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EU Tobacco Tax Policy, World Health Organization

The WHO’s Excise Tax Policy Aims at the Wrong Target

Retail prices make poor targets for excise tax policy, often reflecting factors that have little to do with the underlying reasons for which an excise tax is levied in the first place. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) has a growing preference for using tax share of retail price (tax incidence) as a primary policy target.

6 min read
Sales tax holidays by state, 2026

Sales Tax Holidays by State, 2026

However well-intended they may be, sales tax holidays remain the same as they always have been—ineffective and inefficient.

12 min read
Foreign Research and Development, OBBBA Full Expensing

The Hidden Costs of Foreign R&D Amortization

Foreign R&D generally complements domestic innovation rather than substituting for it, so penalizing foreign R&D weakens US firms in cross-border mergers and acquisitions and in domestic production that depends on global scale.

7 min read
Digital Services Taxes, Data Processing Tax

Taxing Data Processing Doesn’t Just Tax Big Tech

Policymakers are increasingly considering taxes on data processing and other businesses’ digital services, but these taxes increase costs at many stages of the production process for virtually all businesses, not just tech-oriented businesses.

7 min read
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Ded Pixto, AdobeStock

A Taxing Approach to High Energy Costs Will Backfire

If you want more energy production, taxing producers is the wrong place to start. And if you want to tax companies more if they’re making big profits, the corporate income tax already does that.

US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA), Trump Trade Policy

USMCA Is Up For Review. The US Would Be Foolish Not to Extend It

President Donald Trump has decided against a clean extension of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), allowing the bloc of countries to enter a prolonged period of annual reviews, renegotiations, and, possibly, a shift to bilateral deals.

Digital Services Taxes and the European Budget

Testimony: Are Digital Services Taxes a Viable Solution for the EU Budget?

Digital services taxes address a real concern—the need to adapt taxation to the digital economy—but they are not the right solution. They raise limited revenue, are often passed on to consumers rather than large digital firms, create economic distortions, increase complexity and compliance costs, negatively impact innovation and competitiveness, and risk international retaliation.

UN digital tax negotiations with European countries

What Europe’s UN Tax Turn Means for Multinationals

Europe’s turn toward the UN is ultimately not a sign that governments are ready to resolve fundamental disputes over taxing rights. If anything, international cooperation on the goal that matters most—fair treatment of cross-border trade—is crumbling.

Tax Education - girl in classroom

TaxEDU is designed to advance tax policy education, discussion, and understanding in classrooms, living rooms, and government chambers. It combines the best aspects of cutting-edge and traditional education to elevate the debate, enable deeper understanding, and achieve principled policy.

TaxEDU gives teachers the tools to make students better citizens, taxpayers a vocabulary to see through the rhetoric, lawmakers crash courses to write smarter laws, and videos and podcasts for anyone who wants to boost their tax knowledge on the go.

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  • Glossary

    Understand the terms of the debate with our comprehensive glossary, including over 100 tax terms and concepts.

  • Videos

    Our animated explainer videos are designed for the classroom, social media, and anyone looking to boost their tax knowledge on the go.

  • Primers

    Our primers are classroom-ready resources for understanding key concepts in tax policy.

  • Lessons

    Dive deeper into specific tax topics with lesson modules designed as a classroom-ready resource or for anyone looking to boost their tax knowledge.

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    Learn about the principles of sound tax policy—simplicity, transparency, neutrality, and stability—which should serve as touchstones for policymakers and taxpayers everywhere.

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    Our Tax Foundation University and State Tax Policy Boot Camp lecture series are designed to educate tomorrow's leaders on the principles of sound tax policy.