Tax expenditures on average raise after-tax incomes more for upper-income than for lower-income taxpayers. As a share of income, special rates for capital gains and dividends and itemized deductions provide the largest benefits for taxpayers in the top 1 percent of the income distribution,...

The federal individual income tax has had many more brackets and much higher rates in the past than it does today. In 1958, for example, there were 24 brackets (versus 6 today) and the top rate was 91 percent (versus 35 percent today). The impact of more brackets and higher rates on taxpayers...

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...

This article examines the economic benefits of alternative minimum tax reform relative to the current policy baseline. The authors find that AMT reform can lead to improved progressivity, greater efficiency, and a lessened compliance burden while raising an equal amount of revenue.