Affordable Care Act

: TaxVox

A Little March Madness on the Hill

The “doc fix” passes the House. The House overwhelmingly approved the Medicare “ doc fix ” to replace automatic payment cuts (that Congress has delayed every year since 2003) with a temporary 0.5 percent annual hike in physician reimbursements. But the bipartisan deal, which CBO figures would add $

March 27, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Budget Battles and Filing Follies: The Sagas Continue

As the GOP gears up to make peace between House and Senate budgets, Senator Bernie Sanders has an idea about war funding. The GOP Congress will need to reconcile their budgets in the next several weeks—for the first time in a decade. They want to come together to repeal and offer an alternative to

March 23, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

On Budgeting, Patience, and Rube Goldberg

Out today: A first look at GOP budgets. The US hit its debt limit yesterday (at least technically), and the budget battles have begun. The Senate GOP budget resolution reportedly won’t include detailed plans to overhaul entitlement programs—though the House GOP plan may. The Senate Budget panel

March 17, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Expensive Plans, ACA Developments, and Exercises in Futility

The Rubio-Lee tax reform plan: Interesting, very expensive, and DOA. The GOP senators offer a framework for a huge tax cut that would add trillions to the debt over the next ten years while moving the revenue code towards a consumption tax. TPC did a preliminary analysis of an early version of the

March 5, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

On Tiny Steps, King Edward, and Hidden Assets

Tax reform: Go big or go home, or at least, not very far. TPC’s Len Burman says that senators Marco Rubio’s and Mike Lee’s proposal to eliminate the tax on capital gains would do more harm than good. The senators argue that it’s a step toward a consumption tax. But Len thinks some small steps aren’

March 4, 2015Renu Zaretsky

: TaxVox

Can Expectations Be Too Low?

Pot tax refunds for all in Colorado? Colorado’s controversial Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) says that the state cannot keep more tax revenue than it expected to collect in the year it levies a new tax. Colorado is on track to collect an extra $219 million in revenue in the current fiscal year and

March 3, 2015Renu Zaretsky

Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Dynamic Scoring Forum: Three Things You Should Know About Dynamic Scoring

This is one of a series of guest TaxVox blog posts discussing dynamic scoring. The House recently changed the rules of budget scoring: The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation will now account for macroeconomic effects when estimating the budget impacts of major

February 27, 2015Donald Marron

: TaxVox

To Collect Money You Have to Have Money

High-income households can worry even less about being audited this year. Last year, the IRS audited just 7.5 percent of households earning more than $1 million in 2013. That’s the lowest share since 2009 . Its overall individual audit rate was 0.86 percent, the lowest since 2004. The IRS budget

February 25, 2015Renu Zaretsky

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

So Far, Affordable Care Act Users Are Managing Tax Filing, Many Uninsured May Use New Enrollment Period

So far, most people with Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies seem to be filing their taxes without huge problems, despite the complexity of the process. However, about half of those who have filed returns with tax prep firm H&R Block and who owe a penalty for not having insurance, have

February 24, 2015Howard Gleckman

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Better Ways to Link the Affordable Care Act with Tax Filing Season

The Obama Administration, finally acknowledging the seasonal mismatch between the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment season and the ACA’s tax-based penalties for failing to have insurance, decided on Friday to create a new special enrollment season for this year only . The new window will allow

February 23, 2015Howard Gleckman