Blog Articles
Funding for Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan Is Unstable and Unsustainable
One has to wonder how stable or sustainable the Democrats’ spending program can be if it must rely so heavily on the taxes paid by such a small number of taxpayers as in the top 1 percent.
4 min readLouisiana Voters Have Chance to Simplify Taxes and Lower Burdens
Passage of Louisiana Amendments 1 and 2, which are aimed at the sales tax and individual and corporate income taxes, respectively, would substantially simplify the Pelican State’s tax code and provide tax relief in both the short and long term.
8 min readMovers and Shakers in the International Tax Competitiveness Index
The Index provides lessons for policymakers when they are thinking of ways to remove distortions from their tax systems and remain competitive against their peers. The further up a country moves on the Index, the more likely it is to have broader tax bases, relatively lower rates, and policies that are less distortionary to individual or business decisions. Going the other way reveals a policy preference for narrow tax bases, special tax policy tools, and rules that make it difficult for compliance.
5 min readProposal for Reporting Requirements for Financial Institutions Misses the Mark
Reducing the tax gap is a good idea, but the reporting requirements for financial institutions could be better-targeted at the problem at hand.
4 min readWhat’s Going on with the Child Tax Credit Debate?
President Biden expanded and fundamentally changed the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for one year in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed in March 2021. Policymakers are now deciding the future of the expansion as part of the proposed reconciliation package, but a wide range of estimates for the effects of a permanent expansion is confusing the debate.
7 min readAs Inflation Rises, So Will Tax Bills in Many States
Inflation is often called a hidden tax, but in many states it yields a far more literal tax increase as tax brackets fail to adjust for changes in consumer purchasing power.
5 min readReviewing How TCJA Impacted Mortgage Interest and State and Local Tax Deductions
Two major provisions in the federal tax code have been limited since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017: the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and the home mortgage interest deduction (MID).
3 min readHigher Taxes Under House Ways and Means Plan Emphasize Need for Corporate Integration
Under the House Ways and Means plan to raise taxes on corporations and individuals, the integrated tax rate on corporate income would rise to the third highest in the OECD. To reduce this burden, policymakers could explore integrating the individual and corporate tax systems.
8 min readCorporate Tax Revenue Hit an All-Time High in 2021
This year’s robust corporate tax collections calls into question efforts by the administration and congressional Democrats to increase the corporate tax rate and raise other corporate taxes based on claims of relatively low tax collections following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017.
1 min readShould Tax Policy Play a Role in Tobacco Harm Reduction?
In an effort to raise roughly $100 billion, the House proposal would double cigarette taxes and increase all other tobacco and nicotine taxes to comparable rates—a strategy with severe unintended consequences.
5 min readHow Would the Ways and Means Proposal Affect Profit Shifting?
If Congress wants to reduce profit shifting, the proposal from the Ways and Means Committee is not an effective tool for this.
7 min readRegional Tax Competition Is Stopping Spain from Becoming Europe’s Tax Hell
Tax competition has proven to be key in keeping tax hikes under control in some regions of Spain as regional governments look to copy Madrid’s tax reforms.
6 min readWhich Industries Would the Tax Hikes Target?
Using Tax Foundation’s Multinational Tax Model, we estimate the effective tax rates on controlled foreign corporation (CFC) profits under current law and under each of the proposed plans for business tax hikes.
9 min readPlacing the House Build Back Better Act Tax Increases in Historical Context
If the spending in the $3.5 trillion budget resolution were financed entirely from tax increases, it would rival as a share of GDP the tax increases used to finance World War II and the Korean War.
3 min read2017 Tax Changes Increase the Benefit of Uncapping SALT Deductions for High Income Taxpayers
Our analysis illustrates how restoring the SALT deduction now would be more regressive than under prior law, strengthening the case for keeping the cap in place.
4 min readFlorida Lawmakers Should Provide Certainty Around the State’s Corporate Income Tax Rate Reduction
Florida is now the ninth state to implement or adopt a corporate income tax cut in 2021, with the state’s new rate the nation’s second lowest—for now.
6 min readFederal Plastics Tax Is Not a Good Revenue Raiser
One of the Senate’s proposals to pay for the Build Back Better Act is a federal excise tax on virgin plastics, which are plastics that are not reprocessed or recovered.
4 min readHow Heavily Taxed Are U.S. Multinationals?
In general, the effective tax rates on the foreign profits of U.S. multinationals are not that low relative to the U.S. tax rate, contrary to popular rhetoric.
7 min readCarbon Tax: Weighing the Options for Financing Reconciliation
A carbon tax would be a less economically harmful pay-for than either personal or corporate income tax hikes and a more efficient way to reduce carbon emissions than green energy tax credits, but would come with other trade-offs.
4 min read