Tax expenditures (individual)

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Research report
Individual Taxes

Accounting for The Benefit of Retirement Saving Incentives in Distribution Tables

This paper describes the updated methodology that the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) uses to estimate the benefits taxpayers receive from proposals that allow them to save through a qualified retirement savings plan. We present tables comparing how we currently measure these benefits...

August 7, 2020
Eric ToderSurachai Khitatrakun
Research report
Individual Taxes

Expanding Modeling Capacity on Tax Expenditures for Homeownership

This report describes the Tax Policy Center (TPC) Microsimulation Model’s revamped home mortgage interest deduction (MID) module. The TPC tax model uses the module for simulating proposals that reform the MID. The new MID module improves upon the prior one in accounting for potential changes in...

July 17, 2020
Surachai KhitatrakunEric ToderRobert McClellandChenxi Lu
Brief
Individual Taxes

Effects of Tax Incentives on Homeownership

Federal tax law provides several tax benefits for homeowners. This chartbook focuses on the home mortgage interest deduction. We provide updated estimates of the distributional effects of the home mortgage interest deduction, show how those estimates could change if people pay down their home...

July 1, 2020
Chenxi LuEric ToderSurachai KhitatrakunRobert McClelland
Research report
Individual Taxes

Alternatives to the TCJA Limit on the State and Local Tax Deduction

In this report, we compare revenue equivalent alternatives to the $10,000 annual limit on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction enacted in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). We consider options that would limit all itemized deductions, not just the SALT deduction, and an additional option...

May 7, 2020
Frank SammartinoGordon B. MerminNoah Zwiefel
Brief
Individual Taxes

Tax Incentives for Charitable Contributions

This chartbook explores the implications of current-law income tax incentives for charitable donations along with several alternatives for tax deductions that are more universally available.

November 12, 2019
Robert McClellandC. Eugene SteuerleChenxi LuAravind Boddupalli
Brief
Individual Taxes

What are the Largest Nonbusiness Tax Expenditures?

In this brief we consider the largest nonbusiness tax expenditures in the individual income tax. We provide a description of these provisions, estimates of their cost and the distribution of their tax benefits across income groups, and briefly summarize their effects. We consider tax...

July 17, 2019
Frank SammartinoEric Toder
Research report
Individual Taxes

The Mortgage Interest Deduction: Revenue and Distributional Effects

Conventional estimates that do not fully account for this rebalancing overstate the increase in revenues associated with eliminating the MID and will also overstate the progressivity of eliminating the MID, because households with higher levels of non-residential assets might respond by selling...

August 24, 2018
Austin J. DrukkerTed GayerHarvey S. Rosen
Research report
Individual Taxes

The Tax Reform Tradeoff: Eliminating Tax Expenditures, Reducing Rates Final Report

This exercise is a structured analysis to understand the implications that repealing tax expenditures would have for the overall federal tax system. The baseline tax law for the calculations in this exercise is the law in effect before enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (essentially the Tax...

February 22, 2018
TPC Staff
Research report
Individual Taxes

Effects of Reforms of the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction by Income Group and by State

This report considers three options for restructuring the home mortgage interest deduction – replacing the deduction with a 15 percent non-refundable interest credit, reducing the ceiling on debt eligible for an interest subsidy to $500,000, and combining the substitution of the credit for the...

December 6, 2016
Chenxi LuEric Toder
Research report
Individual Taxes

How Budget Offices Should Reframe Our Long-Term Budget Problems

Bad framing of fiscal policy contributes to a poor allocation of money collected and spent. Almost all real growth in government goes automatically to health, retirement and tax subsidies, while spending on children, the work force, and infrastructure are scheduled for decline as a share of...

December 1, 2016
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush