Let’s say you are truly offended that 47 percent of Americans don’t pay income tax. Just complaining won't fix the problem. All those freeloaders are...
Yesterday, Kevin Hassett, an American Enterprise Institute economist and informal adviser to Mitt Romney, insisted that Romney would not raise taxes on low- and middle-income...
As Mitt Romney recently noted, about 47 percent of U.S. households do not pay federal income taxes. Some see this as evidence of a welfare state run amok. Others think that gimmicks and loopholes let both rich and poor Americans duck their taxes. This commentary corrects some misconceptions about
Federal tax reform may put added pressure on state and local governments that already face severe fiscal challenges. Tax-exempt bonds and the deduction for state and local taxes are among the major preferences likely to come under scrutiny in any rewrite of the Revenue Code. In addition, lower
Leonard Burman's testimony before the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee on tax reform and the tax treatment of capital gains.
Political leaders and commentators frequently claim that the policies they favor will make the United States more competitive, without defining what competiveness between countries means. This paper defines competitiveness as a contest between nations for scarce and mobile resources and explores
The percentage of Americans who don’t pay income tax is making headlines again. However, the story hasn’t changed since I blogged about it last year...
This article presents IRS data on corporate dividends paid and received. Following the 2003 legislation that lowered the individual tax rate on dividends, roughly $350 billion of net corporate dividends have been paid annually. Less than half that amount has shown up as qualified dividend income on
If only Mitt Romney had paid attention to Ronald Reagan. There are so many things the former Massachusetts governor could learn from the former California...
A candidate for office effectively divides the population into the "deserving," who should get more benefits or tax cuts (or at least should not pay more taxes or lose benefits), and the "undeserving," who are not carrying their own weight. But he or she doesn't want to put very many people in the
Recent economic research has improved our understanding of who bears the burden of the corporate income tax. One key finding is that returns to corporate capital are substantially "supernormal," returns in excess of the "normal" riskless return to waiting. The other key result is that international
Encouraging savings and assets among low- and moderate-income families should be part of the national strategy to restore household and economic stability. Research shows that low-income families can and do save. Savings can help families weather emergencies and prosper, and asset building can help
Amount of selected taxes and transfers for a single parent with two children at various levels of poverty, assuming no earnings January through June and equal earnings July through December, by state.
