Steven M. Rosenthal, Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight during a hearing entitled “Legislative Proposals and Tax Law Related to Presidential and Vice-Presidential Tax Returns.” In his testimony, Rosenthal...
Local officials, impact investors, and philanthropy have important roles to play in helping communities access Opportunity Zone financing that benefits current residents, especially those with low or moderate incomes. Using Chicago and Cook County as a case study, we identify steps these actors...
Total state tax revenue from all sources showed strong growth in the last three quarters of 2018. States collected slightly over $1 trillion in tax revenues in fiscal year 2018, a gain of 7.8 percent over 2017. But the revenue growth was uneven among the states and across revenue sources. Much...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act modestly decreased federal individual income taxes for most low- and middle-income families. However, the federal tax changes interacted with state laws in ways that meant some of these same families could see state tax increases. This brief discusses how implementing...
The federal tax treatment of charitable giving and the nonprofit sector is at an inflection point. Following enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the number of taxpayers who will claim a charitable deduction will decline substantially. What does that mean for charitable giving and the...
Administrative tax data contain a wealth of information that is potentially valuable for research and analysis. However, the legal and ethical imperative to protect taxpayer privacy has restricted their access to a small number of government analysts and select researchers. We propose to develop...
Cities are where people come together to work, live, and thrive. Cities also face a host of fiscal challenges, many of which were laid bare in the Great Recession. Given these challenges, stakeholders of many kinds have sought more and better indicators of city fiscal health. This paper provides...
The Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018 extends major individual income and estate tax provisions from 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. The bill would reduce federal revenues by $631 billion within the budget window (...
Conventional estimates that do not fully account for this rebalancing overstate the increase in revenues associated with eliminating the MID and will also overstate the progressivity of eliminating the MID, because households with higher levels of non-residential assets might respond by selling...
Adjusting Social Security retirement ages as people live longer would significantly improve trust fund balances over the long run, though it would have only modest effects in the short term. By the 75th year, Social Security actuaries project that raising the retirement age by indexing it to...
The Value of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Tax Returns to the Public and Congress
Steven M. Rosenthal, Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight during a hearing entitled “Legislative Proposals and Tax Law Related to Presidential and Vice-Presidential Tax Returns.” In his testimony, Rosenthal...
How Chicago and Cook County Can Leverage Opportunity Zones for Community Benefit
Local officials, impact investors, and philanthropy have important roles to play in helping communities access Opportunity Zone financing that benefits current residents, especially those with low or moderate incomes. Using Chicago and Cook County as a case study, we identify steps these actors...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2018 Quarter 2
Total state tax revenue from all sources showed strong growth in the last three quarters of 2018. States collected slightly over $1 trillion in tax revenues in fiscal year 2018, a gain of 7.8 percent over 2017. But the revenue growth was uneven among the states and across revenue sources. Much...
Addressing the Family-Sized Hole Federal Tax Reform Left for States
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act modestly decreased federal individual income taxes for most low- and middle-income families. However, the federal tax changes interacted with state laws in ways that meant some of these same families could see state tax increases. This brief discusses how implementing...
Reforming Charitable Tax Incentives: Assessing Evidence and Policy Options
The federal tax treatment of charitable giving and the nonprofit sector is at an inflection point. Following enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the number of taxpayers who will claim a charitable deduction will decline substantially. What does that mean for charitable giving and the...
Safely Expanding Research Access to Administrative Tax Data: Creating a Synthetic Public Use File and a Validation Server
Administrative tax data contain a wealth of information that is potentially valuable for research and analysis. However, the legal and ethical imperative to protect taxpayer privacy has restricted their access to a small number of government analysts and select researchers. We propose to develop...
Predicting Municipal Fiscal Distress: Aspiration or Reality
Cities are where people come together to work, live, and thrive. Cities also face a host of fiscal challenges, many of which were laid bare in the Great Recession. Given these challenges, stakeholders of many kinds have sought more and better indicators of city fiscal health. This paper provides...
Analysis of the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018
The Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018 extends major individual income and estate tax provisions from 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. The bill would reduce federal revenues by $631 billion within the budget window (...
The Mortgage Interest Deduction: Revenue and Distributional Effects
Conventional estimates that do not fully account for this rebalancing overstate the increase in revenues associated with eliminating the MID and will also overstate the progressivity of eliminating the MID, because households with higher levels of non-residential assets might respond by selling...
How Would Indexing for Improvements in Life Expectancy Affect Trust Fund Balances?
Adjusting Social Security retirement ages as people live longer would significantly improve trust fund balances over the long run, though it would have only modest effects in the short term. By the 75th year, Social Security actuaries project that raising the retirement age by indexing it to...