Tax Policy Center

Experts

Katherine Lim

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Research report

Continuation of current U.S. fiscal policy will lead to an enormous accumulation of debt with potentially disastrous economic consequences. Exacerbated by the recent economic turmoil and fueled by the willingness of creditors to lend at very low interest rates, there is signifi cant risk that...

September 1, 2010
Leonard E. BurmanKatherine LimJeffrey RohalyJoseph Rosenberg
Research report

The Wyden-Gregg tax reform proposal would represent a broad reform of the federal income tax system. This paper examines the plan's impact on individuals' effective marginal tax rates (EMTR), the incremental amount of tax owed on an additional dollar of income. We examine the impact on the EMTR...

July 14, 2010
Katherine LimJeffrey Rohaly
Research report

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...

February 22, 2010
Katherine LimJeffrey Rohaly
Research report

In August 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2009) projected that the federal budget deficit would total $7.1 trillion over the 2010-2019 decade-under current law. That outcome would require the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress to stop "patching" the...

January 29, 2010
Rosanne AltshulerKatherine LimRoberton C. Williams
Research report

The alternative minimum tax (AMT), which originally targeted high-income taxpayers, requires annual legislation to prevent it from affecting millions of middle-income individuals each year. There are two primary reasons for the AMTs broadening impact; its parameters are not indexed for inflation...

October 5, 2009
Katherine LimJeffrey Rohaly
Research report

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...

July 21, 2009
Benjamin H. HarrisKatherine LimEric Toder
Research report

In this paper we review the current wealth transfer tax rules and the changes introduced in 2001. We offer an overview of the methodology underlying the TPC's estate tax model and then use the model to estimate the number of estate tax filers, taxable returns, and the distribution of burden...

October 20, 2008
Leonard E. BurmanKatherine LimJeffrey Rohaly
Research report

A taxpayer's effective marginal tax rate (EMTR) is the percentage of an additional dollar of income that would be paid in federal income tax. An individual's EMTR could affect the decision to work or save more, or avoid income tax. We use the TPC's microsimulation model of the federal tax system...

September 30, 2008
Katherine LimJeffrey Rohaly