David Camp to release his long-awaited tax reform plan

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Congress returns this week, and tax policy fans will hear fresh talk of tax reform. They may also chew over continued policy explorations of corporate taxes, income inequality, and the tax code’s complexity. Today’s inaugural Daily Deduction offers a brief look ahead and back: Future posts will cover each day’s news.

Camp to share his vision of tax reform this week. House Ways and Means Committee Chair David Camp (R-MI) will highlight the coming week by releasing a “comprehensive discussion draft” on tax reform, perhaps on Wednesday. The long-awaited draft reportedly will include a score by the Joint Committee on Taxation. The House leadership is unlikely to act on Camp’s plan, but it could be a valuable blueprint for future efforts.

Corporations want tax reform, too. Corporate CFOs and tax directors called for a cap on corporate income tax at 25 percent at a recent Tax Council Policy Institute symposium. Tax Analysts’ Martin Sullivan examines how revenues might support that rate; TPC’s Eric Toder offers additional policy fixes, while George Washington University’s David Brunori wonders whether demonizing big corporations is a useful exercise.

The states of income inequality—on a map and through the tax code: A new report by Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price of the Economic Policy Institute finds that income inequality has widened in all 50 states since 1979. How does the tax code affect inequality? Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and several researchers weighed in earlier this month at the Conference on Growing Income Inequality cosponsored by the University of Southern California law school and the Tax Policy Center.

State tax policy: that’s entertainment? “The Tonight Show,” after 40 years in California, returned to New York City thanks in part to a 30 percent tax credit worth $20 million annually. Meanwhile, the online political thriller “House of Cards” threatens to leave Maryland if the state doesn’t ante up an additional $7.5 million in tax credits. States hope subsidies like these spur economic growth but the evidence is sparse. Check out TPC’s State and Local Finance Initiative’s latest State Economic Monitor to see how states are faring overall.