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Benjamin H. Harris, Elaine Maag, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411839_conference_reportcard.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="283816"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Stimulus Report Card: Comparing the House and Senate Bills]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This report card compares the provisions of the House and Senate tax stimulus bills (the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Plan of 2009"). The combined evaluation is preliminary and does not include all of the provisions in the bill - most notably we omit provisions related to state and local debt and recovery zone credits. TPC will update the report card as we learn more about specific provisions and as the stimulus bills move through Congress.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411834&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Howard Gleckman, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411834_comparison_reportcard.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="43188"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Stimulus Report Card: Senate Finance Committee]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Tax Policy Center has graded the key tax provisions of the pending Senate stimulus bill (the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Plan of 2009"). Our grades, which rely on the bill's legislative language, focus on how well these measures would boost the economy in the short run. Accompanying write-ups describe current law, the proposed change, and the short- and long-term effects on the budget, the economy, fairness and tax complexity.  We will update the report card as we learn more about the provisions and as the stimulus bill moves through Congress.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411830&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard E. Burman, Howard Gleckman, Dan Halperin, Benjamin H. Harris, Elaine Maag, Kim Rueben, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411830_senate_stimulus_reportcard.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="259957"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Stimulus Report Card: House Bill]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Tax Policy Center has graded the key tax provisions of the pending House stimulus bill (the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Plan of 2009"). Our grades, which rely on the bill's legislative language, focus on how well these measures would boost the economy in the short run. Accompanying write-ups describe current law, the proposed change, and the short- and long-term effects on the budget, the economy, fairness and tax complexity.  We will update the report card as we learn more about the provisions and as the stimulus bill moves through Congress.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411827&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Rosanne Altshuler, Leonard E. Burman, Howard Gleckman, Elaine Maag, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411827_stimulus_reportcard.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="145366"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[How Big Are Total Individual Income Tax Expenditures, and Who Benefits from Them?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Analysts often add up tax expenditures to estimate an aggregate cost, but those tallies are inaccurate because they ignore interactions among provisions. We estimate that interactions raise the cost of nonbusiness tax expenditures by 5 to 8 percent, depending on whether an AMT patch is in effect. In 2007, these tax expenditures totaled about $750 billion5.5 percent of GDP. While tax expenditures benefit taxpayers in all income groups, high-income households gain more relative to income than low-income ones. Although the AMT eliminates some tax preferences, it increases overall tax expenditures because most AMT taxpayers face higher marginal tax rates.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001234&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder, Leonard E. Burman, Christopher Geissler)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001234_tax_expenditures.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="154654"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[When Marginal and Statutory Tax Rates Differ]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[From an economic perspective, marginal tax rates play a critical role in determining the consequences of a change in tax policy. In an uncomplicated tax system the marginal rate is simply equal to the statutory rate. For millions of taxpayers, however, marginal tax rates differ markedly from statutory rates. Because of the tax code's wide array of phase-ins and phaseouts the majority of taxpayers face a different marginal rate than their statutory rate. Marginal and statutory rates differ for about two-thirds of married filers and heads of households and for about one-third of single filers.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001230&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Benjamin H. Harris, Ruth  Levine)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001230_marginal_rates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="486379"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxes under Obama and McCain]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax policy has been a major issue in the Presidential election campaign, with both candidates proposing extensive changes. The candidates take very different approaches to tax policy. The main differences are two: first, McCains plans would reduce revenues by significantly more than Obamas; and second, McCains would be substantially less progressive, especially among very high income taxpayers. From the standpoint of growth or simplicity, both plans disappoint. It is hard to believe that either set of changes would have significant growth effects on the economy.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001223&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( William G. Gale, Benjamin H. Harris)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001223_taxes.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="176897"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Automatic 401(k): Revenue &amp; Distributional Estimates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One promising aspect of retirement saving policy in recent years is the "automatic" or opt-out features in 401(k) plans. Automatic 401(k)s enable saving even if the worker makes no effort to participate in their 401(k) plan. Prior research has shown that automatic enrollment increased participation in 401(k) from 75 percent to as high as 90 percent of newly eligible employees; with the highest change among lower-income and minority workers. This paper provides estimates of the effects - on federal revenue and the distribution of after-tax income - of a policy under which all 401(k) plans are converted to automatic 401(k)s.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001221&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Christopher Geissler, Benjamin H. Harris)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001221_automatic_401.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="229445"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Presidential Candidates' New Tax Proposals - October 27, 2008]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In response to the deterioration of the economy and the decline in asset values, Senators McCain and Obama have offered new proposals related to unemployment compensation, retirement savings, taxation of capital gains, and job creation. Although the proposals would provide some benefit, they have significant shortcomings.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411781&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411781_candidates_october.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="50149"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Back from the Grave : Revenue and Distributional Effects of Reforming the Federal Estate Tax]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411777&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Katherine Lim, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411777_back_grave.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="655716"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Sales Tax Holidays]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[For the past 11 years, a growing number of states have held sales tax holidays, during which they exempt certain items from state - and often local - sales tax for a few days. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have scheduled 25 tax holidays in 2008, most of which occurred in August. Holidays most frequently exempt clothing and school supplies, but some exempt computers, energy-efficient appliances, or hurricane preparedness items..]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411772&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Carol Rosenberg, Kim Rueben)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411772_sales_tax_holiday.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="517115"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Impact of the Presidential Candidates' Tax Proposals on Effective Marginal Tax Rates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411759&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Katherine Lim, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411759_candidates_tax_proposals.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="180377"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Executive Summary - Revised September 15, 2008]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to a newly updated analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers.  In contrast, McCain would cut taxes across the board and give the biggest cuts to the highest-income households.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411750&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams, Howard Gleckman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411750_updated_candidates_summary.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="67994"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Refundable Credits Have Cut Taxes for Low-Income Households]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 1979, federal taxes claimed 8 percent of the income of households in the lowest quintile of the income distribution.1 Over the following three decades, the average
effective tax rate (ETR)  taxes as a percentage of income  fell by nearly half to 4.3 percent in 2005. Most of the decline resulted from a sharp drop in the individual income tax, primarily due to expansion of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit (CTC). Because the EITC is refundable and the CTC is partially refundable, they can reduce a households tax liability below zero and generate a net payment.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001208&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001208_refundable_credits.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="1505688"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Who Pays Capital Gains Tax?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Fewer than one in seven individual income taxpayers reported taxable capital gains in 2006. Over half of taxpayers with gains had incomes below $75,000, but most capital gains were reported by very high income taxpayers. The 3 percent of returns with AGI over $200,000 reported 31 percent of AGI and 83 percent of capital gains; the 0.3 percent with AGI over $1,000,000 reported 15 percent of AGI and 61 percent of capital gains. Many more Americans accrue capital gains on corporate shares they hold within tax-deferred employer-sponsored retirement plans, but they do not pay capital gains tax on these gains.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001201&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001201_Capital_gains_tax.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="477120"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Deficit: What Caused It, Why It Matters]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[CNNMoney.com op-ed, July 30, 2009. William Gale and Alan Auerbach explain that the government is spending more than it's bringing in, resulting in a deficit. They explain why that gap must be brought under control.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001295&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411741&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Surachai Khitatrakun, Greg Leiserson, Jeff Rohaly, Eric Toder, Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411741_updated_candidates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="310886"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Executive Summary]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411742&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams, Howard Gleckman)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411742_updated_candidates_summary.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="59390"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Weathering Job Loss : Unemployment Insurance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Low-wage jobs are often characterized by uncertainty and unpredictable gaps in employment. A majority of workers in these jobs do not have access to the temporary income of unemployment insurance to tide them over when they suffer a job loss. This summary outlines recommendations for updating the program by extending benefits to more workers through changes in eligibility rules and establishing more uniform periods of benefit receipt.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411730&amp;RSSFeed=General_Tax_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Margaret Simms)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411730_job_loss.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="210573"/>
		
    </item>
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