This year, Congress will consider what may be the biggest tax bill in decades. This is one of a series of briefs the Tax Policy Center has prepared to help people follow the debate. Each focuses on a key tax policy issue that Congress and the Trump administration may address. This brief...
This report finds that both federal and state income taxes are generally progressive but (1) state systems are much less progressive than the federal system and (2) the degree of progressivity varies widely among the states. Federal income taxes became more progressive following 2012 legislation...
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proposes significant tax increases that would raise $15.3 trillion over the next decade. All income groups would pay more tax, but most would come from high-income households, particularly those with very high incomes. Sanders would also implement new...
Many federal tax reform proposals would eliminate the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Although deficit reduction often is the rationale, there are arguments for eliminating the deduction based on economic efficiency, equity, and improved federal fiscal policy. Eliminating the deduction,...
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders proposes significant increases in federal income, payroll, business, and estate taxes, and new excise taxes on financial transactions and carbon. New revenues would pay for universal health care, education, family leave, rebuilding the nation’s...
Changing demographics, technology, and inflation are creating an increasingly difficult environment for state budgets. An aging population puts more pressure on spending programs while reducing tax revenues from some sources. State sales tax revenue systems have not kept up as technology has...
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....
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...
With support from the Bush administration, the Federal Reserve Board Chairman, and Congress, a major cut in the federal income tax is almost certain. The question now is what type of cut it should be. Proponents often speak as though all tax cuts would benefit all groups. Not all income tax cuts...
To follow significant fiscal changes, such as those being driven by the legislative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, it helps to have a background in...
Looking for a quick reference that explains how the tax code treats families with children? Or how it taxes multinational corporations? Maybe you want to...
While other states are considering workarounds to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act’s (TCJA) $10,000 annual limit on the federal deduction for state and local...
The Congressional Budget Office released its Analysis of the President’s FY2018 Budget last week, estimating that the plan would reduce the federal budget deficit from...
The House Republican leadership and the Trump Administration want to repeal the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and the individual Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)...
Small business owners are more concerned with the complexity of state and local tax laws than with the amount of tax they pay, according to a recent...
