Low-income parents use paid preparers more frequently than other parents. This high reliance may be a good thing. Among low-income parents who know about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) those who receive help are more likely to receive the EITC than their peers who prepare their returns...
Beginning with his convention acceptance speech, President Bush has been calling for an ‘‘ownership society’’- ‘‘a path to greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.’’ Republicans and Democrats alike should welcome this call since in one form or another most have...
Proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts are now a focus of attention, with the President expressing a strong desire to push forward on creating individual accounts within Social Security. This paper considers the appropriate budgetary treatment of proposals to...
The Urban-Brookings microsimulation tax model is a powerful tool for federal tax policy analysis. The model calculates tax liability for a representative sample of households, both under the rules that currently exist (current law) and under alternative scenarios. Based on these calculations,...
In the heady days after his re-election, President Bush promised to replace the current tax system with something better. Politicians often delude themselves that reform can be summoned by proclamation. But, a wholesale transformation of the income tax system isn't about to happen quickly or...
To encourage saving for retirement, private pensions such as employer sponsored 401(k) plans or IRAs receive favorable tax treatment by the federal government. A major goal of such tax provisions is to increase personal saving. A measure of the value of these tax benefits is provided by the...
For the last several years, Congress has been on a spending spree unlike any in the nation’s history — a turnaround of about 7 percent of gross domestic product in going from surplus to deficit. In addition to size, what made this spree unique was that tax cuts, defense increases, large...
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 includes a major attempt to reform the tax rules for deferred compensation arrangements covering corporate managers. This paper examines the tax policy and corporate-governance policy objectives of the reform effort, explores the shortcomings of the...
[Marketplace] While everyone is focusing on those things President Bush and Senator John Kerry disagree about, perhaps they should be paying attention to those things on which they do agree. Senior fellow and Tax Policy Center co-director, Len Burman, takes a look at what he calls the "...
Paying the Price?
Low-income parents use paid preparers more frequently than other parents. This high reliance may be a good thing. Among low-income parents who know about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) those who receive help are more likely to receive the EITC than their peers who prepare their returns...
An Ownership Society or a Society For Those Who Already Own?
Beginning with his convention acceptance speech, President Bush has been calling for an ‘‘ownership society’’- ‘‘a path to greater opportunity, more freedom, and more control over your own life.’’ Republicans and Democrats alike should welcome this call since in one form or another most have...
Should the Budget Exclude the Cost of Individual Accounts?
Proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts are now a focus of attention, with the President expressing a strong desire to push forward on creating individual accounts within Social Security. This paper considers the appropriate budgetary treatment of proposals to...
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Microsimulation Model
The Urban-Brookings microsimulation tax model is a powerful tool for federal tax policy analysis. The model calculates tax liability for a representative sample of households, both under the rules that currently exist (current law) and under alternative scenarios. Based on these calculations,...
Sisyphus Had it Easy
In the heady days after his re-election, President Bush promised to replace the current tax system with something better. Politicians often delude themselves that reform can be summoned by proclamation. But, a wholesale transformation of the income tax system isn't about to happen quickly or...
Retirement Saving Incentives and Personal Saving
To encourage saving for retirement, private pensions such as employer sponsored 401(k) plans or IRAs receive favorable tax treatment by the federal government. A major goal of such tax provisions is to increase personal saving. A measure of the value of these tax benefits is provided by the...
Exempting Dividends, Interest, and Capital Gains From Taxation
This article uses the TPC tax model to examine the direct effect of exempting all dividends, interest, and capital gains from income taxation.
Tough Choices, Opportunity, or Both?
For the last several years, Congress has been on a spending spree unlike any in the nation’s history — a turnaround of about 7 percent of gross domestic product in going from surplus to deficit. In addition to size, what made this spree unique was that tax cuts, defense increases, large...
Executive Compensation Reform and the Limits of Tax Policy
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 includes a major attempt to reform the tax rules for deferred compensation arrangements covering corporate managers. This paper examines the tax policy and corporate-governance policy objectives of the reform effort, explores the shortcomings of the...
Quietly, The Taxes Are Changing
[Marketplace] While everyone is focusing on those things President Bush and Senator John Kerry disagree about, perhaps they should be paying attention to those things on which they do agree. Senior fellow and Tax Policy Center co-director, Len Burman, takes a look at what he calls the "...