The use of tax incentives instead of direct spending to promote social and economic goals is growing. This paper considers whether it matters if fiscal interventions take the form of direct spending or tax breaks. Tax breaks can, and increasingly do, replace spending programs with the same...
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle discusses the need for marriage penalty relief in the tax code, concluding that a tax world in which single filing is available to all who share resources and even beds but not to those who happen to believe in marriage vows is too capricious and arbitrary to remain...
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the prospects for a tax cut, and concludes that under the economic conditions at the time, a tax cut would sell mainly if it were believed to be the best use of the money, but overwhelming momentum behind it - or behind any other budgetary change for that...
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle suggests that there are three major features of the U.S. multi-tiered tax structure that together reveal a fundamental distrust of "bigness:" (1) the graduated rate structure in the individual income tax; (2) the corporate income tax; and (3) the estate and gift tax...
In this essay Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle offers reasons to support a more unified structure for administering the EITC, child credit, and dependent exemption.
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to pay tax filers to file electronically, demonstrating how the proposal could save money and improve efficiency.
The elderly receive substantial income tax benefits in the form of an extra standard deduction and lenient taxation of Social Security benefits for recipients with modest incomes. States also provide significant tax benefits. Often all Social Security and pension income is tax free and many...
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to add a charitable tax deduction for non-itemizers, revealing how the proposal adds an unnecessary complications to the tax code.
Tax Cuts or Spending - Does it Make a Difference?
The use of tax incentives instead of direct spending to promote social and economic goals is growing. This paper considers whether it matters if fiscal interventions take the form of direct spending or tax breaks. Tax breaks can, and increasingly do, replace spending programs with the same...
How De Facto Optional Filing Demands Marriage Penalty Relief
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle discusses the need for marriage penalty relief in the tax code, concluding that a tax world in which single filing is available to all who share resources and even beds but not to those who happen to believe in marriage vows is too capricious and arbitrary to remain...
Tax Cutting: Why the Limited Enthusiasm?
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the prospects for a tax cut, and concludes that under the economic conditions at the time, a tax cut would sell mainly if it were believed to be the best use of the money, but overwhelming momentum behind it - or behind any other budgetary change for that...
Taxing 'Bigness'
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle suggests that there are three major features of the U.S. multi-tiered tax structure that together reveal a fundamental distrust of "bigness:" (1) the graduated rate structure in the individual income tax; (2) the corporate income tax; and (3) the estate and gift tax...
Combining Child Credits, the EITC, and the Dependent Exemption (Part 2 of 2)
In this essay Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle offers reasons to support a more unified structure for administering the EITC, child credit, and dependent exemption.
Combining Child Credits, the EITC, and the Dependent Exemption (Part 1 of 2)
In this essay Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle describes various proposals to reform the EITC and other tax programs for low-income people.
Telephone Excise Tax: Why Keep a Bad Tax?, The
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines Congressional proposals to repeal the telephone excise tax according to the proposals of public finance.
Paying Taxpayers to File Electronically
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to pay tax filers to file electronically, demonstrating how the proposal could save money and improve efficiency.
Tax Benefits for the Elderly
The elderly receive substantial income tax benefits in the form of an extra standard deduction and lenient taxation of Social Security benefits for recipients with modest incomes. States also provide significant tax benefits. Often all Social Security and pension income is tax free and many...
Charity Deduction for Nonitemizers: Where Do You Draw the Line?
Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to add a charitable tax deduction for non-itemizers, revealing how the proposal adds an unnecessary complications to the tax code.