This brief looks at the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) and its emphasis on coordination between economic development and workforce development programs. In fact, one WIOA’s main purposes is to better align workforce and economic development systems, more tightly...

Access to financing is critical to businesses small and large looking to start new ventures, expand existing ones, or relocate facilities. When cost-effective financing is unavailable for worthy projects, state governments can and do step in to help. Governments use their power and their...

The federal income tax system provides substantial benefits to families with children. In 2013, the Tax Policy Center estimates that five major child-related tax benefits the earned income tax credit (EITC), the child tax credit, the child and dependent care tax credit, the dependent exemption,...

State governments often use their tax system to partner with the private sector on economic development initiatives. A key part of their economic development strategy, states use tax incentives as one tool of economic development to compete with other states and globally for investment, jobs,...

The following is the text of a debate that occurred between Rosenthal and Needham at the May meeting of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation in Washington regarding the proper tax treatment of private equity funds and their partners under current law. The introduction should be...

Cuts in top state income taxes are intended to raise economic growth, but could instead force punishing spending cuts, as revenues fall and states confront borrowing constraints. Previous work shows no clear impact of state taxes on growth. In new research, we build on a widely cited study that...

Opposition to the ACA’s “Cadillac” tax is growing. This excise tax applies to employer health benefits exceeding a threshold. There has been broader support over time for a cap on the tax exclusion of employer contributions to health insurance, including from many who now want to repeal the...

The inventory, or stock in trade, of a business is eligible for a special "enhanced" charitable contribution deduction under the federal income tax. The many requirements to claim an enhanced deduction present unique challenges for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This issue brief highlights...

In budget policy, myths are progress's number one enemy. One silly fiction now making the rounds is that
we don't know how to judge the relative value of different types of health care, so we can't control health care
costs-at least not for now. Like many myths, this one contains an...