When a nonprofit engages in business activities unrelated to its nonprofit purposes, taxability is usually not a question of choice; various laws and regulations require that the organization pay taxes on this income and, typically, on sales and property. For related activities, however, a...

This paper simulates the impact of the 2008 stock market crash on future retirement savings under alternative scenarios. If stocks remain depressed as after the 1974 crash, 20 percent of preboomers born 1941-45 and 22 percent of late boomers born 1961-65 would see their retirement incomes drop...

In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses the recent Supreme Court ruling that state tax breaks are different from spending programs, but the effect of each is the same

In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron rethinks the government's participation in mortgage markets.

Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code (Charitable Contributions) now contains 16 subsections divided into 75 paragraphs and who knows how many subparagraphs. The CCH version of Section 170 and its legislative history takes up 35 pages. In addition, much of this voluminous statute is difficult...

President Obama has proposed to freeze most domestic discretionary spending -- a step in the right direction, but not enough. The $250 billion in expected savings over the next decade is chump change compared with deficits that could top $10 trillion if policy doesn't change.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama no doubt will promise to attack the deficit. Trouble is, the deficit is only a symptom of a chronic disease that strikes at the very heart of democratic government. The disease? Fiscal sclerosis — setting future national priorities in stone long...

Using the latest long-term budget projections from the Congressional Budget Office, we project that individual income tax revenues under current law will increase as a share of GDP from a little over 9.5 percent in 2025 to a little less than 13.3 percent in 2090, an increase of over 3.7...

In the New York Times' Room for Debate, Roberton Williams discusses the estate tax and why, despite its shortcomings, it still has an important role in federal tax policy.

In commentary for the San Francisco Chronicle, Gene Steuerle asserts that all of the following myths about Social Security retirement ages are wrong: (1) increasing the retirement age will reduce benefits; (2) increasing the retirement age discriminates against lower-income workers with shorter...