From 2010 through 2019, funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped by 24 percent, after adjustment for inflation. As a consequence, the percentage of taxpayers who were audited fell by nearly half. In this paper, we use confidential IRS data to compare the returns on investments (ROI...
Policymakers continue to grapple with the related issues of unequal incomes, relatively poor health, education, and economic outcomes for low-income children, and hardship among low- and...
State tax revenues showed continued growth in the first half of fiscal year 2020. State government tax revenues from major sources showed solid year-over-year growth at 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Preliminary data show strong growth in January and February before declines in March...
We examine how proposals to modify and expand the EITC would change its impacts during economic downturns. Using components from the Economic Security Project’s Cost-of-Living Refund, we identify three main effects. First, accelerating the credit phase-in (or eliminating it entirely) would...
Federal tax law provides substantial tax incentives for retirement saving. These include the deferral of taxes on contributions to retirement savings accounts by employers, employees, and self-employed taxpayers and the earnings on these contributions until the funds are withdrawn in retirement...
In this report, we compare revenue equivalent alternatives to the $10,000 annual limit on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). We consider options that would limit all itemized deductions, not just the SALT deduction, and an additional option...
The global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak will dramatically affect state tax revenues over the next months and possibly years. This brief summarizes how state revenue forecasters viewed their state economies before the COVID-19 pandemic, as documented in governors’ proposed...
In this brief, we estimate the revenue and distributional effects of Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign tax proposals. We show the revenue and distributional implications of tax proposals excluding those related to his Medicare for All plan. We also report the revenue estimates (but not the...
In recognition of the important work family caregivers do, the Economic Security Project (ESP) has proposed that they be eligible for the cost-of-living refund, an expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC). Among other changes to the EITC, the cost-of-living refund would extend benefits...
Congress and the president have put the federal budget on track for unsustainable and rising deficits without end. Mandatory spending programs—those that continue automatically without new appropriations—are expanding at a faster rate than discretionary spending programs, while total spending...
Effects of Recent Reductions in the Internal Revenue Service’s Appropriations on Returns on Investment
From 2010 through 2019, funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped by 24 percent, after adjustment for inflation. As a consequence, the percentage of taxpayers who were audited fell by nearly half. In this paper, we use confidential IRS data to compare the returns on investments (ROI...
Understanding the Maze of Recent Child and Work Incentive Proposals
Policymakers continue to grapple with the related issues of unequal incomes, relatively poor health, education, and economic outcomes for low-income children, and hardship among low- and...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2019 Quarter 4
State tax revenues showed continued growth in the first half of fiscal year 2020. State government tax revenues from major sources showed solid year-over-year growth at 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Preliminary data show strong growth in January and February before declines in March...
Design Changes Can Strengthen the EITC During Recessions
We examine how proposals to modify and expand the EITC would change its impacts during economic downturns. Using components from the Economic Security Project’s Cost-of-Living Refund, we identify three main effects. First, accelerating the credit phase-in (or eliminating it entirely) would...
Tax Incentives for Retirement Savings
Federal tax law provides substantial tax incentives for retirement saving. These include the deferral of taxes on contributions to retirement savings accounts by employers, employees, and self-employed taxpayers and the earnings on these contributions until the funds are withdrawn in retirement...
Alternatives to the TCJA Limit on the State and Local Tax Deduction
In this report, we compare revenue equivalent alternatives to the $10,000 annual limit on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). We consider options that would limit all itemized deductions, not just the SALT deduction, and an additional option...
State Revenue Forecasts Before COVID-19 and Directions Forward
The global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak will dramatically affect state tax revenues over the next months and possibly years. This brief summarizes how state revenue forecasters viewed their state economies before the COVID-19 pandemic, as documented in governors’ proposed...
An Analysis of Senator Sanders's Tax Proposals
In this brief, we estimate the revenue and distributional effects of Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign tax proposals. We show the revenue and distributional implications of tax proposals excluding those related to his Medicare for All plan. We also report the revenue estimates (but not the...
Extending the Earned Income Tax Credit: How the Economic Security Project’s Cost-of-Living Refund Would Affect Family Caregivers
In recognition of the important work family caregivers do, the Economic Security Project (ESP) has proposed that they be eligible for the cost-of-living refund, an expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC). Among other changes to the EITC, the cost-of-living refund would extend benefits...
Debt and Politics: Integrating America’s Fiscal Outlook with New Campaign Proposals
Congress and the president have put the federal budget on track for unsustainable and rising deficits without end. Mandatory spending programs—those that continue automatically without new appropriations—are expanding at a faster rate than discretionary spending programs, while total spending...