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Tax Policy Blog

Stay informed with quick and accessible analysis of today's top tax policy topics. Read Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Blog for insight from our experts on tax policies across the U.S. and abroad.

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Blog Articles

6162 Results
10 Less Harmful Ways of Raising Federal Revenues

10 Less Harmful Ways of Raising Federal Revenues

If lawmakers are convinced that new revenues must be part of any long-term effort to solve the budget crisis or offset the cost of extending the TCJA, they must choose the least harmful ways of raising new revenues or else risk undermining their efforts by slowing economic growth.

7 min read
How do import tariffs affect exports

How Do Import Tariffs Affect Exports?

When the government imposes a tariff, it may be trading jobs and production in one part of the economy for jobs in another part of the economy by increasing production costs for downstream industries.

6 min read
Trump Harris corporate tax proposals US corporate tax rate 2024 election impact on US corporate income tax policy

The Corporate Tax Rate Tug-of-War

Depending on the 2024 US election, the current corporate tax rate of 21 percent could be in for a change. See the modeling here.

4 min read
OECD Pillar Two Global Minimum Tax Unintended Consequences

Pillar Two’s Unintended Consequences

Pillar Two risks creating a more complex and unfair international tax system. It is inadvertently fostering new, opaque, and complex forms of competition, and policymakers should consider alternative approaches to creating a fairer international tax environment.

4 min read
Tax reform to bolster American savings Universal Savings Accounts

How Tax Reform Can Bolster Americans’ Shrinking Savings

With pandemic-era savings now fully depleted and the majority of Americans pointing to their finances as their biggest source of stress, one thing is clear: the US needs policies that help people save more.

4 min read
TCJA compliance and TCJA complexity costs did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act simplify the US tax code?

How Did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Simplify the Tax Code?

Not every change in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act simplified the tax code. However, the TCJA reduced compliance costs overall for individual filers, and allowing fundamental structural improvements to expire would make the tax code worse.

5 min read
Gov Tim Walz tax policies

Gov. Tim Walz Raised Taxes as Most Governors Cut Them

Gov. Walz’s tax policy record is notable because of how much it contrasts with broader national trends. In recent years, most governors have championed tax cuts. Walz, rare among his peers, chose tax increases.

5 min read
States Act 2.0 Federal Cannabis Reform and States 2.0 Act Federal Cannabis Policy Efforts

STATES 2.0 Act Sets the Stage for Federal Cannabis Policy

According to recent reports, 72 percent of the current marijuana market in the US is illicit. Evidently, the federal criminalization of marijuana has failed to prevent its sale or consumption.

6 min read

How Are Olympians and Attendees Taxed?

The 2024 Summer Olympics are underway, drawing the attention of billions and continuing a tradition dating back thousands of years. But you know what else originated thousands of years ago and affects even more people? Taxes.

3 min read
West Virginia Tax Relief and Reform

Good Policy Leads to More Tax Cuts for West Virginia

Next year, West Virginians will see an income tax cut thanks to revenue triggers in a 2023 law. The Mountain State joins 14 other states that have cut income taxes this year.

4 min read
Current Challenges in Vaping Markets

Current Challenges in Vaping Markets

As much as 98 percent of vaping products sold in the US are illicit. Most states levy an excise tax on vaping products, but these tax systems vary substantially. The result is a messy tax system covering largely illicit products, and no one knows whether taxes are being collected and remitted on most products sold nationwide.

7 min read
Where Does Kamala Harris Stand on Taxes?

Where Does Kamala Harris Stand on Taxes?

While both President Biden and Vice President Harris aim their proposed tax hikes on businesses and high earners, key differences between their tax ideas in the past reveal where Harris may take her tax policy platform in the 2024 campaign.

6 min read
Apollo 11 Moon Space Race Industrial Policy Cost

Space Race and the Cost of Industrial Policy

Project Apollo achieved its clear objective to put a man on the moon. But not all government spending projects are so simple (that is, if you consider flying a spaceship to the moon simple).

3 min read
Trump no tax on tips proposal to exempt tipping from income taxation

Frustrated with Tipping? No Tax on Tips Could Make It Worse

“No tax on tips” might be a catchy idea on the campaign trail. But it could create plenty of headaches, from figuring out tips on previously untipped services to an unexpectedly large loss of federal revenue.

6 min read
Nebraska property tax relief plan including Nebraska property tax reform and Nebraska sales tax proposal

Proposed Nebraska Property Tax Relief Plan Would Make Things Worse

Gov. Pillen is searching for tax burden relief. But his plan, which reportedly involves a two-tiered sales tax and the state’s assumption of most school funding responsibility, would have profound implications that even those most convinced of the urgency of property tax relief may find unworkable and unpalatable.

12 min read
Placing Biden Tax Proposals and Trump Tax Proposals in Historical Context Largest Tax Increase and Largest Tax Hike in History and Largest Tax Decrease and Largest Tax Cut in History

Placing Biden and Trump Tax Proposals in Historical Context

From President Biden calling the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act the “largest tax cut in American history,” to former President Trump claiming that Biden “wants to raise your taxes by four times,” the campaign rhetoric on taxes may be sparking some confusion.

5 min read
Inflation Reduction Act book minimum tax 5G competition china

How Does the IRA’s Book Minimum Tax Affect 5G Competition?

A higher tax burden for private infrastructure investments like wireless spectrum, 5G technology, and machinery and equipment makes an existing problem worse—especially against the backdrop of outright state subsidies in countries like China.

6 min read