Private equity has grown exponentially: it now controls and operates a large number of the companies in our economy. But private equity is just that: private. Its operations are confidential and difficult to parse. This article attempts to demystify the business of private equity. It also...

In a recent Tax Notes article, Shay argued that Treasury could write regulations to reduce the tax incentives for U.S. corporations to expatriate. Rosenthal agrees with Shay and analyzes the legal support for regulations under section 385.

Stockbrokers began reporting sales proceeds and cost basis to the IRS and taxpayers this year. This article describes how those information reports came about and discusses the issues they raise. It also argues that compliance gains and simplification benefits justify the reporting burdens that...

Tax policies in the U.S. increase the incentive to donate to charity among those who itemize their deductions, and most of the tax revenue cost goes to subsidize donations made by relatively high-income people. Several types of empirical evidence which I review here suggest that the donation...

Distributional analysis has long been a central element in discussions of tax policy. However, standard methods of estimating the distributional effects of tax changes omit two potentially important factors: the financing of the tax changes, and the implications of behavioral responses for...

Tax incentives for employer-sponsored insurance and other medical spending cost about $200 billion annually and have pervasive effects on coverage and costs. This paper surveys a range of proposals to reform health care, either by adding new tax incentives or by limiting or replacing the...

The key to well-designed stimulus is to ensure that it is timely, temporary and targeted the "three T" principles enunciated by economists as diverse as Harvard Professors Lawrence Summers and Martin Feldstein, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Congressional Budget Office Director Peter...

High net worth investors can reduce the cost of an investment in 29 states by claiming an "angel investor" tax credit. In most states, the credit is worth more than 25 percent of the investments and can be transferred to another taxpayer if it exceeds the investor's liability. States hope the...

In a contribution to the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship blog of Kauffman.org. Joseph Rosenberg and Donald Marron examine how tax policy affects investment incentives for startup companies. Startups often make losses, and thus cannot make immediate use of the R&D tax credit, accelerated...

The composition of reported income has changed markedly since 1952. Investment income has continued to grow, along with business income, interrupted only by periodic economic downturns. Meanwhile, salaries and wages have declined as a share of income.