Over the period between 2013 and 2029, the sum of the estimated budgetary costs of all tax expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product will range from approximately 8.5 percent in fiscal year 2017 to 6 percent in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA)...
Because of the small share of the population currently eligible for itemized tax deductions for charitable giving, many charities have argued that a more universal charitable deduction or tax credit should exist. A more universal subsidy could (but would not necessarily) increase significantly...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession, as well as racial injustices and protest responses throughout 2020, have highlighted that public policies can have very different impacts on populations by race or ethnicity. Tax policies, in particular, are commonly perceived as “race neutral,”...
Pervading the history and tax laws applying to foundations is a persistent suspicion of the wealthy and of concentrated power, while the battles between foundations and Congress largely center on who has control over the uses of wealth. Foundation laws, and by extension, laws proposed or enacted...
Workers without children living at home, called “childless” for tax purposes, are eligible for relatively small benefits from the earned income tax credit (EITC). We analyze the effect of increasing the EITC for this group and extending benefits to workers ages 19 and older, rather than...
How much has the COVID-19 pandemic changed America’s fiscal future and affected President-elect Biden’s opportunity to set a new course for fiscal policy? Largely as a consequence of the pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in September projected a deficit of more than $3 trillion for...
This policy brief shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses substantially raised federal deficits, but only on a temporary basis. We project that the debt-to-GDP ratio, currently 98 percent, will rise to 190 percent in 2050 under current law, compared to a pre-COVID...
This report presents updated figures in 2020 dollars for the lifetime benefits earned and the lifetime taxes paid by hypothetical workers participating in Social Security and Medicare. For a single male earning average wages every year and retiring in 2020 at age 65, lifetime Social Security and...
NOTE: This is a corrected version of the analysis originally published October 29, 2020.
The Tax Policy Center (TPC) has analyzed the macroeconomic effects of former vice president Joe Biden’s tax proposals. We find the tax proposals would boost US gross...
Every government health program should operate under the same budget constraint that applies to other government programs. Failure to do so represents bad budgeting and economic, social, and health policy; redistributes income in perverse ways; and makes health care...
Trends in Tax Expenditures: An Update
Over the period between 2013 and 2029, the sum of the estimated budgetary costs of all tax expenditures as a percentage of gross domestic product will range from approximately 8.5 percent in fiscal year 2017 to 6 percent in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA)...
Designing an Effective and More Universal Charitable Deduction
Because of the small share of the population currently eligible for itemized tax deductions for charitable giving, many charities have argued that a more universal charitable deduction or tax credit should exist. A more universal subsidy could (but would not necessarily) increase significantly...
State and Local Government Revenues and Racial Disparities
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing recession, as well as racial injustices and protest responses throughout 2020, have highlighted that public policies can have very different impacts on populations by race or ethnicity. Tax policies, in particular, are commonly perceived as “race neutral,”...
Taxes and Foundations: A 50th Anniversary Overview
Pervading the history and tax laws applying to foundations is a persistent suspicion of the wealthy and of concentrated power, while the battles between foundations and Congress largely center on who has control over the uses of wealth. Foundation laws, and by extension, laws proposed or enacted...
Options to Increase the EITC for Workers Without Children at Home
Workers without children living at home, called “childless” for tax purposes, are eligible for relatively small benefits from the earned income tax credit (EITC). We analyze the effect of increasing the EITC for this group and extending benefits to workers ages 19 and older, rather than...
The Pandemic and President-Elect Biden’s Opportunity to Chart a New Course
How much has the COVID-19 pandemic changed America’s fiscal future and affected President-elect Biden’s opportunity to set a new course for fiscal policy? Largely as a consequence of the pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in September projected a deficit of more than $3 trillion for...
The Federal Budget Outlook After COVID-19
This policy brief shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses substantially raised federal deficits, but only on a temporary basis. We project that the debt-to-GDP ratio, currently 98 percent, will rise to 190 percent in 2050 under current law, compared to a pre-COVID...
Social Security & Medicare Lifetime Benefits & Taxes: 2020
This report presents updated figures in 2020 dollars for the lifetime benefits earned and the lifetime taxes paid by hypothetical workers participating in Social Security and Medicare. For a single male earning average wages every year and retiring in 2020 at age 65, lifetime Social Security and...
Macroeconomic Analysis of Former Vice President Biden's Tax Proposals
NOTE: This is a corrected version of the analysis originally published October 29, 2020.
The Tax Policy Center (TPC) has analyzed the macroeconomic effects of former vice president Joe Biden’s tax proposals. We find the tax proposals would boost US gross...
Sine Qua Non: A Healthy Nation Requires Real Budget Constraints in All Government Health Programs
Every government health program should operate under the same budget constraint that applies to other government programs. Failure to do so represents bad budgeting and economic, social, and health policy; redistributes income in perverse ways; and makes health care...