Robert McClelland

Senior Fellow

I was raised to believe that our first allegiance must be to the truth. In the past I’ve been fortunate to work for federal agencies that present facts and data in a nonpartisan fashion. I’m now excited to work at the Urban Institute, where I can similarly apply an evidence-based approach to important policy questions.

Contact

Primary tasks

The Wealth Advisor

No, Biden has not signed a 45% capital gains tax or an inheritance tax increase

February 23, 2021

Politico

U.S. Treasury reaps a windfall as stock sales surge

Brian Faler

February 18, 2021

Politifact

No, Biden has not signed a 45% capital gains tax or an inheritance tax increase

Tom Kertscher

February 17, 2021

The Wall Street Journal

Coronavirus-Battered Breweries Push Congress to Extend Tax Cut

Richard Rubin

December 10, 2020

Bankrate

Local governments are hurting during the pandemic. When will it hit your property taxes?

Jeff Ostrowski

October 16, 2020

Education Dive

Community colleges entered pandemic with costs in check: report

Natalie Schwartz

October 2, 2020

CNBC

Biden’s capital gains tax hike could spark a big sell-off in stocks. Here’s what that means for the market

Robert Frank

September 21, 2020

The Northwoods River News

Lawmakers propose gun tax to compensate gun violence victims

Richard Moore

August 17, 2019

Bloomberg BNA

Trump's Estate Tax Plan Good for Wealthy, Bad for Charities

Allyson Versprille

September 15, 2016

From TaxVox

Individual Taxes
The Home Mortgage Interest Deduction Reinforces Racial Disparities
April 2, 2024 –
In a new report , we find that the US tax code’s home mortgage interest deduction (HMID) favors White families relative to Black and Hispanic...
Individual Taxes
Taxation of Capital Income Is Not Race Neutral
September 28, 2023 –
The Internal Revenue Code generally does not refer to race or ethnicity, but federal income taxes may contribute to racial disparities when factors that affect...
Individual Taxes
Could A Boost In The Standard Deduction Kill The Mortgage And Charitable Deductions?
June 12, 2023 –
Could A Boost In The Standard Deduction Kill The Mortgage And Charitable Deductions? The House Ways & Means Committee may be about to approve a...
Business Taxes
Does the “Chicken Tax” encourage people to purchase larger trucks?
May 31, 2023 –
The “Chicken Tax” is a 25 percent tariff on imported light-trucks that was first imposed in 1964, in response to tariffs levied by some European...
Individual Taxes
What is the inflation adjustment for taxes in 2023?
February 17, 2023 –
Inflation last year reached its highest level in the United States since 1981. As a result, the IRS announced the largest inflation adjustment for individual...
Individual Taxes
The Supreme Court Reviews Penalties For Running Afoul Of FBAR Law
November 8, 2022 –
Last week, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case over how much in penalties the US government can impose on citizens who...
Individual Taxes
What The IRS Inflation Adjustment Really Means
October 21, 2022 –
The Internal Revenue Service announced its inflation adjustment for tax year 2023: It will be a bit more than 7 percent, the largest increase in...
Individual Taxes
Taxpayers Who Lost Their Charitable Deduction Only Modestly Reduced Donations
October 4, 2022 –
Starting in 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) dramatically raised the standard deduction, reducing the number of filers who reported their...
Beyer’s Steep Gun Tax Might Curb Some Very Lethal Weapons, But It Has Gaps
June 23, 2022 –
In response to two recent mass shootings, Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) introduced a bill that would impose a 1,000 percent excise tax on certain guns...
State and Local Issues
Better Ways to Use Synthetic Controls to Model State and Local Tax Policy
June 22, 2022 –
The synthetic control method (SCM) is a relatively new and valuable tool that makes it possible to measure state or local policy against a theoretical...
Individual Taxes
Taxing Capital Gains at Death at A Higher Rate Than During Life
May 13, 2022 –
President Joe Biden and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) have proposed different ways to tax unrealized capital gains every year. Their shared goal...
How Much Will People Save From Maryland’s Gas Tax Holiday? Not Much
April 5, 2022 –
In response to rising gas prices, Maryland suspended its gas tax for 30 days. Connecticut and Georgia also have created gas tax holidays and lawmakers...
Federal Budget and Economy
How the TCJA Affected the Housing Market
March 30, 2022 –
When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was enacted, critics claimed that reducing the tax subsidy for mortgage interest would hurt home values ...
How the Pandemic Affected the TCJA’s Shift to A Chained CPI Index
February 4, 2022 –
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changed the way parts of the tax code are indexed for inflation. Instead of using the standard...
Individual Taxes
Effective Income Tax Rates Have Fallen for The Top One Percent Since World War II
September 15, 2021 –
While average effective tax rates barely changed in the US from 1945 to 2015, the average tax rates of high-income households fell sharply—from about 50...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Biden’s Tax On Large Capital Gains At Death Will Catch A Few With Annual Incomes Of Less than $400,000
May 27, 2021 –
President Biden’s campaign promise never to raise taxes on those making $400,000 or less annually will inevitably conflict with his proposal to tax unrealized capital...
Business Taxes
Avoiding Biden’s Proposed Capital Gains Tax Hikes Won’t Be So Easy. Or Will It?
April 30, 2021 –
President Biden’s American Families Plan would make two big changes in the tax treatment of investment income such as long-term capital gains and dividends. Some...
Individual Taxes
Congress Must Redesign the Charitable Deduction: How to Do It Well
March 23, 2021 –
In 2017 and again in 2020, Congress made deficient—but temporary—changes to the federal income tax deduction for charitable giving. By significantly increasing the standard deduction,...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Permanently Extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, President Trump Would Cut Taxes by $1.1 Trillion through 2030
October 27, 2020 –
During each presidential election, the Tax Policy Center analyzes the tax policies of the two major candidates. This year, TPC estimated the effects of Democratic...
Individual Taxes
A New Study Suggests Congress Could Raise Money By Increasing Capital Gains Tax Rates To 47 Percent. But There Is A Catch
September 16, 2020 –
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has proposed raising tax rates on long-term capital gains income for the highest-income investors.
Will COVID-19 Cause A Decline In Property Taxes?
June 30, 2020 –
The COVID-19 pandemic is driving a sharp decline in state and local income and sales tax revenues . But history suggests that one key local...
Effective Income Tax Rates Have Fallen For The Top One Percent Since World War II
January 6, 2020 –
For the individual income tax, effective tax rates — measured as federal income tax divided by adjusted gross income (AGI) —have fallen significantly over the...
The TCJA’s Cap On Mortgage Interest Deductions Tells Us That Taxes Matter, Up To A Point
September 13, 2019 –
When Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December of 2017, it made a number of changes to the individual income tax (almost...
Individual Taxes
Anybody Can Itemize Their Deductions. But Most Don’t Want To
September 5, 2019 –
It is sometimes said that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) ended the ability of millions of taxpayers to claim itemized deductions, and...
Fixing The TCJA: Restore The Personal Exemption
March 21, 2019 –
Now that Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives, some lawmakers are looking for ways to rewrite the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs...

Experts

Robert McClelland

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Primary tasks

From TaxVox