A Better Way to Tax Stock Buybacks
The distributed profits tax is a sounder approach to concerns about investment and stock buybacks than the existing policy approach.
6 min read
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
What Biden’s Budget Gets Wrong about Expensing for Intangible Drilling Costs
Consistent principles ought to apply across the tax code. In the case of intangible drilling costs, companies should be able to claim full deductions for the costs they incur.
4 min read
IRS Strategic Operating Plan Shows Promise, but Concerns Remain
While the IRS hopes to increase revenue collection and minimize additional burdens on taxpayers, uncertainty remains regarding its ability to deliver, particularly on the latter. Furthermore, some concerns about the original funding package are already surfacing, specifically around insufficient funding for taxpayer services.
6 min read
Details and Analysis of President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Proposal
According to our analysis, President Biden’s budget would reduce long-run economic output by about 1.3 percent and eliminate 335,000 FTE jobs. See what tax policies the president is proposing.
17 min read
JCT Tax Expenditure Report: Not All Expenditures Are Created Equal
When peeling back layers of the JCT report, it becomes clear that many tax expenditures are not “loopholes” or benefits for narrow special interests, but important structural elements of the tax code.
6 min read
Tax Policy in Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address
President Biden’s State of the Union Address outlined three tax proposals, including raising the tax on stock buybacks, imposing a billionaire minimum tax, and expanding the child tax credit.
6 min read
New Tax Expenditures Report Highlights Concerning Changes in Tax System
A new tax expenditures report by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) reveals two problematic developments: 1) policymakers have increasingly relied on the tax code to deliver benefits to individuals, and 2) the broad, neutral tax treatment of investment has shifted to targeted subsidies for businesses.
4 min read
Taxes in Everything: Die Hard Edition
It’s Christmas time, and for millions of families around the country, that means revisiting some classic holiday movies. For some, that includes It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone. For others, that includes Die Hard.
3 min read
Bonus Depreciation and New Corporate Investment in 2018
If bonus depreciation is allowed to phase out, then the tax bias against capital investments will increase, discouraging firms from making otherwise profitable investments.
14 min read
Changing Trends in R&D Investment Show the Importance of Business R&D
Lawmakers should recognize both the growing importance of business R&D and the need to support it through a commonsense tax policy, namely a return to full and immediate expensing for R&D.
6 min read
Return to R&D Expensing Crucial for Manufacturing and Technology Investment
The tax treatment of research and development (R&D) expenses is one of the biggest issues facing Congress as the year winds down.
5 min read
Prospects for Federal Tax and Budget Policy after the 2022 Midterms
Two weeks after the 2022 midterm elections, it’s becoming clearer where tax policy may be headed for the rest of the year and into 2023. In the short term, Congress must deal with tax extenders and expiring business tax provisions that may undermine the economy.
5 min read
Shaky Economic and Fiscal Outlook Requires Stable and Pro-Growth Tax Extenders Policy
Policymakers face a difficult balancing act this year in what is likely to be an unusual tax extenders season.
6 min read
How the Inflation Reduction Act Affects the Future of U.S.-EU Tax and Trade Cooperation
the Inflation Reduction Act gives us a glimpse into a future where the U.S. and EU opt for protectionist tax and trade policies rather than implementing principled tax policies and reducing trade barriers between allies.
5 min read
Carbon Taxes, Trade, and American Competitiveness
A border-adjusted carbon tax that uses some of the revenue for pro-investment tax reform could improve U.S. more competitiveness while also addressing concerns with a carbon tax.
29 min read
Should We Tax University Endowments?
Taxing university endowments has gained popularity recently, partly in response to the Biden administration’s forgiveness of student loan debt. Some view it as a means of holding universities accountable for the product they’re selling. Others view it as a tool to tamp down tuition rates or punish ideological opponents. But do these arguments hold water and is an endowment tax sound policy?
7 min read
Understanding the Tax Treatment of Inventory: The Role of LIFO
Repealing LIFO, as some policymakers have proposed, is not sound policy. LIFO helps firms avoid the penalty on inventory investment created by FIFO and is neither a targeted tax break nor a subsidy (as some opponents suggest).
17 min read
The Sticks: Inflation Reduction Act’s Energy-Related Tax Increases
The Inflation Reduction Act primarily uses carrots, not sticks, to incentivize reductions in carbon emissions. It creates or expands tax credits for various low- or no-emission technologies, rather than imposing a generalized penalty for emissions, such as a carbon tax.
5 min read
Breaking Down the Inflation Reduction Act’s Green Energy Tax Credits
The Inflation Reduction Act created numerous tax subsidy programs intended to accelerate the transition to a greener economy.
8 min read
“Taxing Big Oil Profiteers Act” Risks Disincentivizing Production, Inventory
In response to high oil prices, Sen. Wyden has proposed raising taxes on oil and gas companies in three ways. His “Taxing Big Oil Profiteers Act” would create an additional 21 percent tax on so-called excess profits earned over 10 percent of revenues of oil companies with annual revenues over $1 billion; levy a tax on stock buybacks; and remove last-in, first-out (LIFO) tax treatment of inventory accounting.
7 min read