Janet Holtzblatt, senior fellow in the Tax Policy Center, testified before the Select Revenue Measures and Oversight subcommittees of House Ways and Means at a hearing on the tax gap and improving tax administration. The testimony focused on four key areas: the impact of reductions in the IRS’s...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided most US households with one-time economic impact payments to mitigate the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Internal Revenue Service was responsible for distributing the payments, which were rapidly...
From 2010 through 2019, funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped by 24 percent, after adjustment for inflation. As a consequence, the percentage of taxpayers who were audited fell by nearly half. In this paper, we use confidential IRS data to compare the returns on investments (ROI...
On September 24, 2019, Janet Holtzblatt presented at TPC's event, "Taxing Wealth." This slide deck provides an overview of the concept of a wealth tax and presents three design options to create one. View a live recording of Holtzblatt's presentation here.
By including in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) a provision to exempt up to $10,200 of last year’s unemployment benefits from federal income tax, Congress...
A few years ago, Ta-Nehesi Coates wrote a powerful essay, “The Case for Reparations” for The Atlantic . Reparations, he affirmed, would help close the...
Was it really last May that the House of Representatives passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, which would have authorized...
I look forward to the day when the economy is strong enough that we can worry about the gigantic debt left behind by federal relief and recovery efforts.
Defying the skeptics (including me ), the Internal Revenue Service last week began depositing direct payments of $1,200 for adults (plus $500 per child under...
Today’s advice: If you have not yet filed your federal income tax return, do not—repeat, do not—send the Internal Revenue Service a paper return—especially if...
One big unanswered question about the COVID-19 recovery rebates included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act: What year’s income will the...
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act promises that low-income Social Security beneficiaries will automatically get their $1,200 COVID-19 rebate, but new guidance...
During last month’s Democratic presidential debate, moderator Gayle King asked the candidates what motto guided their lives. If Oprah’s best friend ever asks me, I...
Democracies become oligarchies when wealth is too concentrated. So begins a letter by Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman about presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’...
I believe that every person in the tax policy game—from members of the tax-writing committees to research assistants at the Tax Policy Center—should compute their...
Following nearly a decade of cutbacks in the Internal Revenue Service’s funding, many observers are concerned about the agency’s ability to enforce the tax code...
Remember Evicted , Matthew Desmond’s harrowing account of the housing travails of low-income families in Milwaukee? Undoubtedly senators (and presidential hopefuls) Cory Booker and Kamala...
