The “tax gap”—the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount of tax actually paid—includes substantial gray areas where the law is ambiguous and the IRS’s determination of taxes owed is debatable. Understanding the tax gap’s shades of gray can inform discussions of tax law and...
This report presents updated figures in 2021 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...
State policymakers across the country are considering tax cuts in 2022. While there are many reasons and ways to cut taxes, state policymakers should keep in mind that the pandemic’s negative effects were unequal and that future state revenue growth is uncertain. This report, using the Tax...
This policy brief summarizes a new paper (Gale et al. 2022a) in which we develop and refine methods for estimating income tax liabilities in public-use Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) micro data files. Most recently conducted in 2019, the SCF is a triennial household survey with extensive...
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is a triennial household survey with extensive demographic, income, and balance sheet information. The SCF is unique among public-use household surveys because it oversamples wealthy households and is thus suitable for studying wealth and income inequality...
Federal, state, and local government officials are increasingly paying attention to reforms of fines and fees. These constitute a small share of total revenues, but they can be particularly harmful because of unjust policing and sentencing practices. This research report first explores how much...
Public benefit programs have the potential to help stabilize families when their income drops and can provide support as parents enter or reenter the workforce. As a family’s earnings rise, though, those earnings increases are often offset by declines in public...
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) large-scale microsimulation model produces estimates of how current and proposed tax policies will affect federal revenues and the distribution of tax burdens by income. The model is similar to those used by the Congressional...
President Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget proposals were big and diffuse. They, and much of what Congress has considered since then, would also often be temporary. Despite once-in-a-generation policy changes, the real growth in federal spending that either administration or congressional...
State tax revenues saw large swings since the onset of the pandemic, in part because of government actions and behavioral responses to mitigate virus exposure.
States reported strong revenue growth in the second quarter of 2021, but that is largely because of the lower base in 2020. Still...
The Tax Gap’s Many Shades of Gray (Report)
The “tax gap”—the difference between the amount of taxes owed and the amount of tax actually paid—includes substantial gray areas where the law is ambiguous and the IRS’s determination of taxes owed is debatable. Understanding the tax gap’s shades of gray can inform discussions of tax law and...
Social Security & Medicare Lifetime Benefits and Taxes: 2021
This report presents updated figures in 2021 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...
How Post-Pandemic Tax Cuts Can Affect Racial Equity
State policymakers across the country are considering tax cuts in 2022. While there are many reasons and ways to cut taxes, state policymakers should keep in mind that the pandemic’s negative effects were unequal and that future state revenue growth is uncertain. This report, using the Tax...
Simulating Income Tax Liabilities in the Survey of Consumer Finances
This policy brief summarizes a new paper (Gale et al. 2022a) in which we develop and refine methods for estimating income tax liabilities in public-use Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) micro data files. Most recently conducted in 2019, the SCF is a triennial household survey with extensive...
Simulating Income Tax Liabilities in the Survey of Consumer Finances
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is a triennial household survey with extensive demographic, income, and balance sheet information. The SCF is unique among public-use household surveys because it oversamples wealthy households and is thus suitable for studying wealth and income inequality...
Following the Money on Fines and Fees
Federal, state, and local government officials are increasingly paying attention to reforms of fines and fees. These constitute a small share of total revenues, but they can be particularly harmful because of unjust policing and sentencing practices. This research report first explores how much...
Balancing at the Edge of the Cliff
Public benefit programs have the potential to help stabilize families when their income drops and can provide support as parents enter or reenter the workforce. As a family’s earnings rise, though, those earnings increases are often offset by declines in public...
TPC's 2021 Tax Model Technical Updates
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) large-scale microsimulation model produces estimates of how current and proposed tax policies will affect federal revenues and the distribution of tax burdens by income. The model is similar to those used by the Congressional...
How Revolutionary Were President Biden’s Budget Proposals?
President Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget proposals were big and diffuse. They, and much of what Congress has considered since then, would also often be temporary. Despite once-in-a-generation policy changes, the real growth in federal spending that either administration or congressional...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2021 Quarter 2
State tax revenues saw large swings since the onset of the pandemic, in part because of government actions and behavioral responses to mitigate virus exposure.
States reported strong revenue growth in the second quarter of 2021, but that is largely because of the lower base in 2020. Still...