Will the AI Apocalypse Come for the Tax Code?
AI may be a transformative technology, but that is not a good justification for throwing core principles of tax policy out the window.
Expert
Alex Muresianu
Senior Policy Analyst
Alex Muresianu is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Tax Foundation, focused on federal tax policy. Previously, Alex worked on the federal team as an intern in the summer of 2018 and as a research assistant in summer 2020.
He attended Tufts University, graduating with a degree in economics and minors in finance and political science in February 2021. He also worked for the Pioneer Institute in 2019, spent a summer as a journalism intern at Reason magazine, and written op-eds for various print and online publications.
Alex originally hails from outside Boston, and enjoys Dungeons and Dragons, ’80s movies (Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, the Schwarzenegger filmography, Die Hard, etc.), and classic rock.
Latest Work
We Already Have a Windfall Profits Tax. It’s Called the Corporate Income Tax.
Military action around the Strait of Hormuz has increased global oil prices. In response, policymakers around the world have put forward proposals targeting oil and gas producers who are seeing profits increase in the short run from the spike in prices.
5 min read
Federal Gas Tax Holiday? Suspending the Gas Tax Is a Mistake
In response to surging gas prices, President Trump and several lawmakers have proposed suspending the federal gas tax via a gas tax holiday. Gas tax holidays have appeal across the political aisle, but suspending the federal gas tax is a uniquely ill-suited policy for addressing rising prices.
3 min read
How Well Do Carbon Taxes Match Their Promise? Evidence from 2023
The carbon tax is often considered the ideal climate policy. However, existing carbon taxes do not match the ideal theoretical policy. More than two dozen carbon taxes exist in the world today, and they vary widely in terms of design.
61 min read
Tax Policy Can Lower Housing Costs. Here’s How.
Some form of improved cost recovery for structures—whether full expensing, expensing with a per-unit cap, neutral cost recovery, or simply shortening the asset life of residential structures—is one of the most powerful pro-housing supply options available to federal policymakers.
5 min read
Should We Tax Artificial Intelligence?
AI is everywhere, and now it’s in the tax policy debate.
2026 State of the Union: Five Things to Know
President Trump is scheduled to deliver the annual State of the Union address to Congress. The speech is bound to address a multitude of topics, but taxes and (especially) tariffs will certainly feature prominently.
6 min read
One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Policies: Details and Analysis
Our analysis of the major tax provisions included in the OBBBA finds it will increase long-run GDP by 0.7 percent. The major tax provisions will reduce federal tax revenue by nearly $5.2 trillion between 2025 and 2034, on a conventional basis.
12 min read
When Taxing AI, Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
AI technology has a wide range of potential economic outcomes. It would be a mistake to tailor tax policy to the extreme end of that range. Still, policymakers shouldn’t do nothing: they should instead make tax reforms that are sound regardless of which AI scenario emerges.
7 min read
Sources of Personal Income, Tax Year 2022
As policymakers consider reforms to the individual income tax, understanding the types of income that make up the individual income tax base can help them understand the trade-offs of different changes to the tax system.
8 min read
How to Refuel the Highway Trust Fund
Examples from other countries and US states show that well-designed user fees can fund transportation infrastructure effectively.
19 min read
What to Expect from the New OBBBA Expensing for Manufacturing Structures
Expensing for manufacturing structures is a significant step forward for the tax treatment of structures, but it could be improved in several ways.
7 min read
Could a Pigouvian Tax Help Solve Climate Change?
Taxing carbon emissions could leave decisions about reducing greenhouse gases to the market.
Is the One Big Beautiful Bill a Step Back for Tax Simplicity?
In this episode of The Deduction podcast, host Kyle Hulehan discusses the complexities of the US tax system with Alex Muresianu, Senior Policy Analyst at the Tax Foundation.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act Makes the Individual Income Tax More Complex
While the OBBBA brings some stability by making many of the TCJA’s reforms permanent, it generally fails to reform the tax code’s accumulating complexity.
31 min read
Tax Complexity Now Costs the US Economy over $536 Billion Annually
Americans will spend almost 7.1 billion hours complying with IRS tax filing and reporting requirements in 2025. This is equal to 3.4 million full-time workers—almost the population of Los Angeles and nearly 38 times the workforce the IRS employed in FY 2024—doing nothing but tax return paperwork for a full year.
9 min read
How the One Big Beautiful Bill Changes Green Energy Tax Credits
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) significantly alters the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) green energy subsidies.
6 min read
Will Trump Accounts Actually Help Families Save?
Who are Trump Accounts really for, and will they actually help families save? With yet another savings vehicle added to an already confusing system, do these accounts solve a real problem—or just add more complexity?
One Big Beautiful Bill Does Better with Permanence, but Is Still Full of Temporary Provisions
Several major new tax breaks are scheduled to expire at the end of 2028, setting the stage for another tax fight to either extend them or allow them to expire.
5 min read
‘Trump Accounts’ Could Be Better. Here’s How.
If the federal government really wanted to make saving more accessible for taxpayers, it would swap the proposal for Trump Accounts to replace the complicated mess of savings accounts currently available with universal savings accounts.
5 min read