Last week, while admiring the seals frolicking on a San Diego beach, I read some good news about California’s tax collections. State officials had just...
The federal income tax is replete with tax expenditures, provisions that grant special benefits to selected taxpayers or for selected activities. Exclusions and deductions reduce taxable income, preferential rates cut the tax on specific types of income, and tax credits are subtracted directly from
Tax credits and deductions provide substantial assistance to families with children at all income levels. However, the value of tax provisions varies sharply depending on...
“The Path to Prosperity,” Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) solution to federal budget deficits, called for keeping “overall revenue as a share of the economy at...
The individual income tax contains multiple provisions that favor families with children. They range from credits targeted towards low-income families to deductions that favor higher income families. Some provisions benefit a family by virtue of the family having children, others try to incentivize
The increase in international capital mobility over the past two decades has put pressure on the tax treatment of corporate equity income.Corporate-level taxes distort investment flows across locations and create opportunities for tax avoidance by shifting income across jurisdictions. This paper
The political debates have quickly centered over whether Obama is heading toward ever-more cumbersome government regulation and price-setting and whether Ryan is opening up unregulated markets that would deprive many of needed health care.
Individuals who just filed their taxes this year might be wondering why they face high tax rates when big corporations apparently manage to escape the...
George Orwell once wrote: “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” I am reminded of Orwell and his deep concern with the misuse...
Marriage—or non-marriage—can affect how much tax you pay to Uncle Sam. Ever since Congress created the joint filing status for married couples in 1948, many...
On Monday, Standard and Poor’s pinned a “negative” rating on the United States fiscal outlook. US stock markets reacted poorly. The Dow fell 140 points...
An interesting blog from my Urban Institute colleague Brett Theodos on the use of refund anticipation loans and refund anticipation checks among low-income tax filers:...
In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses America's renewed concern about defense spending in light of US military action in Libya.
