The income tax provisions related to families and work—filing status, rate schedules, the standard deduction, personal exemptions, the child and earned income tax credits, and the taxation of dependents—are complex, too small to encourage work for many low earners, and unfair to some families....
This paper analyzes the House GOP tax reform blueprint, which would significantly reduce marginal tax rates, increase standard deduction amounts, repeal personal exemptions and most itemized deductions, allow businesses to expense new investment, and not allow businesses to deduct net interest...
How should governments use the considerable revenue carbon taxes can raise? There are many options for cutting other taxes, increasing spending, or reducing borrowing. We organize the options into four goals: offset the new burdens that a carbon tax places on consumers, producers, communities,...
Looking specifically at taxes, Brookings Senior Fellow William Gale and Research Assistant Aaron Krupkin write that the U.S. does not have a good tax system that raises the revenues needed “to finance government spending in a manner that is as simple, equitable, and growth-friendly as possible...
In 1983 the Social Security Trust Fund was rapidly emptying. President Reagan appointed a bipartisan commission headed by Alan Greenspan to recommend solutions. The commission could not agree. Republicans adamantly opposed tax increases and Democrats opposed any slowdown in the growth of...
This paper describes the major provisions in the Tax Reform Act of 2014, the comprehensive tax reform plan released on February 26, 2014, by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI). It also presents the Tax Policy Centers analysis of the plans revenue impact beyond the 10-year budget...
A corporate income tax can play a useful role by preventing shareholders from deferring tax on retained corporate profits. The current U.S. corporate income tax is deeply flawed, however, because it relies on definitions of corporate residence and income sourcing that corporations can easily...
In "100 Million Unnecessary Returns," Michael Graetz, professor of law at Columbia University, proposed sweeping tax reform that would remove most current taxpayers from the income tax rolls, reform the corporate income tax, significantly reduce the top individual and corporate rates, and adopt...
The impact of tax reform on housing prices has traditionally been studied by examining the user cost of capital the after-tax cost to the homeowner per unit of housing. This brief summarizes findings from a new discrete period approach which considers the time element of housing investment and...
There is widespread agreement that the income tax needs reform, although little agreement about how to do it. A common thread in most reform proposals is to slash most tax expenditures. A 1973 book by Stanley Surrey made the case that cuts in tax expenditures was the "pathway to tax reform."...
An Option to Reform the Income Tax Treatment of Families and Work
The income tax provisions related to families and work—filing status, rate schedules, the standard deduction, personal exemptions, the child and earned income tax credits, and the taxation of dependents—are complex, too small to encourage work for many low earners, and unfair to some families....
An Analysis of the House GOP Tax Plan
This paper analyzes the House GOP tax reform blueprint, which would significantly reduce marginal tax rates, increase standard deduction amounts, repeal personal exemptions and most itemized deductions, allow businesses to expense new investment, and not allow businesses to deduct net interest...
How to Use Carbon Tax Revenues
How should governments use the considerable revenue carbon taxes can raise? There are many options for cutting other taxes, increasing spending, or reducing borrowing. We organize the options into four goals: offset the new burdens that a carbon tax places on consumers, producers, communities,...
Major Tax Issues in 2016
Looking specifically at taxes, Brookings Senior Fellow William Gale and Research Assistant Aaron Krupkin write that the U.S. does not have a good tax system that raises the revenues needed “to finance government spending in a manner that is as simple, equitable, and growth-friendly as possible...
Myth and Reality of the Safety Net: The 1983 Social Security Reforms
In 1983 the Social Security Trust Fund was rapidly emptying. President Reagan appointed a bipartisan commission headed by Alan Greenspan to recommend solutions. The commission could not agree. Republicans adamantly opposed tax increases and Democrats opposed any slowdown in the growth of...
Description and Analysis of the Camp Tax Reform Plan
This paper describes the major provisions in the Tax Reform Act of 2014, the comprehensive tax reform plan released on February 26, 2014, by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI). It also presents the Tax Policy Centers analysis of the plans revenue impact beyond the 10-year budget...
Major Surgery Needed: A Call for Structural Reform of the US Corporate Income Tax
A corporate income tax can play a useful role by preventing shareholders from deferring tax on retained corporate profits. The current U.S. corporate income tax is deeply flawed, however, because it relies on definitions of corporate residence and income sourcing that corporations can easily...
Updated Tables for "Using a VAT to Reform the Income Tax"
In "100 Million Unnecessary Returns," Michael Graetz, professor of law at Columbia University, proposed sweeping tax reform that would remove most current taxpayers from the income tax rolls, reform the corporate income tax, significantly reduce the top individual and corporate rates, and adopt...
New Estimates of Tax Reform's Effect on Housing Prices
The impact of tax reform on housing prices has traditionally been studied by examining the user cost of capital the after-tax cost to the homeowner per unit of housing. This brief summarizes findings from a new discrete period approach which considers the time element of housing investment and...
Pathways to Tax Reform Revisited
There is widespread agreement that the income tax needs reform, although little agreement about how to do it. A common thread in most reform proposals is to slash most tax expenditures. A 1973 book by Stanley Surrey made the case that cuts in tax expenditures was the "pathway to tax reform."...