Tax Policy Center

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Eric Toder

Institute Fellow

Before joining Urban, I had a long career in government, including three years as a political appointee heading the staff of tax policy economists in the Treasury Department.  I joined Urban after leaving government service because it is a place where I could continue to do high-quality research on important issues, surrounded by great colleagues.  I value the commitment to nonpartisan and independent analysis, and the encouragement Urban provides to seek better ways of communicating research findings and basic facts about the economy and policy issues to non-technical audiences.

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Research report

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...

July 23, 2008
Leonard E. BurmanSurachai KhitatrakunGreg LeisersonJeffrey RohalyEric ToderRoberton C. Williams
Research report

Small business is the source of our entrepreneurial genius, creativity, and productivity. Nonetheless, a substantial portion of our economic activity occurs within large corporations, non-profits and public enterprises. This paper discusses how the federal income tax treats firms of different...

January 30, 2008
Eric Toder
Research report

In this paper Toder addresses issues related to measurement of the tax gapthe difference between tax liability under the current Federal tax law and taxes paid. He discusses how the tax gap is defined, reviews the main components of the tax gap, and describes how the IRS estimates it, as well as...

October 22, 2007
Eric Toder
Brief

Energy policy is an important subject these days, as Americans become increasingly aware of the costs of what President Bush has called "our addiction to oil" and the environmental costs of growing world consumption of fossil fuels. Although some foreign oil comes from friendly and politically...

May 8, 2007
Eric Toder
Research report

The United States raises less tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2003, taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP,...

May 8, 2006
Sonya HooEric Toder
Research report

In recent years, the percentage of individual taxpayers using paid preparers and software has increased, while the share of taxpayers who self-prepare without software has dropped sharply. Using the Individual Taxpayer Burden Model developed by IBM Business Consulting Services for the IRS, we...

July 14, 2005
John L. GuytonAdam K. KorobowPeter S. LeeEric Toder
Research report

Few taxpayers still prepare their returns the old-fashioned way - with pencil and paper. The percentage of individual taxpayers who prepare their own returns without software dropped from 40 percent to 13 percent in the last decade, while paid preparer and software use increased. In tax year...

May 9, 2005
Eric Toder
Brief

The federal income tax system has been used in a number of ways to promote favored forms of consumption and investment and to help selected groups of taxpayers. Since the mid-1980s, Congress has increasingly used the federal tax code to support social programs. This trend is likely to continue....

July 16, 2002
Frank SammartinoEric ToderElaine Maag
Research report

To sort out the pros and cons of using the tax system to enact social policy goals, in particular to help low-income families, the Urban Institute convened a tax policy forum in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 2001. The discussion revealed that using the tax system as a social policy tool is a...

January 1, 2002
Frank SammartinoEric Toder

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