TaxVox

The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Individual Taxes

How Washington Can Turn a Tax Increase into a Tax Cut by Leaping Off the Fiscal Cliff

July 17, 2012 –
In the strange alchemy of Washington, Congress can magically turn a tax increase into a tax cut. And to make it happen, all it has...
Federal Budget and Economy

Taxes Don’t Always Drive the Economy--Sometimes the Economy Drives Taxes

July 12, 2012 –
Don’t tell my Tax Policy Center colleagues I said this, but it isn’t always about taxes. If you listened to the presidential campaign this week,...
Individual Taxes

Trimming Tax Breaks to Cut Rates is a Lot Harder Than It Looks

July 10, 2012 –
It won’t be impossible for pay for substantial individual tax rate reductions by cutting tax expenditures. But it will be very, very hard. The challenges...
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Obama Proposes Nothing Radical on Taxes. Too Bad.

July 9, 2012 –
President Obama today urged Congress to extend the 2001/2003 tax cuts for households making $250,000 or less and insisted lawmakers let those provisions expire for...
Individual Taxes

Can Behavioral Science Improve Tax Compliance?

July 9, 2012 –
In Sunday's New York Times, Richard Thaler laments that “as a general rule, the United States government is run by lawyers who occasionally take advice...
Individual Taxes

Will Enough People Enroll in Obamacare?

July 5, 2012 –
Earlier this week, I concluded that the Affordable Care Act’s tax on those who do not have health insurance will be both modest and difficult...
Individual Taxes

Obamacare’s Uninsured Tax is a Mouse

July 3, 2012 –
The Affordable Care Act’s tax on those who choose not to buy health insurance was the linchpin of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the...
Individual Taxes

States and the Affordable Care Act: An Offer They (Still) Can’t Refuse

July 2, 2012 –
For months, astute observers called Medicaid the “sleeper issue” of the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act deliberations. Last Thursday, they were proven correct. A majority...
Individual Taxes

Reduce Tax Rates on Low-Income Families by Extending Tax Phase-Outs

June 29, 2012 –
An ominous announcement for a House Ways & Means Committee joint hearing on “how welfare and tax benefits can discourage work” seemed a set-up to...
Individual Taxes

The Supreme Court Says the Health Care Mandate is a Constitutional Tax

June 28, 2012 –
In its long-awaited decision on the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can require people to either have health insurance or...