Skip to content

Evaluating U.S. Tax Reform Options & Trade-Offs

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic poses a triple challenge for tax policy in the United States. Lawmakers are tasked with crafting a policy response that will accelerate the economic recovery, reduce the mounting deficit, and protect the most vulnerable.

To assist lawmakers in navigating the challenge, and to help the American public understand the tax changes being proposed, the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy modeled how 70 potential changes to the tax code would affect the U.S. economy, distribution of the tax burden, and federal revenue.

In tax policy there is an ever-present trade-off among how much revenue a tax will raise, who bears the burden of a tax, and what impact a tax will have on economic growth. Armed with the information in our new book, Options for Reforming America’s Tax Code 2.0, policymakers can debate the relative merits and trade-offs of each option to improve the tax code in a post-pandemic world.

 

‘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.

4 min read
Remittances Tax | One Big Beautiful Bill International Money Transfers and Financial Institutions Compliance Costs

The Remittances Tax: High Paperwork, Low Payoff

The House-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” includes a new 3.5 percent tax on remittances, or non-commercial transfers of money that people in the US send to people abroad.

7 min read
No Tax on Social Security vs. Proposed $4,000 Senior Bonus Senior Tax Deduction One Big Beautiful Bill Act OBBB

How Would the Proposed $4,000 Senior Deduction Compare to No Tax on Social Security?

The House’s “Big Beautiful Bill” increased senior deduction would deliver a larger tax cut to lower-middle- and middle-income households compared to exempting all Social Security benefits from taxation, and would not weaken the trust funds. But given the temporary nature of the policy, it would increase the deficit-impact of the reconciliation bill without boosting long-run economic growth.

3 min read
Congressional Budget Office CBO vs Joint Committee on Taxation JCT vs House Ways and Means Commmittee vs Senate Finance Committee

Congressional Tax Writers and Scorekeepers You Should Know

When you hear about tax policy, you may think of the IRS, the agency responsible for collecting federal taxes. But who is responsible for drafting, reviewing, assessing, and passing tax legislation at the federal level?

4 min read