TaxVox: Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

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The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Individual Taxes

A Simple Tax Reform

January 17, 2008 –
While the Presidential candidates are campaigning on grandiose and often radical reforms to the current tax system, they are missing out on a simple commonsense reform that would make tax filing easier for millions of Americans.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Obama: Big Win, Small Change

January 4, 2008 –
Barack Obama, with his big victory in the Iowa caucuses, has done a terrific job positioning himself as the Democrats' candidate of change. In his "closing argument" speech a few days before the voting, Obama repeated the word no fewer than 18 times.
Individual Taxes

We Are All Keynesians Now (Heaven Help Us!)

December 31, 2007 –
A News Years Eve, 1965, Time magazine article quoted iconic free-market economist Milton Friedman as saying, "We are all Keynesians now." Friedman later explained that the quote was taken out of context. He meant that even though the language of John Maynard Keynes—famous for recommending fiscal policy as a tool to manage the economy—had pervaded popular consciousness, most people had no idea what this meant.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Huckabee's Retail Sales Tax: It Doesn't Add Up

December 10, 2007 –
Mike Huckabee wants to replace the entire federal tax system with a national retail sales tax of 23 percent. Trouble is, he can't do it and maintain anything like the government that Americans have come to expect.
Federal Budget and Economy

Read My Lips

November 29, 2007 –
Interesting to watch the Republican debate last night. Once they got past their arguments about who hired whom with a "funny accent" or who would build a bigger barrier across the Mexican border (Duncan Hunter trumped everyone by promising to build a double fence), the Presidential candidates tackled the "no tax" pledge invented a decade ago by Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Their answers were revealing.
Individual Taxes

Taxes Are Complicated

November 27, 2007 –
The Wall Street Journal editorializes ($) admiringly on Fred Thompson's "voluntary flat tax" (or alternative maximum tax to use the tax code's current lingo). Putting aside questions of the desired size of government, cost, feasibility, equity and so forth, I'd like to zero in on the claim that "there would only be five lines on the tax form."
Individual Taxes

Do Seniors Deserve More Tax Cuts?

November 6, 2007 –
An awful lot of Democrats suddenly seem to think that senior citizens are overtaxed. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama wants to exempt seniors making less than $50,000 from paying any federal income tax. House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) has tucked a new $700 above-the-line deduction for real estate taxes into his proposal to extend Alternative Minimum Tax relief for another year. While Rangel doesn’t say so, seniors who have paid off their mortgages and no longer itemize would be big beneficiaries of the new tax break.
Individual Taxes

"I Am a Great Admirer of Charlie Rangel"

November 1, 2007 –
In the October 30th Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton was asked what she thought of the tax reform plan offered by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.). She responded by expressing her deep admiration for the gentleman from New York and explaining that, "I don’t know all the details of what Charlie is recommending." This, of course, is Washington-speak for "I ain't getting anywhere near this soaking puppy."
Individual Taxes

A Reluctant Defense of the Surtax

October 26, 2007 –
My colleagues and I had some heartburn when various news outlets referred to a surtax proposal made by Greg Leiserson and me as "the Tax Policy Center plan" to fix the AMT. The TPC has no tax plan or institutional positions of any kind. Highlighting that point, TPC's chief blogger, Howard Gleckman, showed that we don't speak with one voice when he complained that "I don't like ... the way AMT relief [in Chairman Rangel's tax reform plan] is funded" in his most recent post. That is, Howard's not keen on Greg's and my modest proposal, which Mr. Rangel adopted with small modifications.
Individual Taxes

A $1 Trillion Tax Hike?

October 25, 2007 –
One of the main charges against the Rangel tax plan is that it would increase taxes by $1 trillion. Which is a bit odd because the President's budget proposed the exact same revenue increase, although in his case it is collected through the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) instead of a rate surcharge on high income families.