Federal Budget and Economy: Conference

Measuring the Distribution of Federal Spending and Taxes

Registration is required to attend. Policymakers often look at the distribution of benefits and burdens when considering changes in taxes, but the distributional effects of changes in federal spending usually go unmeasured.This is largely because of analytical and data limitations, but it means
December 3, 2013
State and Local Issues: TaxVox

The Supreme Court Opens The Door to Sales Tax Collections by Online Sellers

Yesterday, by doing nothing, the U.S. Supreme Court took a giant step towards ending the decades-long dispute over whether states can require online retailers to...
December 3, 2013Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Why the Next Debt Limit Debacle Might be Worse

Congress’s latest flirtation with debt-limit default caused barely a ripple in the financial markets. Rates on short-term Treasuries spiked in early October, before quickly subsiding...
December 3, 2013Benjamin H. Harris
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Obama Will Try to Clarify the Role of Tax-Exempt Groups in Politics

The Obama Administration is trying to untangle the controversy over the growing role of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations in politics by creating a new category...
November 26, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

A Value-Added Tax That Won’t Raise Revenues Or Boost Taxes on the Poor

For many years, Michael Graetz, now a law professor at Columbia University, has been promoting a national Value-Added Tax (VAT) that would become the principal...
November 26, 2013Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

How Washington May Turn June Into Fiscal February

For those of you keeping score, the Congressional Budget Office now figures the next showdown over the nation’s debt limit will occur in March, or...
November 21, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: Brief

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 a
November 20, 2013James R. NunnsJoseph Rosenberg
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Baucus Proposes International Tax Reform But Future Action Remains Uncertain

In an effort to jumpstart moribund tax reform efforts, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) is suggesting major changes in the way U.S.-based multinational...
November 19, 2013Howard Gleckman
State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Sorting Through The Property Tax Burden

When it comes to property taxes, location matters. In a new TPC report , my colleague Brian David Moore and I look at just how...
November 18, 2013Benjamin H. Harris
State and Local Issues: Research report

Residential Property Taxes in the United States

This brief presents an overview of residential property taxes. The brief considers recent trends in aggregate property tax revenues and examines the property tax at the county level. Property taxes are an important source of revenue for local governments, though effective property tax rates vary
November 18, 2013Benjamin H. HarrisBrian David Moore
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Why Not Use Tax Preparers as a Portal to Health Exchanges?

What if we bought individual health insurance through our tax preparers? At first, the idea seems bizarre, but give me a minute to explain. Given...
November 14, 2013Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

The Democrats Never-Ending Search for Tax Loophole Closers

Senate Democrats are circulating a list of a dozen tax “loopholes” they’d like to close as part of a budget package. It is unlikely that...
November 13, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Narrow Tax Hikes Win Support in Several States

Last Tuesday, voters in several states approved modest tax hikes. Increasingly, states are using ballot measures to determine whether to support new taxes. Some of...
November 11, 2013Norton Francis
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Can Expiring Tax Provisions Save the Budget Talks?

There is lots of buzz around Washington about whether a laundry list of expiring tax provisions could be the key to a modest budget agreement...
November 7, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

How Big is the Penalty if You Don’t Get Health Insurance?

Stories about the Affordable Care Act often tell readers that they’ll have to pay a $95 penalty if they don’t get adequate health insurance coverage...
November 6, 2013Roberton C. Williams
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Do Campaign Finance Middle-Men Deserve Tax-exempt Status?

Thanks to the campaign watchdog organization Center for Responsive Politics and National Public Radio, we’ve learned more about the tactics of some political organizations that...
November 5, 2013Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Time to Fix the Budget Process

Congressional negotiators are trying to craft a budget deal by mid-December. Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square asked twelve experts what they hoped that deal would...
November 4, 2013Donald Marron
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

“Stateless Income” Versus “Statefully Taxless Income”

Ireland is playing the world like a Celtic harp, and perhaps the world deserves it. The US and other European nations have been complaining for...
November 4, 2013Chris Sanchirico
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

As Budget Talks Start, Beware the Bogus Revenue Hikes

As House and Senate budget negotiators sit down (eight months late), the inevitable issue of new revenues has already raised its head. Predictably, Democrats insist...
October 31, 2013Howard Gleckman
State and Local Issues: TaxVox

Who Benefits from Muni Bonds? It’s More Complicated Than You Think

Who benefits the most from the tax subsidy for municipal bonds? The easy answer is: Rich people who buy most of the tax-free paper. That’s...
October 29, 2013Howard Gleckman
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms: TaxVox

Current Law Distribution of Taxes

Fiscal year 2013 federal revenues came from four major sources: individual income tax (47 percent), payroll taxes (34 percent), corporate income tax (10 percent), and excise taxes (3 percent). Estate and gift taxes, customs duties, Federal Reserve earnings/losses, and miscellaneous receipts
October 26, 2013TPC
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

The Illogic of the McConnell Debt Limit Rule

In the aftermath of the recent government shutdown and the painful negotiations that brought the country perilously close to defaulting on government debt, policy experts...
October 23, 2013William G. Gale
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Congress Shouldn’t Forget About Tax Entitlements In Its Search for Deficit Reduction

Yesterday, Washington Post columnist Bob Samuelson urged lawmakers to “just eliminate…the whole notion of entitlements.” His provocative argument: The very word "entitlement" makes people believe...
October 22, 2013Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

One Modest Path to a No-Drama Budget Deal

The conventional wisdom is that next January, Congress and President Obama will be in exactly the same place they’ve been for most of the past...
October 17, 2013Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

The Un-Default: Congress Has Become A Seinfeld Episode

Like Seinfeld, the classic 1990s TV comedy, Congress is increasingly about…nothing. If the agreement reached by Senate leaders this afternoon sticks (and given recent history,...
October 16, 2013Howard Gleckman