individual income tax

For Most Households, It’s About the Payroll Tax, Not the Income Tax

While policymakers obsess about the income tax, they often lose sight of an important detail: For two-thirds of households, the levy that matters most is the payroll tax. According to a new report by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the 80 million tax filers making $40,000 or less will collectively

April 2, 2015Howard Gleckman

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Who’s Afraid of Income Taxes? New Interactive TPC Tools To Help You Understand the 1040

Need help understanding the 1040 as we enter the homestretch of this year’s tax filing season? The Tax Policy Center has created a new interactive tool to walk you through key parts of the federal income tax, ranging from the mundane to the arcane. In bite-sized pieces, Who’s Afraid of the Form

March 18, 2015Roberton C. Williams

: TaxVox

Tax Fun in the Summertime?

Congress is in recess this week. The Daily Deduction will resume its regular schedule on Monday, February 23. Tax reform’s narrow window, according to House Ways and Means Chair Ryan. “I just think knowing the way the budget process works on tax reform that if we haven't done it in 2015, which is

February 16, 2015Renu Zaretsky

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

What’s Behind That 1040? Check Out TPC’s Interactive Tax Forms

Federal income taxes are complicated. That’s why roughly 90 percent of us either hire someone to prepare our tax returns or use computer software to do the job on our own. Only a tenth of us actually sit down and fill out the forms by hand. But it’s still important to understand what goes onto the

April 9, 2014Roberton C. Williams

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Utah Lets Same-Sex Couples File Joint Tax Returns

The Utah State Tax Commission yesterday reversed Governor Gary Herbert (R), ruling that same-sex couples may file their 2013 state tax returns as married, as...

January 17, 2014Roberton C. Williams

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

DOMA’s Tax Hassles for Same-Sex Couples

The annual income tax season is no fun for any of us but it can be a lot worse for same-sex couples in California, Nevada,...

March 26, 2013Roberton C. Williams

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

Same-Sex Couples and Taxes

The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was not primarily a tax law but it certainly affects the federal taxes that same-sex couples pay. In...

March 25, 2013Roberton C. Williams

Individual Taxes: TaxVox

102% Tax Rate? Really?

Investment manager James Ross last week told New York Times columnist James Stewart that his combined federal, state, and local tax rate was 102 percent...

February 8, 2012Roberton C. Williams