Harry Grubert made important contributions to our thinking about international tax policies. He identified the numerous margins on which corporate tax systems could distort behavior in a global economy and estimated the relative costs of these distortions. His views evolved over time from...
This paper estimates the effective tax rate on entrepreneurial income, defined as the return to an individual who starts a successful new business and then sells their interest once it becomes an established enterprise. The rate depends on both the tax imposed on the appreciation of the firm’s...
This paper provides a detailed exposition of the effects of President Biden’s 2020 campaign proposal on the U.S. economy and budget that are summarized in Page et al. (2021). The analysis is done using...
State taxes were upended in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as governments shut down large parts of the economy. While overall state tax revenues have fared better than expected since then, state leaders have been closely examining existing tax policies and...
States reported solid revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, but there is large variation across states and across revenue sources. Over a nine-month period (April through December 2020), state total tax revenues declined 2.2 percent compared to the same...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) instituted the most substantial changes in taxation in decades and was designed to boost the economy via supply-side incentives. This paper reviews these changes and examines the impacts on economic aggregates through 2019. The Act clearly reduced revenue...
Janet Holtzblatt, senior fellow in the Tax Policy Center, testified before the Select Revenue Measures and Oversight subcommittees of House Ways and Means at a hearing on the tax gap and improving tax administration. The testimony focused on four key areas: the impact of reductions in the IRS’s...
Elaine Maag, Principal Research Associate in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Business and Economic Development. The hearing included a discussion on the “Child Wealth Building Act of 2021” (B24-236) and tax policy...
Kim Rueben, Sol Price Fellow and Director of the State and Local Finance Initiative at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Business and Economic Development. The hearing included a discussion on the “Child Wealth Building...
Harry Grubert’s Evolving Views on International Tax Policy
Harry Grubert made important contributions to our thinking about international tax policies. He identified the numerous margins on which corporate tax systems could distort behavior in a global economy and estimated the relative costs of these distortions. His views evolved over time from...
Does the Federal Income Tax Law Favor Entrepreneurs?
This paper estimates the effective tax rate on entrepreneurial income, defined as the return to an individual who starts a successful new business and then sells their interest once it becomes an established enterprise. The rate depends on both the tax imposed on the appreciation of the firm’s...
A Detailed Macroeconomic Analysis of President Biden's 2020 Campaign Tax Proposals
This paper provides a detailed exposition of the effects of President Biden’s 2020 campaign proposal on the U.S. economy and budget that are summarized in Page et al. (2021). The analysis is done using...
Surveying State Leaders on the State of State Taxes
State taxes were upended in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic as governments shut down large parts of the economy. While overall state tax revenues have fared better than expected since then, state leaders have been closely examining existing tax policies and...
State Tax and Economic Review, 2020 Quarter 4
States reported solid revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, but there is large variation across states and across revenue sources. Over a nine-month period (April through December 2020), state total tax revenues declined 2.2 percent compared to the same...
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Searching for Supply-side Effects
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) instituted the most substantial changes in taxation in decades and was designed to boost the economy via supply-side incentives. This paper reviews these changes and examines the impacts on economic aggregates through 2019. The Act clearly reduced revenue...
The Effect of Tax Enforcement on Revenues
Janet Holtzblatt, senior fellow in the Tax Policy Center, testified before the Select Revenue Measures and Oversight subcommittees of House Ways and Means at a hearing on the tax gap and improving tax administration. The testimony focused on four key areas: the impact of reductions in the IRS’s...
Using Basic Income to Meet the Needs of DC Communities
Elaine Maag, Principal Research Associate in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Business and Economic Development. The hearing included a discussion on the “Child Wealth Building Act of 2021” (B24-236) and tax policy...
Understanding Taxes that Can Raise Revenues to Help Offset Growing Wealth Inequality in the District of Columbia
Kim Rueben, Sol Price Fellow and Director of the State and Local Finance Initiative at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, testified before the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Business and Economic Development. The hearing included a discussion on the “Child Wealth Building...
Has $3.5 Trillion of Pandemic Relief Enacted in 2020 Altered the Nation’s Long-Term Budgetary Path?
The first CBO report of the Biden presidency laid out the fiscal status of the federal government at the start of his administration. Despite the multi-trillion-dollar response to the pandemic and related increases in national debt, the long-term direction of the federal budget has changed...