The 2001 tax cut has been roundly criticized because so much of the benefit goes to the rich, but the bill also did much to help low- and middle-income families. Most notably, it increased the child tax credit and made it refundablethat is, available to families with incomes too low to owe...
GAO released an analysis on January 11 of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) eligibility and participation rates. The study estimates that one fourth of all eligible households do not claim the EITC. However, GAO's study was based on information from two mismatched databases and its conclusions...
The 2001 tax act phases out the estate tax over nine years, before reinstating it in year 10. That untenable plan guarantees that the estate tax will be revisited soon. This policy brief summarizes the economic effects of the estate tax and the proposed changes. The estate tax makes the tax...
Even before the ruins of the World Trade Towers stop smoldering, Congressional leaders are quietly planning to revive their favorite scheme to boost the economy—a $20 billion plus cut in capital gains taxes, possibly as an add-on to minimum wage legislation. Proponents, led by Senate Minority...
[Contra Costa Times] Economics can sometimes go round the bend. For instance, in theory, you could avoid the drawbacks of taxes - discouraging work and saving and encouraging tax shelters - by taxing people randomly. The idea is that you can't avoid taxes if you can't anticipate them....
[Houston Chronicle] Why is the tax code so complicated? Because whenever politicians face important tax policy choices, they always compromise with more complexity. That way they can avoid painful trade-offs.
A bipartisan consensus favors public policy initiatives to expand health insurance coverage. This paper summarizes new CPS data on health insurance coverage for the nonelderly and discusses the issues involved in subsidizing health insurance. We outline a tax credit option designed to diminish...
[National Public Radio (NPR)]Urban Institute Senior Fellow and former Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis, Len Burman, expounds upon the earned income tax credit (EITC) as he recounts his experiences with the confusing EITC while helping a single mother with her taxes....
The Department of the Treasury recently released a distribution table, which shows how income tax liabilities would change under President Bush's tax plan. This release, a positive step, represents the Administration's acknowledgment that the distribution of tax burdens is important in assessing...
Donald Trump would exempt overtime pay from tax. Kamala Harris and Trump both agree that tips should be exempt. There are lots of tax exclusions in the tax code, but this form of tax subsidy is especially costly, regressive, and prone to abuse.
Republican leaders in Congress have refused to raise the federal debt limit unless the Biden Administration agrees to major spending reductions to reduce the national...
Congress should eliminate the debt ceiling this year. It serves no useful purpose. It doesn’t contribute to fiscal discipline, and breaching it entails large, potentially,...
On April 1, 2002, a press release announced, “The Tax Policy Center, a new joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution” was...
Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) recently asked for an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s research activities, including its use of contractors...
Partisan congressional squabbling over the nation’s debt limit once again threatens to shut down the federal government and perhaps trigger a worldwide financial crisis. The...
President Biden has proposed to tax capital gains earned by high-income households more like other income. This is a significant reform that would close loopholes...
Capitalism produces a dizzying array of products and, in the process, generates an enormous amount of wealth. But capitalism creates a problem in that the...
In 1970, Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute got a Moog synthesizer —a giant, unwieldy computer that created music. The sound was weird and quite evidently electronic. My...
Congress is about to pass a massive economic stimulus package that will, among other things, send cash to most American households. The so-called rebates amount...
On Friday, Elizabeth Warren released her financing plan for Medicare for All . It is predictably wonky and politically courageous—new spending is way more popular...
In Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital , Kimberly Clausing has written a comprehensive and accessible analysis of three of...
The Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently agreed that OMB would review many tax regulations before they are released, a...
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) just introduced the ‘‘ Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act ’’ (or Stop-BEZOS) that would punish...