TaxVox: Congressional budget initiative

How Budget Commissions Can Make Deficit Reduction Harder

September 21, 2023 –

Congressional commissions generally serve one of two purposes. They either 1) provide political cover for lawmakers who want to achieve a goal but are afraid...

Budget Blues For Tax Administration

January 13, 2020 –

The fiscal 2020 budget signed into law December 20 is a big disappointment for tax administration, continuing the over 20 percent inflation-adjusted decline in IRS...

Federal Budget and Economy

The Terrible, Horrible No Good Tax Policy Buried In The Budget Deal

February 8, 2018 –

There is so much bad policy in the massive two-year budget agreement being debated by Congress that it is hard to know where to begin...

Eight Lessons on How to Design Tax Reform

October 13, 2017 –

Endorsing the concept of tax reform is just one small step towards making it a reality. How do lawmakers, who are confronted with an almost...

Business Taxes

How Should Tax Reform Treat Employee Stock and Options?

October 4, 2017 –

The tax treatment of employee stock and options used as a compensation mechanism raises a classic Goldilocks problem. We want the tax burden on this...

Federal Budget and Economy

The House Budget Panel’s Fiscal Framework Could Open The Door To A Big Tax Bill

July 18, 2017 –

Hours after the collapse of the Senate GOP leadership’s health plan, Republicans began to move on. The House began its efforts to write a tax...

Three Main Takeaways from CBO’s Analysis of the President’s Budget

July 18, 2017 –

The Congressional Budget Office released its Analysis of the President’s FY2018 Budget last week, estimating that the plan would reduce the federal budget deficit from...

Federal Budget and Economy

The Senate Leadership’s Health Bill Is A Big Tax Cut, Especially For The Top One Percent

June 26, 2017 –

Much like the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA), the Senate leadership’s health bill includes a huge tax cut that mostly benefits the nation’s highest-income...

Federal Budget and Economy

The Attacks On The Congressional Budget Office Are Wrong

June 23, 2017 –

The Congressional Budget Office is under unprecedented political attack. These criticisms are overblown, and likely will prove to be counterproductive—even to those making them. CBO’s...

Federal Budget and Economy

Is Tax Parity for Pass-through and Corporate Businesses Main Street Fairness?

May 5, 2017 –

The “Main Street Fairness Act” ( H.R. 5076 and S. 707 ) requires tax “parity” between businesses organized as pass-throughs and corporations. The legislation has...