Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes in Europe, 2026
Twenty-four out of the 35 European countries covered in this map currently levy estate, inheritance, or gift taxes.
4 min read
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Diving into the Differences Between Tax Transparency Regimes
The new public country-by-country reporting regimes adopted by the EU and Australia, and changes from the Financial Accounting Standards Board for financial accounts, are meant to promote transparency by multinational enterprises but have ubiquitous structural differences.
10 min read
How Poland’s Restrictive Tax Treatment of Losses Penalizes Risk-Taking and Business Expansion
Poland has one of the most restrictive approaches to the tax treatment of losses in the OECD. Loss carryover provisions allow businesses to deduct their losses in one year against taxable income in another, smoothing their taxable income over time. Their absence or restriction leads to firms with more variable profits and losses over time being taxed at higher rates, penalizing risky investment, such as research and development (R&D), and business expansion.
16 min read
The Options Guide Shows a Better Way to Fund Social Security
While uncapping the payroll tax and raising individual income tax rates are often the go-to reform options for policymakers, base broadeners like ESI and other fringe benefits are much better alternatives. They can raise significant revenue, while improving the neutrality of the tax code and preventing the need for increases in statutory tax rates.
6 min read
Tax Rate vs. Tax Base
When thinking about taxes, we often consider the tax rate—or what percentage of something is taxed. But there is another factor in considering taxes: the tax base.
Vehicle Miles Traveled Taxes Need Not Invade Drivers’ Privacy
Privacy concerns are a primary driver of opposition to vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax systems, but VMT taxes do not need to invade drivers’ privacy to efficiently fund the roads.
6 min read
Maryland Court Strikes Down Digital Ad Tax
The Maryland Tax Court has struck down the state’s digital advertising tax and ordered that refunds be paid to taxpayers for five and a half years’ worth of collections under the unconstitutional tax.
5 min read
Good Tax Reform Starts with Good Process
In June, the Dominican Republic rushed through a package of tax legislation in seven days. International examples demonstrate that consultation, transparency, and clarity are key factors for successful tax reform.
5 min read
Electric Vehicle Tax Treatment by State, 2026
As the market share of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road grows, the gas tax’s ability to fund road projects and decrease traffic congestion erodes. Both federal and state real tax revenue per vehicle mile traveled has been on a steady decline for decades, creating a fiscal gap for road expenditures even as the demand for road infrastructure improvements has grown.
6 min read
New Congressional Data Center Tax Proposals Threaten US AI Investment
US policymakers have put forward two new tax proposals to address concerns about how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact land, energy, and the workforce.
7 min read
From Temporary to Permanent Full Expensing: Strengthening Canada’s Investment Climate
If Canada doesn’t make these provisions permanent, it will drop to 12th place in the capital cost recovery ranking once provisions expire in 2034.
5 min read
How Tax Cliffs Hold Back Poland’s Individual Business Owners
Poland taxes its individual business owners through alternative regimes and a series of thresholds, several of them sharp notches that imply significant tax costs for businesses crossing them.
11 min read
Constitutional Flaws of California’s Proposed Wealth Tax
The California Billionaire Tax Act (Proposition 40), which imposes a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaires’ net worth, is vulnerable to numerous constitutional challenges, any of which could invalidate the tax in whole or in part.
28 min read
The Five Most Pro-Growth Options in the Options Guide
Some taxes have more powerful economic effects than others, and that’s a lesson policymakers should absorb as they work to craft a tax code that encourages growth and raises sustainable revenue.
8 min read
Why Wealth Taxes Always Fail
Though they are often framed as affecting only the richest households, the economic effects of wealth taxes extend much further by reducing capital formation, discouraging entrepreneurship, curtailing wage and employment growth, and ultimately weakening the overall economy.
Wealth Taxes in Europe, 2026
Wealth taxes not only collect little revenue and create legal uncertainty, but an OECD report argues that they can also disincentivize entrepreneurship, harming innovation and long-term growth.
5 min read
Cigarette Taxes by State, 2026
The highest state tax on cigarettes is levied by New York at $5.35 per pack of 20. The next highest tax jurisdiction is the District of Columbia at $5.07 per pack of cigarettes, followed closely by Maryland at $5.00 per pack, Rhode Island at $4.50 per pack, and Connecticut at $4.35 per pack.
6 min read
Tariff Refunds Have Wiped Out Tariff Revenue Since May
The economic damage from a chaotic tariff regime can outweigh the revenue itself, and unlike the tariffs, it cannot be refunded.
4 min read
Why Billionaires Are Still Leaving California
The California Billionaire Tax Act’s residency provisions are exceptionally vulnerable to legal challenge. Even if the tax passes and survives challenges to its broader constitutionality, billionaires who leave California sometime in 2026 have good reason to believe they can escape some or all of the tax.
If Amendment 5 Passes, Lawmakers Need a Zephyr, not a Gale, to Sail Missouri to Tax Competitiveness
If voters approve Amendment 5 on the primary election ballot this August, Missouri policymakers must pass legislation to gradually phase out the state’s income tax while choosing how to pay for this goal.