Expert

William G. Gale

Codirector

Primary tasks

Journal Article

Facing the Music

With the economy rocked by mortgage defaults, illiquidity in financial markets, a falling dollar, and declining consumer confidence, fiscal matters have been placed on the back burner to some extent by policy makers and commentators. However, the fiscal problems facing the country not only won't...

May 15, 2008

William G. Gale, Jason Furman, Alan J. Auerbach

Testimony

Individual Taxpayers and Federal Tax Reform

In the next few years, several factors will push tax issues to the forefront of policy discussions. First, under current law, almost all of the Bush Administration's tax cuts will expire at the end of 2010. A second factor is the rapid growth in the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which will...

May 14, 2008

William G. Gale

Brief

Federal Budget and Economy

Fixing the Tax System

A good tax system raises the revenues needed to finance government spending in a manner that is as simple, equitable, stable, and conducive to economic growth as possible. But the challenge for the next President will be to make reform work not just in the abstract, but in the real world, where...

January 17, 2008

William G. Gale

Research report

Federal Budget and Economy

Encouraging Homeownership Through the Tax Code

Americans are taught from an early age to aspire to homeownership, and several long-standing federal institutions and regulations support owner-occupied residential housing. The income tax deduction for mortgage interest payments is possibly the best-known federal housing policy. Evidence...

June 27, 2007

William G. Gale, Jonathan Gruber, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Brief

Individual Taxes

Options to Fix the AMT

The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed from those original goals and under current law the tax will affect over 23 million...

January 19, 2007

Leonard E. Burman, Greg Leiserson, William G. Gale

Research report

Federal Budget and Economy

New Estimates of the Budget Outlook

Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic...

April 17, 2006

Alan J. Auerbach, William G. Gale, Peter Orszag

Research report

Individual Taxes

An Analysis of the Roth 401(k)

This report describes the Roth 401(k) and discusses its potential effects. We find that the Roth 401(k) option will add complexity for employees and employers with little collateral social gain. The Roth 401(k) is unlikely to induce significant new private saving; almost all of the benefits are...

January 9, 2006

William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry, Gordon McDonald

Research report

Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

A Preliminary Evaluation of the Tax Reform Panel's Report

This report summarizes the two options for reforming the tax system proposed by the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, offers a preliminary evaluation of the proposals, and discusses the overall effect on revenue, distribution, and growth.

December 5, 2005

Leonard E. Burman, William G. Gale

Research report

Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Consumption Taxes in the United States and Abroad

The United States collects much less revenue in consumption taxes than do other OECD countries.

September 12, 2005

William G. Gale, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

From TaxVox

CBO Estimates Imply That TCJA Will Boost Incomes For Foreign Investors But Not For Americans
May 10, 2018 –
Proponents of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) claimed it would boost the US economy and generate higher incomes for the American people. At...
Federal Budget and Economy
CBO’s Grim Budget Forecast Underestimates The Nation’s True Fiscal Problems
April 23, 2018 –
CBO recently released new budget projections that incorporate the 2017 tax act and the 2018 spending deals. In a new paper with Alan J. Auerbach,...
The Fiscal Picture Is Worse Than It Looks – And It Looks Bad
April 10, 2018 –
On the surface, CBO’s new projections of the federal debt and deficits over the next 10 years paint a troubling picture. But, dig deeper and...
Who Will Pay for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
January 2, 2018 –
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cut taxes by almost $1.5 trillion over the next decade, largely benefiting corporations, pass-through businesses such as...
Congress missed an opportunity to reform the corporate tax
December 26, 2017 –
The centerpiece of the new tax law is a cut in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. Proponents promise the lower rate will bring jobs and investment to the United States and boost economic growth significantly.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Who Would Pay For The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
December 8, 2017 –
The House and Senate have passed different versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Both bills would reduce federal revenues by more than...
What Congressional Tax Cutters Can Learn From Kansas
November 29, 2017 –
As the House and Senate rush to complete a tax bill that will do little to improve the economy, it is worth looking at another...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Taxes and Growth – A Cautionary Graph
November 28, 2017 –
The Trump Administration claims that the tax cut going through the House and Senate will significantly boost the overall growth rate of the U.S. economy...
The Right Way, And The Wrong Way, To Measure the Benefits Of Tax Changes
November 20, 2017 –
At the core of the political debate over the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is an intense and sometimes emotional argument over who benefits. Not...
A Bubble with a Bite: The House Tax Bill Implies a 49.4 Percent Top Effective Tax Rate
November 14, 2017 –
Later this week, the House will vote on its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The bill advertises a top individual income...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Cutting Taxes the Hard Way
November 9, 2017 –
The House Ways & Means Committee’s proposed tax bill is routinely described as a $1.5 trillion tax cut. But to understand why the GOP is...
Gutting the Mortgage Interest Deduction
November 6, 2017 –
The new bill introduced by the House Ways and Means Committee would significantly downsize the mortgage interest deduction. Although this is sure to cause controversy,...
Nine Things to Know about the House GOP Tax Plan
November 3, 2017 –
The House Ways and Means committee released its long-anticipated tax proposal yesterday, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA). The plan offers a sweeping set...
The Budget Gimmick that Undermines Public and Private Finances
October 30, 2017 –
The GOP tax reform proposal may limit contributions to traditional 401k plans, while continuing to allow contributions to Roth accounts. It is borrowing in disguise--intended to skirt the borrowing limits in the congressional budget resolution--and may also undermine workers' retirement security.
Tax Cuts Won’t Make America Great Again
October 20, 2017 –
In a speech earlier this week, Donald Trump invoked Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cuts as a model for his own plan. Trump said Reagan’s tax...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Paying for Tax Cuts
August 15, 2017 –
Policy makers often act like tax cuts are free lunches that can make everyone better off. But over the long run, tax cuts must be...
The Nation’s Fiscal Outlook Has Not Improved
August 4, 2017 –
While policy makers and news headlines focus on debates about health care and tax policy, the U.S. fiscal outlook remains troubling and is a constraint...
State and Local Issues
What the Kansas Tax Cut About-Face Means
June 14, 2017 –
The tax cut that Kansas Governor Sam Brownback hailed in 2012 as “a shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy” has been...
Individual Taxes
The Republicans Will Struggle to 'Win' on Tax Reform
March 29, 2017 –
The Republicans’ failure to repeal Obamacare puts pressure on them to win the next big policy battle, on taxes. But the inherent political and economic...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
A quick guide to the ‘border adjustments’ tax
March 3, 2017 –
The House Republican tax plan proposes to transform the corporate income tax into a destination-based cash flow tax (DBCFT), which would include border adjustments that...
Business Taxes
Understanding the Republicans’ corporate tax reform proposals
January 10, 2017 –
Republicans in the House are proposing sweeping corporate tax reform . Their proposals would effectively repeal the corporate income tax, currently levied at a 35 percent rate, and replace it with a new “destination-based cash-flow tax (DBCFT)” at a 20 percent rate for corporations and 25 percent for unincorporated businesses. The new tax would be border-adjustable – taxing imports and exempting exports.
Federal Budget and Economy
Making America's debt great again
August 10, 2016 –
Donald Trump has put forth some really novel (and poor) ideas – his immigration and trade policies come to mind. His tax reform ideas are...
Business Taxes
No, Value-Added Taxes are Not Bad for Small Business
April 27, 2016 –
Value-added taxes (VATs) have been attracting growing attention in the United States. GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has proposed a VAT as part of...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
Taxes on the Rich May Change a Lot in 2017
March 16, 2016 –
It’s good to be rich. Depending on who becomes the next president, it could get a lot better or a lot worse. Thanks to our colleagues at the Tax...
Individual Taxes
Two Important New Retirement Savings Initiatives from the Obama Administration
November 19, 2015 –
In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has taken the two most important steps in nearly a decade to increase access to retirement savings for more...

Experts

William G. Gale

Social Media

Primary tasks

From TaxVox