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    <title>Tax Policy Center: Taxes and Social Policy</title>
    <link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org</link>
    <description>Tax Policy Center reports on: Taxes and Social 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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    <lastBuildDate>Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:13 EST</lastBuildDate>
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    <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=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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>
		
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    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Clean Up the Tax Code]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a contribution to the New York Times Room for Debate, Donald Marron argues that the best way for the government to raise new revenue would be to reduce  and in some cases eliminate  many of the exemptions, exclusions, deductions, and credits that make Swiss cheese of our tax system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901390&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Donald Marron)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 23 Nov 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Shrinking Tax Preference for Pension Savings: An Analysis of Income Tax Changes, 1985-2007]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The value of the tax preference for pensions depends on the marginal tax schedule and on the tax treatment of income from assets held outside a pension account. We find that changes in U.S. tax law, especially the reduction in tax rates on capital gains and dividends, but also the decline in marginal tax rates, have led to sizeable changes in the value of the pension tax preference. On balance the value of the pension tax preference to worker-savers is modestly lower than it was in the mid-1980s and substantially lower than it was in the late 1980s.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=412094&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Gary T. Burtless, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <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=Taxes_and_Social_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[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=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Katherine Lim, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <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=Taxes_and_Social_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[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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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[Credits and Exemptions for Children]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit (CTC), Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), and the dependent exemption all provide benefits to families
with children. In 2009, a single mom (or dad) with two children can receive benefits ranging from $0 to about $7,500 - depending on her income, age of the children,
and where the children live. While this assistance is extremely important to many low-income families, they
must navigate a bewildering set of rules to take full advantage of the credits. Due to the piecewise implementation of these credits and exemptions, total benefits bounce around erratically as income grows.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001331&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001331_credits_children.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="486003"/>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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[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=Taxes_and_Social_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[Distributional Effects of Tax Expenditures]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The largest tax preferences for housing, health care, and retirement saving reduce federal revenues by about 3 percent of GDP.  They raise after-tax income proportionally more for higher income groups than lower income groups, but raise income proportionately less for those at the very top. The net distributional effects depend on how these tax preferences are financed. If paid for with higher marginal tax rates, they benefit upper-middle income taxpayers at the expense of both lower-income and the highest-income taxpayers, but if paid for by lower per-capita spending, all high-income groups gain and all low-income groups lose.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411922&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Benjamin H. Harris, Katherine Lim, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411922_expenditures.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="987886"/>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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[Financing Health Care Reform : Before the Senate Committee on Finance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The latest statistics show that 46 million Americans were uninsured in 2007. Health care costs threaten to bankrupt the nation if we can't figure out a way to slow their growth and pay for the government's growing share. Adding to the government's unfunded health care obligations would be reckless and irresponsible. In this statement, I will discuss some issues involved in measuring the impact of health care financing options, discuss an option to pay for universal health care coverage with a value added tax (VAT), and examine several incremental options to pay for all or part of health care coverage expansions.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901252&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901252_Burman.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="95166"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxation of Saving for Retirement: Current Rules and Alternative Reform Approaches]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Most advanced countries exempt returns to retirement saving from income tax, but private saving rates are falling and many people are saving too little for retirement.  There is a trade-off between the goals of promoting wide participation in retirement saving plans and allowing more choice to employees.  In the United States, purely employer funded plans have been replaced by plans that rely more on voluntary employee contributions, while private saving has declined.  Two approaches that may promote more retirement saving are refundable tax credits for low-income workers and rules that encourage or require automatic enrollment in retirement saving plans.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411865&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411865_toder_australia.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="212238"/>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[President-Elect Obama's Tax and Stimulus Plans]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama proposed a comprehensive tax plan that would raise taxes on high-income taxpayers, cut taxes for low- and middle-income households, and lose $2.9 trillion dollars of revenue over ten years. Obama will take office with the economy in sharp recession and a deteriorating fiscal situation, made worse by new spending on a bailout plan. Faced with those crises, Obama says he will pursue both his campaign tax plan and additional tax-related proposals addressing problems created by the downturn. This paper examines revenue and distributional effects of the tax plan and describes some stimulus proposals.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411816&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Roberton Williams)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411816_obamas_tax.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="781582"/>
		
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    <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=Taxes_and_Social_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"/>
		
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    <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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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[The Next Stage for Social Policy: : Encouraging Work and Family Formation among Low-Income Men]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Earned Income Tax Credit enjoyed marked success bringing low-income women into the labor force in recent years. At the same time, labor force participation by low-income or less-education men stagnated, and declined among young black men. In response to these labor market conditions, this paper analyzes several EITC reform options directed at increasing the EITC for low-income workers, in the hopes of drawing these men into the labor force. We estimate the cost of various proposals and put forth an additional proposal that breaks the EITC into two components  one focused on individual workers and one focused on supporting children.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411774&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, Harry Holzer, Elaine Maag, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411774_encouragingwork.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="189031"/>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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=Taxes_and_Social_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[Solvency Recommendations for Ohio]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This report examines the funding of unemployment insurance (UI) in Ohio. It proposes seven recommendations to improve program solvency, both in the short run and in the long run. The two main recommendations to improve short-run solvency are to: 1) implement a substantial increase in the taxable wage base and 2) institute a temporary freeze in weekly benefits, both recommendations to be effective in 2009. Indexation of the taxable wage base is a principal recommendation to improve solvency in the long-run.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411743&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Wayne Vroman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411743_ohio_solvency.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="61448"/>
		
    </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=Taxes_and_Social_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[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=Taxes_and_Social_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>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Making Work Pay Enough : A Decent Standard of Living for Working Families]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One-third of America's families with children are low income, meaning their incomes fall below twice the federal poverty level. Although four in five of these families work, many don't bring home enough to cover the everyday costs of living. In this essay, Acs and Turner outline their proposals to enhance low-income families' purchasing power and reduce unusually high housing costs through a package of reforms and policy initiatives that tackle both the income side and expenditure side of family budgets.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411710&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Gregory Acs, Margery Austin Turner)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411710_work_pay.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="261016"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[How the Income Tax Treatment of Saving and Social Security Benefits May Affect Boomers' Retirement Incomes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Income tax provisions affect the buildup of retirement assets during workers' careers and after-tax income following retirement. This paper uses the Urban Institute's DYNASIM model to simulate how potential changes in the tax treatment of retirement saving, Social Security benefits, and income from assets outside retirement accounts may affect boomers' retirement incomes. Changes in the income thresholds for taxing Social Security benefits have the largest impact on middle-income boomers, while changes in contribution limits for retirement saving plans and tax rates on capital gains and dividends have the largest impact on the highest-income boomers.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411629&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Barbara Butrica, Karen E. Smith, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411629_retirement_income.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="391425"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Disappearing Child Care Credit]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[There are two primary tax benefits parents use to offset childcare costs. The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) provides a tax credit of up to 35 percent on up to $3,000 of expenses per child ($6,000 total), for a maximum credit of $1,050 per child ($2100 total). Or, employees can arrange with their employers to exclude up to $5,000 from their salary to pay for child care. While benefits from the CDCTC swamped those available from the exclusion in 2006; benefits from the child care credit are projected to decline dramatically, largely due to the increase in the number of taxpayers subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) beginning in 2008.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001105&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001105_child_care_credit.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="516267"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[A Proposal to Finance Long-Term Care Services through Medicare with an Income Tax Surcharge]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This paper proposes to expand Medicare to cover comprehensive long-term care services, including home care and custodial nursing home care. These services would be financed by a surcharge on federal income taxes. Unlike the regressive payroll tax that finances Medicares hospitalization coverage, the proposed surcharge would not increase tax burdens for low-income people. Beneficiaries would share costs through deductibles and copayments, but the program would include stop loss coverage and special protections for low-income adults. By providing long-term care insurance that protects the assets of older adults, our proposal would eliminate the savings disincentives inherent in the means-tested Medicaid system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411484&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Richard W. Johnson, Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411484_medicare.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="244707"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Reforming the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The child and dependent care tax credit (CDCTC) is a nonrefundable tax credit designed to help offset the expenses of providing care for children under the age of 13 or disabled dependents as long as a parent or caretaker is working or searching for work. In theory, a low-income family can qualify for a maximum $2,100 credit. The credit is not refundable, however, and families with low incomes generally owe little or no income tax. Thus, the theoretical maximum rarely applies in practice. This paper examines the revenue and distributional implications of making the CDCTC fully refundable.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411474&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411474_child_tax.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="982171"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Eligibility for Child Tax Credit by Age of Child]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The child tax credit (CTC) is a $1,000 partially refundable federal income tax credit for each qualifying child under age 17. In 2007, tax filers may claim a refundable credit (over and above any tax liability) equal to 15 percent of the excess of earnings over $11,750, up to the $1,000 maximum per child. The earnings threshold means that families with very low incomes get no benefit from the credit, and others will receive only a partial credit. This brief analysis shows that many families with young children tend have lower incomes and are thus left out. In 2007, 30 percent of qualifying children under age 2 in working families had family incomes too low to benefit from the full credit, compared with 27 percent of children overall and 24 percent of children 10 and older.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411470&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Laura Wheaton)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411470_Eligibility_Child.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="54343"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Subsidizing Higher Education Through Tax and Spending Programs]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 1997 Congress enacted a number of tax benefits directed toward helping middle- and upper-middle income groups meet rising college costs. This shift in goals and strategies raises concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of the evolving federal approach to higher education. This policy brief analyzes who benefits from the major direct spending program, Pell grants, and the three tax subsidies that most closely resemble grants, the Hope and Lifetime Learning credits and the deduction for tuition and fees. In addition, the brief assesses the potential impacts of these direct spending and tax programs on the affordability of college and the college-going rates of potential students.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311453&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag, David Mundel, Lois Rice, Kim Rueben)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 16 May 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311453_education.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="111570"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Fairness in Tax Policy : Testimony Before Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, House Appropriations Committee]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In this testimony, Burman summarizes the trends in inequality, examines the role the federal tax system has played in mitigating inequality, and discusses the effect of the tax cuts enacted since 2001. He concludes that while the income tax system provides one mechanism of redistributing the gains of our dynamic free-market economy more equitably, the immediate benefits of the recent tax cuts have accrued disproportionately to those with very high incomes and have undermined tax progressivity. Without knowing how they will be financed, it is impossible to determine how these tax cuts will ultimately affect the distribution of economic burdens in the United States.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901050&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/901050_Burman_Fairness.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="69026"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Income Taxes and Tax Rates for Sample Families, 2006]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This article examines variations in tax liability and tax rates confronting typical families as income and the number of children change for tax year 2006.  Although the examples represent very simple tax situations, they illustrate how hidden taxes and subsidies can make the marginal tax rate an amalgam of different effects. Often, the effective marginal tax rates and average tax rates can vary significantly from the statutory tax rates because of the phase-ins and phase-outs of deductions and credits, the individual alternative minimum tax, progressive tax schedules, and other aspects of our income tax system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411402&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Greg Leiserson)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411402_Sample_Families.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="81226"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[KiwiSaver Evaluation Literature Review : Final Report to Inland Revenue]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[KiwiSaver is a new saving incentive program in New Zealand that requires automatic enrollment of all new employees, with an option to opt out. KiwiSaver also subsidizes participation, but its subsidies are smaller than tax subsidies for saving in qualified retirement plans in the United States. Recent research shows that using automatic enrollment as a default rule substantially increases participation in retirement saving plans, but evidence on whether saving incentives plans increase net saving is mixed. KiwiSaver is the first large-scale test of whether default rules can be more effective than financial incentives in increasing retirement saving.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411400&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder, Surachai Khitatrakun)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411400_KiwiSaver_Final.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="341497"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Credits, the Minimum Wage, and Inflation]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child credit have been expanded. This brief illustrates how current tax rules interact with the minimum wage and considers whether increased tax credits could substitute for minimum-wage increases for those earning the federal minimum wage. Increasing tax credits enough to substitute for raising minimum wage is probably infeasible because of the cost and the high marginal tax rates required. A more direct route to helping low-wage workers is to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311401&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311401_Minimum_Wage.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="117059"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Doing Nothing's a Good Thing]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress
to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=901023&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Analyzing Recent State Tax Policy Choices Affecting Low-Income Working Families : The Recession and Beyond]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Owing to balanced budget requirements, states often raise taxes during recessions. Unless carefully crafted, these tax hikes can fall on low-income working families--the same families likely to be subject to concurrent budget cuts. During the recession that started in 2001, states utilized several tools to balance budgets including tapping rainy day funds, borrowing, increasing taxes, and cutting spending. In many cases, low-income families were shielded from tax increases by increasing or creating state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs). This policy brief details state tax changes affecting low-income families between 2002 and 2006.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311379&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311379_state_tax_policy.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="50000"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Should we subsidize work?  Welfare reform, the earned income tax credit and optimal transfers]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[During the 1990s, US income-transfer and tax policies shifted towards trying to encourage work among low-income families.  Optimal tax theory, however, suggests that work subsidies are usually an inefficient way to raise the incomes of poor families unless the work effort of recipients has external benefits and/or taxpayer/voters prefer redistributing income to the working poor rather than the idle poor.  This paper discusses the conditions under which work subsidies may be economically efficient and assesses empirical evidence suggesting that welfare reform and expansions of the EITC have increased work effort among low income families, but is inconclusive about whether the policy shift has enabled them to advance beyond entry-level jobs or benefited their children.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001040&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Gregory Acs, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001040_subsidize_work.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="1188046"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Expenditures and Tax Reform : Issues and Analysis]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax reform proposals include both restructuring of the tax system (such as replacing the income tax with a consumption tax or reforming taxation of foreign-source income) and cuts in targeted tax benefits that substitute for spending (such as tax benefits for home mortgage interest and employer paid health insurance). Criteria for analyzing tax reform and expenditure reduction differ.  Tax expenditure lists provide useful measures of the costs of "backdoor" spending and departures from an ideal tax base, but have not succeeded in facilitating better choices between using the tax system or direct outlays to promote social and economic policy goals.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411371&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411371_tax_expenditures.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="50000"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Reforming Tax Incentives into Uniform Refundable Tax Credits]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The federal tax code provides about $500 billion each year in incentives intended to encourage socially-valued activities, including homeownership, charitable contributions, health insurance, and education. Under our proposal, the default for all tax incentives intended to promote socially beneficial behavior would be a uniform refundable tax credit. These tax credits would provide a much more even and widespread motivation for socially-valued behavior than the current set of tax incentives, and could help smooth out fluctuations in household income and macroeconomic demand, all of which would improve economic efficiency.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001020&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Lily L. Batchelder, Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., Peter Orszag)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001020_reforming_tax_incentives.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="50000"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Growth and Decline in Tax Credits For Families With Children]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Under current law, there are three major tax credits that affect families with children: the earned income tax credit, the child and dependent care tax credit, and the child tax credit.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1001014&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elizabeth Bell, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1001014_Tax_Fact_07-10-06.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="502993"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Implementing Employer and Individual Mandates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[As is true of automobile insurance, a strong case can be made for a mandate that requires
individuals to purchase health insurance rather than shifting costs to others. A mandate by itself,
however, is likely to be regressive. By dealing with individual needs through the back door, an
employer mandate generally keeps costs hidden and raises employment problems, while an employer
subsidy will be poorly targeted. An individual mandate, in turn, raises other difficult administrative
issues of collection and enforcement. No employer mandate is sufficient without an individual
mandate, and millions of Americans will fall outside of any mandated system.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000999&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000999_mandates.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="174156"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Reform and Equal Justice]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Anyone familiar with tax and expenditure legislation knows full well that interest groups constantly win special favors from federal and state legislators.  For a long time I have struggled with how to make better use of the principle of equal justice to restrain or eliminate bad policy.  Here are a few thoughts to get the conversation started.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000945&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000945_EP_041706.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="455022"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Working To Fix Our Fiscal Woes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Work may be a four-letter word to some citizens in slow-growing Western European economies, but Americans know better. Senior fellow Eugene Steuerle explains why our work habits are suddenly so important.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900944&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 14 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Making Maximum Use of Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Most workers do not contribute the maximum allowable amount to employer-sponsored tax-deferred retirement plans. The share of maximum contributors increased between 1990 and 2003, as did the percentage of participants who contribute the maximum or at least 10 percent of earnings. But virtually all the growth in maximum contributors came from groups with high shares of maximum contributors in 1990. Recent increases in contribution limits can be expected to reduce shares of maximum contributors, but raise relative shares of maximum contributors among high-earning and education groups. Increases in contribution limits do little to increase retirement preparedness among lower-income groups.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411293&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Janette Kawachi, Karen E. Smith, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411293_taxdeferred_accounts.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="125812"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Individual Giving Compared To Charitable Gross Receipts]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Individual giving to public charities-most of which comes in the form of charitable deductions from tax filers who itemize on their returns-actually comprises only a small part of charities gross receipts each year:  between 8 and 12 percent of gross receipts over the 1996-2003 period.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000869&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elizabeth Bell, Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000869_Tax_Fact_01-16-06.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="602289"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Law Changes Allow Employees to Contribute More to Tax-Deferred Accounts]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Since 2001, the dollar limit on employee contributions to employer-sponsored tax-deferred retirement accounts has increased from 32 percent of average earnings ($10,500) in 2001 to 39 percent of earnings in 2006 ($15,000).  Employees over age 50 may make additional "catch-up" contributions, which will raise the total dollar limit for them to 52 percent of average earnings in 2006.   But very few employees contribute the maximum allowable amount.  Of those participating in plans, only 6 percent contributed the maximum amount in 2003.  Additional increases in the contribution limit are likely to reduce the share of those who contribute the maximum.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000856&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Karen E. Smith, Eric Toder)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000856_Tax_Fact_12-19-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="509732"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Minimum Wage, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Inflation]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The earned income tax credit was enacted to offset the social security payroll tax for low-income working families.  The credit has been significantly expanded and now provides substantial income to these families.  However, very low-income workers, such as those working at the minimum wage, have seen the value of their credit erode due to interaction between the earned income tax credit, the minimum wage, and inflation.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000855&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Troy Kravitz)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000855_Tax_Fact_12-05-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="501688"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The True Tax Rates Confronting Families With Children]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The panoply of U.S. tax and transfer programs often act in concert to penalize low-income families who increase their work effort or marry, by saddling them with high effective marginal tax rates.  These effective marginal tax rates-often the product of multiple, hidden phase-outs in benefit programs like the EITC, Food Stamps, and Medicaid-are often higher for low-to-middle income families with children earning between $10,000 and $40,000 than they are for more well-to-do families earning above, $90,000.  Rates can be so high that families lose nearly a dollar in program benefits for every additional dollar of earnings income they bring in.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000846&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle, Adam Carasso)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000846_Tax_Fact_10-10-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="505578"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Work Opportunity and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credits]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) offers subsidies to firms that hire disadvantaged workers, including certain welfare recipients, food stamp recipients, people with disabilities, and others. The similar Welfare-to-Work (WtW) tax credit offers firms potentially larger subsidies for hiring long-term welfare recipients. The tax credits from these programs totaled nearly $500 million in 2003, according to the Office of Management and Budget. This brief provides policy background on employer subsidies, discusses participation in the WOTC and WtW, surveys current evidence on the effects of the tax credits on labor market outcomes, and discusses the costs and benefits of the programs.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311233&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Sarah Hamersma)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311233_tax_credits.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="96359"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax-Transfer Policy and Labor Market Outcomes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Earned Income Tax Credit provides nearly $40 billion to low-income families with children. A potential unintended consequence of the credit is lower pretax wages, in which case only part of the subsidy would accrue to workers. We examine the extent to which EITC expansions lower the pretax wages of working parents. Our findings are inconclusive. The gross hourly wages of less-skilled single women are found not to vary by the number of children, as does the EITC. In addition, the wages of black single mothers track the minimum wage for nearly the entire time period.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411237&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Nada Eissa, Austin Nichols)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411237_tax_transfer.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="57066"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Who Gets the Child Tax Credit?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In 1997, Congress created a $500 per child tax credit (CTC). It has since been increased to $1,000 and made available to some lower-income families with children, even if they had no tax liability. Still, many low-income families (as well as some with high incomes) receive less than $1,000 per child in tax benefits. Moreover, because of differences in income, family composition, and employment status, nearly half of Blacks and 46 percent of Hispanics receive no or reduced benefits from the CTC because their incomes are too low. By comparison, only 18 percent of White children are in that category.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411232&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Laura Wheaton)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 03 Oct 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411232_child_tax_credit.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="513167"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Charities on the Frontline and Making the Best Use of Tax Policy to Help Them : Testimony before the Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy, Senate Finance Committee, United States Senate]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One response to Hurricane Katrina was a very generous outpouring of concern and care by Americans throughout the country. Many of our contributions could be handled immediately only because a solid infrastructure of charities already existed. Our many charities are a tremendous source of strength of which we can and should be very proud. On a personal note, I have been involved with charities at almost every level: as a recipient, as a contributor, as a founder, and as a researcher who studies charitable giving and charitable organizations.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900837&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/900837_steuerle_091305.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="33624"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Hefty Penalty on Marriage Facing Many Households with Children]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Over the past seventy years Congress has enacted dozens of tax and transfer programs, giving little if any attention to the marriage subsidies and penalties that they inadvertently impose. Although the programs affect both rich and poor Americans, the penalties fall most heavily on low- or moderate-income households with children. In this article, Adam Carasso and Eugene Steuerle review important penalties and subsidies, explain how they work, and help fill a big research gap by beginning to provide comprehensive data on the size of the penalties and subsidies arising from all public programs considered together. [ www.futureofchildren.org]]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000844&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000844_marriage_penalty.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="128270"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Gasoline Taxes and Rising Fuel Prices in the Aftermath of Katrina]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there have been proposals both to cap gasoline prices (e.g. Hawaii) or to suspend the collection of state or federal gas taxes (e.g. Georgia) as a response to rising gas prices. Although retail gasoline prices have reached an all-time high, gasoline taxes are not to blame. Gasoline taxes (both federal and state) average 43 cents per gallon and have fallen in real terms. Gasoline prices and taxes do vary across regions but there is little correlation between tax rates and prices.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900836&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Kim Rueben, Sonya Hoo)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 09 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/900836_gasoline_prices.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="61047"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Distributional Consequences of Federal Assistance for Higher Education : The Intersection of Tax and Spending Programs]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[For nearly a decade, federal higher education subsidies have increasingly been delivered through the tax code rather than through direct spending programs such as grants, loan subsidies, and work study. This paper reviews the results of using new modules in the TRIM and Tax Policy Center microsimulation models to estimate the distributional impacts and expenditure and revenue effects of major federal higher education tax and spending policies. In addition, the paper reports estimates of the effects of some prototypical policy changes in the Pell Grant program as well as in the Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311210&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Elaine Maag, Peter Orszag, Jeff Rohaly, John O&apos;Hare)</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311210_TPC_DiscussionPaper_26.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="505853"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Expanded Information Reporting For Charitable Giving]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The IRS does not administer well items for which it does not have information reporting. Extending information reporting to most charitable contributions would simplify life for most individual givers, improve compliance, and likely be better for the charitable sector as well. An improved information reporting for charitable contributions goes hand-in-hand with the continually improving systems of accounting that accompany the advances of information technology.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000813&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 15 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000813_EP_081505.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="454789"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Who Receives Homeownership Tax Deductions and How Much?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Some of the costliest tax expenditures the federal government allows go to subsidizing homeownership.  In 2004, the total tax expenditure value of the mortgage interest deduction was $70.2 billion while the value for the real estate tax deduction was $19.3 billion.  Fifty-four percent of these sums went to taxpayers at or above $100,000 of income and 72 percent went to taxpayers at or above $75,000.  Very few taxpayers receive these two subsidies at low incomes-as most low-income tax filers owe little tax, do not itemize, and are less likely to own a home-and very many taxpayers receive them at higher incomes.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000804&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 01 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000804_Tax_Fact_8-01-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="517440"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Credits to Help Low-Income Families Pay for Child Care]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Low-income working families face enormous challenges. Key among them is how to pay for decent child care. The federal income tax code subsidizes child care in several ways. The largest subsidy is the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), a nonrefundable tax credit that offsets up to 35 percent of working parents' child care costs, subject to limits. Though not earmarked specifically for child care, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provide more help to low-income working families. This paper considers options to reform the CDCTC to assist low-income families, and examines expansions to the refundable tax credits that help families with children.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311199&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Jeff Rohaly, Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311199_IssuesOptions_14.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="116251"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Estate Tax ReformA Third Option]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Several pressures are combining to force lawmakers to seek a more permanent resolution to the estate tax issue.  This article suggests a possible compromise that would enhance the ability of wealthy individuals to avoid paying tax to government and still pass on significant assets to their heirs-but only if they make substantial contributions to charity.  The compromise includes giving a substantial credit against estate tax for charitable gifts.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000797&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 18 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000797_EP_071805.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="458185"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[State Tax Credits for Child Care]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Child care's costs can be too high for low-income working families. As of 2004, along with a federal credit for child care expenses, 27 states offered tax credits or deductions to offset these expenses. Thirteen states offered a refundable child care credit&#151;at least for low-income families; twelve states, care credits that were non-refundable; and three states, a deduction of child care expenses (Maryland offered both a non-refundable credit and a deduction).]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000796&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000796_Tax_Fact_7-11-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="503991"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[How to Better Encourage Homeownership]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The way federal housing benefits are doled out suggests a U-shaped curve; subsidies are heaped on most households at higher incomes and some at very low incomes.  Those in between get little. This brief describes revenue-neutral reforms that would level out the U-shaped curve and deliver ownership subsidies more equitably and efficiently to lower-to-middle-income households. Converting home-related tax deductions into refundable, capped credits introduces greater progressivity into the tax system, encourages homeownership among those at lower incomes, and curtails government subsidies for ever greater amounts of home borrowing.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311193&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle, Elizabeth Bell)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 29 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311193_IssuesOptions_12.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="193783"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Growth in the Exclusion of Employer Health Premiums]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The employer exclusion of contributions for medical insurance premiums and medical care from employee income taxes is the single largest tax expenditure in the federal budget, worth $112 billion in fiscal year 2005.  Even when adjusting for growth in medical prices, the employer exclusion still grows in real terms between 1988 and 2002 (a 36 percent rise). Yet, as health tax expenditures for employer-sponsored insurance have grown, the uninsured population has also grown, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the nonelderly population.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000794&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000794_Tax_Fact_6-27-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="509228"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Subsidies to Help Low-Income Families Pay for Child Care]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Low-income working families face enormous challenges. Key among them is how to pay for decent child care. The largest federal subsidy is the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), a nonrefundable tax credit that offsets up to 35 percent of working parents' child care costs, subject to limits. Though not earmarked specifically for child care, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provide more help to low-income working families. This paper considers options to reform the CDCTC to assist low-income families. Expansions to the refundable tax credits that help families with children are also analyzed.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411190&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Elaine Maag, Jeff Rohaly)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411190_TPC_DiscussionPaper_23.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="579319"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Credits for Health Insurance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Over 40 million Americans under age 65--the overwhelming majority of them in working families--lack health insurance. The public ultimately shoulders the burden of paying for the medical treatment of those lacking insurance, either through higher taxes or higher health care costs. Expanding health coverage through the tax system may not be the most efficient path, but tax subsidies appear the only game in town for expanding the federal role in the provision of health insurance.  This policy brief examines implications of major expansions in tax credits for health insurance, starting with the President's refundable tax credit proposal.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311189&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Jonathan Gruber)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311189_IssuesOptions_11.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="187475"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Policies to Help Working Families in Cities]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[This paper examines how existing federal tax rules affect low- and middle-income working families in cities, and finds that several tax policy options could provide better economic opportunities and incentives for these households. Policies that expand and modify the child care and dependent care tax credit, the saver's credit, and subsidies for health insurance, or that alter the structure of homeownership subsidies away from deductions and toward capped credits for homeownership, could improve the welfare of millions of working families in cities, and should receive the attention of both urban leaders and federal policy makers in the future.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411179&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan Berube, William G. Gale, Tracy Kornblatt)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411179_TPC_DiscussionPaper_24.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="417560"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Designing a Work-Friendly Tax System : Options and Trade-Offs]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The federal tax system often imposes its highest effective marginal tax rates on low- and moderate-income individuals. This paper suggests several ways to reduce those high effective marginal rates but illuminates the large trade-offs involved.  One approach would replace the current earned income credit (EIC) with a $2,000 EIC for working parents and a refundable $1,000 per child tax credit. A more comprehensive approach would integrate the individual income and Social Security tax systems into a single tax system with just two tax rates and a refundable $2,000 EIC for working parents and a $1,000 universal grant for every person.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411181&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jonathan Barry Forman, Adam Carasso, Mohammed Adeel Saleem)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411181_TPC_DiscussionPaper_20.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="466759"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Making Tax Incentives for Homeownership More Equitable and Efficient]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[While many recent evaluations of the effects of housing subsidies in the tax code focus on the choice between renting and owning, this paper examines the distribution and effectiveness of various changes to these subsidies. Specifically, we examine several revenue-neutral reforms that would level out the current U-shaped curve of housing benefits and deliver ownership subsidies more equitably and efficiently to lower-to-middle-income households. Implementing reform requires careful design, administrative, and behavioral considerations. Appropriately done, converting home-related tax deductions into refundable, capped credits could encourage homeownership at lower incomes and curtail government subsidies for ever greater amounts of home borrowing.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411180&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle, Elizabeth Bell)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411180_TPC_DiscussionPaper_21.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="461637"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Credits for Health Insurance]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Over 40 million Americans under age 65the overwhelming majority of them in working familieslack health insurance. The public ultimately shoulders the burden of paying for the medical treatment of those lacking insurance, either through higher taxes or higher health care costs. Expanding health coverage through the tax system may not be the most efficient path, but tax subsidies appear the only game in town for expanding the federal role in the provision of health insurance.  This paper examines implications of major expansions in tax credits for health insurance, starting with the President's refundable tax credit proposal.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411176&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, Jonathan Gruber)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411176_TPC_DiscussionPaper_19.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="398459"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Taxes and Marriage for Cohabiting Parents]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Provisions in the federal income tax code that treat married couples as one tax unit and cohabiting couples as two tax units result in both marriage penalties and bonuses. This analysis uses data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to show the extent to which low-income, cohabiting parents face marriage penalties and bonuses under 2003 tax law and 2008 tax law, when current marriage related provisions from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) phase-in completely.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000788&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 23 May 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000788_Tax_Fact_5-23-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="508351"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[A Unified Children's Tax Credit]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[We suggest a tax reform that would repeal the EITC, the child tax credit, and the dependent exemption and replace them with a far simpler and often more generous Unified Child Credit (UCC) by 2010. Furthermore, while the dependent exemption is not allowed under the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and nearly 30 million taxpayers will be on the AMT in 2010, the UCC would provide necessary AMT relief in lieu of the dependent exemption and can be the vehicle for bipartisan AMT reform.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000790&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, Jeff Rohaly, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Sun, 15 May 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000790.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="1356346"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Role of Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans and National Saving : Testimony before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The evidence that retirement and pension incentives have done much recently for national saving is weak. Total personal saving in the United States is now below the annual revenues spent in supporting retirement and pension plans. One major reason is that all government subsidies are for deposits, not saving. A second is the extraordinary complexity of the laws. Yet another negative influence on saving is that most people now retire in late middle age. Finally, the incentives provided to low- and moderate-income households often are also fairly small and sometimes nonexistent. This testimony discusses various ways to try to deal with these issues.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900814&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/900814_Steuerle_041205.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="637552"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Reform and Fairness for Families : Presentation to the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform New Orleans, LA]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax reform affects many areas of policy--children, charitable contributions, federal policy toward states and localities, health care, retirement policy, and business--to mention only a few. Tax reform cannot dodge these important issues, but must come to grips with how each of these areas of policy should be treated under a reformed system. In this powerpoint testimony, Gene Steuerle outlines many of the ways that current policies violate norms of simplicity, fairness, and efficiency and suggests possible means of improvement.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900795&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/900795_Steuerle_032305.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="476537"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Disparities in Knowledge of the EITC]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), administered through the federal income tax system, is the largest cash assistance program for low-income families. Data from the 2001 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) show large disparities in who knows about the EITC amongst families with income below twice poverty. Only a small portion (27.1 percent) of low-income Hispanic parents know about the EITCsignificantly less than their peers of other races and ethnicities.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000752&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000752_Tax_Facts_3-14-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="505434"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Don't Ignore Tax Expenditures]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[[Marketplace] The President was in North Carolina and Pennsylvania today. He's been stumping like a candidate to win support for his changes to Social Security and cuts in the budget. In Detroit, Mr. Bush said it's time to eliminate the programs that don't deliver on their promises. Commentator and tax expert Len Burman likes this 'good government test'. So he wonders why hundreds of programs are getting a pass.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900786&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[High-Income Families Benefit Most from New Education Savings Incentives]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[If funds from education savings plans are not used for schooling, the penalties more than offset the tax benefits for lower-income families. But higher-income families gain even if their children do not go to college. A new breed of tax-advantaged savings vehicle has emerged for the college bound. Earnings on both the federal Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) and the state-level 529 savings plan are tax-free if the funds are used for postsecondary education. One reason that the advantages of these education plans rise sharply with income is that that those with the highest marginal tax rates benefit the most from sheltering income. This brief explains how these new college plans work.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411147&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Susan Dynarski)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411147_new_edu_savings.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="85468"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Trend in Federal Housing Tax Expenditures]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Tax programs that provide deductions to homeowners or credits to both builders and owners, greatly exceed direct federal outlays on housing.  The beneficiaries of these tax programs tend to be middle-to-upper income families who own their homes while the recipients of outlays tend to be lower income families who rent.  In effect, the federal government pays those with more income to own their homes while paying those with  less income to rent.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000750&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle, Elizabeth Bell)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 28 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000750_Tax_Fact_2-28-05.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="505070"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Paying the Price? : Low-Income Parents and the Use of Paid Tax Preparers]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Low-income parents use paid preparers more frequently than other parents. This high reliance may be a good thing. Among low-income parents who know about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) those who receive help are more likely to receive the EITC than their peers who prepare their returns independently. Although use of a paid preparer could obfuscate one's knowledge of important tax benefits if the paid preparer does not explain their calculations, this does not appear to be the case. We continue to note that significantly fewer Hispanic parents know about the EITC than other low-income parents.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411145&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411145_B-64.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="92378"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Retirement Saving Incentives and Personal Saving]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[To encourage saving for retirement, private pensions such as employer sponsored 401(k) plans or IRAs receive favorable tax treatment by the federal government.   A major goal of such tax provisions is to increase personal saving.  A measure of the value of these tax benefits is provided by the Treasury Department, and the National Income and Product Accounts contains a measure of personal saving. With the sudden drop in personal savings in 1999 and its steady decline in more recent recession years, government tax expenditures on pension benefits began to approach the personal savings level by the end of the 1990s.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000739&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Elizabeth Bell, Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000739_Tax_Fact_12-20-04.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="518705"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Interview with Eugene Steuerle]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The main purpose of a tax system is to provide revenues to support government functions.  It is not to cut taxes.  At the same time one wants to create a tax system that supports efficient and fair government and to distort as little as possible the behavior of individuals who are subject to tax.  The role of both tax cuts and tax increases is to move toward some optimal level of taxation needed for this time and place.  People now use the tax system for a wide variety of reasonsreally too many. [ NewsQuarterly]]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000791&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Jasper L. Cummings, Alan J.J. Swirski)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000791_steuerle_interview.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="680532"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Suppose they took the AM out of the AMT?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally intended to assure that high-income people paid at least some tax, but the AMT was poorly designed and affects more and more middle-income people every year.   The AMT raises a lot of tax revenue, however: reforming or eliminating it could cost $500 billion or more over the next decade. Consequently, some suggest that the best option would be to make the AMT the regular tax system, rather than an alternative. This paper examines the implications of basing a reformed tax system on the AMT rules.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=411134&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Leonard E. Burman, David Weiner)</author>
        <pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411134_took_out_am.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="185860"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Reform: Prospects and Possibilities : Statement before the Committee on the Budget United States House of Representatives]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The gains in efficiency, equity, and simplicity from systematic tax reform could be substantial. However, to achieve those gains requires attention to many details. Tax reform efforts have failed often, but they have also succeeded, especially when rising problems created the opportunity and demand for reform, and tough issues were tackled in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=900749&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/900749_Steuerle_100604.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="253997"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts : A Response to Jenn and Marron]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In previous work, we have estimated the long-term revenue costs of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, assuming they are made permanent and are not gradually eroded by the Alternative Minimum Tax, to be about 2 percent of GDP, roughly the same size as the actuarial deficits over an equivalent time period in Social Security and Medicare Part A. Jenn and Marron (2004) criticize our calculation of the costs of both the tax cuts and the entitlement trust fund shortfalls. This paper responds to their criticisms and evaluates the alternative measures and concepts they propose using.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000682&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale, Peter Orszag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000682_TaxBreak_090604.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="89176"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Projected Distribution of EITC Claims in 2003]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Enacted in 1975, and adjusted or expanded in the following years, the earned income tax credit costs more than the Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF) program and almost as much as Food Stamps. But who benefits and by how much?]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000669&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Adam Carasso, C. Eugene Steuerle)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 19 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000669_TaxFacts_071904.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="116800"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Effects of Recent Fiscal Policies on Today's Children and Future Generations]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Recent and proposed fiscal policies--the tax cuts, proposals to make them permanent, and the Medicare prescription drug bill--will hurt economic prospects for most of today's children and all future generations. The programs will leave economic growth largely unchanged, but will redistribute resources from future to current generations and, within each generation, from low- and middle-income families toward an affluent minority. These effects exacerbate the impact of underlying federal budget trends and processes that will place significant, imminent pressure on funding for children's programs. An expanded program of investments in children is both feasible and desirable.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=311030&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( William G. Gale, Laurence J. Kotlikoff)</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/311030_TPC_DP15.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="103573"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Effects of Recent Fiscal Policies on Children]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Today's children represent the future of the century. This notion that children and future generations should have better living standards than current generations is central to universally shared views of economic progress. This article examines the effects of recent fiscal policies on children and the direct and indirect effects of one set of policies--the tax cuts and the Medicare spending increases that have been proposed and enacted since January 2001--on the long-term economic prospects of today's and tomorrow's youth.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000660&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( William G. Gale, Laurence J. Kotlikoff)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 07 Jun 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000660_TaxBreak_060704.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="581484"/>
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Tax Credits and Grants for Undergraduates]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The nation's 16.5 million postsecondary students can receive financial aid that does not need to be repaid from federal and state governments, institutions, and other private sources. During the 1970s and 1980s as college costs increased dramatically, these grants tended to focus on increasing access to college for low-income students.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?id=1000656&amp;RSSFeed=Taxes_and_Social_Policy.xml</link>
		<author>info@taxpolicycenter.org ( Katie Fitzpatrick, Elaine Maag)</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2004 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/1000656_TaxFacts_053104.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="51233"/>
		
    </item>
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