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.

business survival, high tax rates, American entrepreneurship, International Monetary Fund
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New Study Finds that High Tax Rates Lower the Chance of Business Survival

America’s tax code distorts the economic decision-making of firms, such as the favorable treatment of debt financing over equity. This study adds to this argument while providing motivation for policymakers to focus on how reforms to tax policy can increase American entrepreneurship.

2 min read
more business income is reported on individual tax returns than corporate returns, pass-through business income, business tax returns, corporate tax returns
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Corporate and Pass-through Business Income and Returns Since 1980

More business income is reported on individual tax returns than corporate returns. The U.S. now has fewer corporations and more individually owned businesses. Corporations make up less than 5 percent of businesses but earn 60 percent of revenues.

3 min read