Federal Budget and Economy: Brief

A Better Way to Budget for Federal Lending Programs

Policy analysts have long debated how best to budget for student loans, mortgage guarantees, and other federal lending programs. Under official budget rules, these programs appear highly profitable; under an alternative, favored by many analysts, they appear to lose money. That discrepancy confuses
September 29, 2014Donald Marron
Federal Budget and Economy: Brief

Data Appendix to Kids' Share 2014: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2013

This appendix to Kids' Share 2014: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children through 2013 details the methodology used in our annual comprehensive analysis of trends in federal spending and tax expenditures on children. It describes our selection of programs to include in our analysis, our data
September 24, 2014Ellen SteeleJulia B. IsaacsHeather HahnSara EdelsteinC. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Presentation

Summary of and Comments on Exempt Organization Provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 2014

The slides summarize the content of and provide detailed commentary on the exempt organization provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 2014, a discussion draft released February 26, 2014 by Dave Camp, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, including changes to the charitable deduction, unrelated
September 24, 2014Roger Colinvaux
Business Taxes: TaxVox

Treasury's New Rules May Slow, But Won’t Stop Corporate Tax Inversions

Will Treasury’s new rules stop the wave of corporate tax inversions? No they won’t. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew acknowledged as much when the agency proposed the curbs yesterday. Will they slow the practice? Perhaps, but even that is not certain. In a perverse way, Treasury’s most effective weapon
September 23, 2014Howard Gleckman
Business Taxes: TaxVox

Does Treasury Have the Legal Authority To Curb Tax Inversions?

While we wait to see how and when the Obama Administration will use its executive authority to curb the use of corporate tax inversions, the debate continues over whether Treasury even has the power to limit the practice. In a new article in Tax Notes , Tax Policy Center senior fellow Steve
September 22, 2014Howard Gleckman
: TaxVox

Tax Policy, Tax Outcomes: That’s Entertainment!

Congress is in recess through the mid-term elections. Read the Daily Deduction each Monday until then. “ California, here I come !” It’s official: Democratic Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a $330 million annual incentive program for film and television production. Feature films with budgets
September 22, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Income Tax Changes and Economic Growth

Policy makers and researchers have long been interested in how potential changes to the personal income tax system affect the size of the overall economy. Earlier this year, for example, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI) proposed a sweeping reform to the income tax system that would reduce rates,
September 19, 2014William G. Gale
: TaxVox

Will Tax Reform See Light at the End of the Next Tunnel?

Jack Lew on corporate inversions: “Action is going to be taken.” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says that ”any company considering an inversion is now on notice that there is action that is going to be taken.” Administrative curbs would limit the economic benefits of inversions but only congressional
September 19, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Does Income Inequality Really Hurt State Tax Revenues?

This week the rating agency Standard and Poor’s got a lot of attention for a study that concluded that rising income inequality is damaging state tax revenues. Well, state tax revenue growth has slowed in recent decades and income inequality has grown. But the story is far more complicated than S
September 18, 2014Kim S. Rueben
: Daily Deduction

A Hail Mary or Two on the Hill

Congress is not quite “ready for some football.” With trouble in the Middle East, an Ebola outbreak in Africa, and mid-term elections, the National Football League’s tax-exempt status is not high on the Congressional to-do list. That’s not keeping some senators from trying to repeal it. Washington
September 18, 2014Renu Zaretsky
: TaxVox

Havens Abroad, Shelters Ashore

No more tax havens abroad? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released its plan to limit corporate tax avoidance . All 34 OECD members plus 10 other countries including China and Russia have approved the proposals, though each nation must still implement them. The
September 17, 2014Renu Zaretsky
State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Congress Cries Wolf Over Internet Access Taxes

Unable to do anything important before its election season recess, Congress is about to knock down a favorite digital straw man—It will extend for a few months the about-to-expire federal ban on state taxation of Internet access. The federal moratorium, called the Internet Tax Freedom Act, is
September 16, 2014Howard Gleckman
: TaxVox

Income Inequality and Time for State Action

Income inequality may shrink state tax revenues. A new report from Standard & Poor’s tells the tale. Incomes have grown rapidly among the wealthy, but have barely kept pace with inflation for many others. But high income earners both shelter their income from taxes and save more, reducing state
September 16, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Business Taxes: TaxVox

How Michigan Blocked a $1 Billion Tax Windfall for Corporations

For all the talk of political gridlock, it is amazing how quickly a state legislature can act when $1 billion in unexpected corporate tax refunds are at stake. The lawmakers are in Michigan. And their pistons were fired up following an unfavorable state Supreme Court decision in a lawsuit brought
September 15, 2014Norton Francis
: Daily Deduction

Taxes Take Center Stage This Week—At Least on the House Floor

Shutting down talk of a shutdown… The House is expected to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government—including the IRS—through December 11. The resolution would include an extension of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which bars states from taxing Internet access. Unless Congress acts,
September 15, 2014Renu Zaretsky
State and Local Issues: Research report

Examples of Promising Practices for Integrating and Coordinating Eligibility, Enrollment and Retention: Human Services and Health Programs Under the Affordable Care Act

States and non-profit organizations have used three approaches to successfully integrate enrollment and retention of health and human services programs: 1. Streamlining one program's eligibility determination based on data from other programs. This approach has helped uninsured children receive and
September 14, 2014Sarah Minton
: TaxVox

Tax Policy in September: Racing to a Grinding Halt?

Have it your way… unless you’re Burger King. Five Senate Democrats—Illinois’ Dick Durbin, Michigan’s Carl Levin, Rhode Island’s Jack Reed, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown—asked Burger King to not move its legal headquarters to lower-tax Canada. They accused it of trying to avoid
September 12, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Does the Export-Import Bank Make or Lose Money?

Suppose your aunt decides to start a business making pizza ovens. She will design and build the ovens, and her daughter will manage operations. A bank is ready to lend her $100,000 to get started, but it wants someone to co-sign and be on the hook if she misses any payments. She offers to pay you $
September 11, 2014Donald Marron
: TaxVox

Rules, Reform, Taxes and Wealth: No Harm in Trying?

Maybe the duck will walk again? Lawmakers are putting down their markers on anti-inversion legislation. Top Senate Democrats Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer have introduced a bill to curb “earnings-stripping” by multinational corporations—a practice where firms maximize U.S. tax deductions for
September 11, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Don’t Count on Much Economic Growth From Individual Tax Reform…Or From Tax Rate Cuts

Can individual income tax reform that cuts rates and eliminates subsidies increase economic growth? How about tax cuts by themselves? The answer is: Maybe, but not by much, according to a new paper by the Tax Policy Center’s Bill Gale and Andrew Samwick, director of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center
September 10, 2014Howard Gleckman
: TaxVox

The Amazing [Anti-Inversion] Race

There’s tougher talk from Treasury. Secretary Jack Lew affirmed administrative authority to curb inversions, telling Bloomberg that “If Congress doesn’t act, we have to take the steps we can, which will reduce the economic value of inversions .” There’s more talk on the Hill, too. Senate Finance
September 10, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Individual Taxes

Effects of Income Tax Changes on Economic Growth

Unable to attend in person? This event will be webcast live on this page (no registration required). Economists have long understood that the tax system can have important effects on growth, and that connection has loomed even larger in light of the lethargic economic performance of recent years.
September 9, 2014
State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Nearly All States Play the Lottery, But None Are Big Winners

Wyoming residents no longer have to cross the border to purchase Powerball tickets. On Aug. 24, Wyoming became the 44th state to legalize a lottery. Proponents laud these games as an easy source of funds for schools and other public services. However, lotteries are often a bad bet: Revenues are
September 9, 2014Richard C. Auxier
: TaxVox

Inversions, Loopholes, Taxes and TIFs: What’s a Revenue Service to Do?

Inversions: The waiting is the hardest part. At yesterday’s TPC event Treasury Secretary Jack Lew promised an anti-inversion decision “soon,” but committed to no other details . While everybody agrees corporate inversions are done largely to avoid taxes, does Treasury have the authority to prevent
September 9, 2014Renu Zaretsky
Individual Taxes: Research report

Effects of Income Tax Changes on Economic Growth

This paper examines how changes to the individual income tax affect long-term economic growth. The structure and financing of a tax change are critical to achieving economic growth. Tax rate cuts may encourage individuals to work, save, and invest, but if the tax cuts are not financed by immediate
September 9, 2014William G. GaleAndrew Samwick