Provisions in the federal income tax code that treat married couples as one tax unit and cohabiting couples as two tax units result in both marriage penalties and bonuses. This analysis uses data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to show the extent to which low-income,...
Leonard Burman's testimony, submitted to the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, focuses on both the original minimum tax and its successor, the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT). Both the minimum tax and the AMT have applied in the past to a small minority of...
H.R. 25 would replace federal taxes with a 23 percent tax-inclusive (30
percent tax-exclusive) sales tax on private consumption, household
interest payments, and government spending, and give households payments to offset taxes on consumption up to the poverty line. This paper shows...
Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred in the economic and social circumstances of the nation. In testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, senior fellow Eugene Steuerle addresses Social Security reform and related budget pressures. He presents an...
Few taxpayers still prepare their returns the old-fashioned way - with pencil and paper. The percentage of individual taxpayers who prepare their own returns without software dropped from 40 percent to 13 percent in the last decade, while paid preparer and software use increased. In tax year...
Encouraging and strengthening marriage continues to move up the U.S. social policy agenda. This analysis uses nationally representative data on cohabiting couples with children from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to assess marriage penalties or bonuses facing...
Retargeting the estate tax to very wealthy households and lowering its rates would blunt much of the criticism against it while retaining many of its advantages. This brief explains how the estate tax works and examines who is affected by it under current law. It discusses how reform would...
[Los Angeles Times] If you thought this year's tax bill was a burden, wait until you see your "share" of government spending in 2050. Tax Policy Center codirector Len Burman looks into the future according to CBO and sees a number of doomsday scenarios looming. Among them are a doubling...
Stories of abuses by both donors to charities and by charitable organizations have once again filled newspaper headlines recently. The types of abuse are multiple, stretching from overvalued donations of easements (restrictions on certain uses of land to protect it, say, for conservation...
Perhaps the most significant and divisive tax debate of the past three decades has been over whether taxes on income ought to be replaced with taxes on consumption. Almost all of the large-scale reform efforts proposed during that period have sought that goal, even though the methods vary widely...
Taxes and Marriage for Cohabiting Parents
Provisions in the federal income tax code that treat married couples as one tax unit and cohabiting couples as two tax units result in both marriage penalties and bonuses. This analysis uses data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to show the extent to which low-income,...
The Expanding Reach of the Individual Alternative Minimum Tax
Leonard Burman's testimony, submitted to the U.S. Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, focuses on both the original minimum tax and its successor, the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT). Both the minimum tax and the AMT have applied in the past to a small minority of...
The National Retail Sales Tax: What Would the Rate Have To Be?
H.R. 25 would replace federal taxes with a 23 percent tax-inclusive (30
percent tax-exclusive) sales tax on private consumption, household
interest payments, and government spending, and give households payments to offset taxes on consumption up to the poverty line. This paper shows...
Alternatives to Strengthen Social Security
Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred in the economic and social circumstances of the nation. In testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, senior fellow Eugene Steuerle addresses Social Security reform and related budget pressures. He presents an...
Changes in Tax Preparation Methods, 1993-2003
Few taxpayers still prepare their returns the old-fashioned way - with pencil and paper. The percentage of individual taxpayers who prepare their own returns without software dropped from 40 percent to 13 percent in the last decade, while paid preparer and software use increased. In tax year...
Irreconcilable Differences?
Encouraging and strengthening marriage continues to move up the U.S. social policy agenda. This analysis uses nationally representative data on cohabiting couples with children from the 2002 round of the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to assess marriage penalties or bonuses facing...
Options for Reforming the Estate Tax
Retargeting the estate tax to very wealthy households and lowering its rates would blunt much of the criticism against it while retaining many of its advantages. This brief explains how the estate tax works and examines who is affected by it under current law. It discusses how reform would...
If You Think Taxes Are a Pain Now...
[Los Angeles Times] If you thought this year's tax bill was a burden, wait until you see your "share" of government spending in 2050. Tax Policy Center codirector Len Burman looks into the future according to CBO and sees a number of doomsday scenarios looming. Among them are a doubling...
A Win-Win Option for Charity and Tax Policy
Stories of abuses by both donors to charities and by charitable organizations have once again filled newspaper headlines recently. The types of abuse are multiple, stretching from overvalued donations of easements (restrictions on certain uses of land to protect it, say, for conservation...
Taxing the Capital Income of Only The Poor and the Middle Class
Perhaps the most significant and divisive tax debate of the past three decades has been over whether taxes on income ought to be replaced with taxes on consumption. Almost all of the large-scale reform efforts proposed during that period have sought that goal, even though the methods vary widely...