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.
Trade and Capital Flow Consequences of Tax Reform: A Means to a Faster Expansion of U.S. Capital Formation and Employment
The tax bill will boost investment and incomes in the United States, and make the country a better place to locate production and hiring. There will be a transitory rise in the trade deficit, but in the context of a stronger, faster-growing economy.
5 min readStatement on Final Passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress took a historic step toward rewriting the U.S. tax code for the first time since 1986.
1 min readPass-Through Deduction Won’t Flow Through to Most States
For policymakers in most states, the fact that the pass-through deduction doesn’t affect AGI should come as a relief. For those in the six states which use federal taxable income as their starting point for conformity, decoupling from the provision is an entirely viable option.
2 min readWho Gets a Tax Cut Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?
How would the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act impact different households? Check out our sample taxpayers to see what would change if the bill is enacted.
5 min readThe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Preliminary Economic Analysis
According to the Tax Foundation’s Taxes and Growth Model, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would lead to a 1.7 percent increase in GDP over the long term, 1.5 percent higher wages, an additional 339,000 full-time equivalent jobs, and cost $1.47 trillion on a static basis and by $448 billion on a dynamic basis.
2 min readPrepaying SALT isn’t an Option
As the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act seeks to simplify the tax code, a last-minute provision closed a potential new tax-planning strategy germinating before the bill even passed.
2 min readConference Report Limits on Interest Deductions
There is no good reason to eliminate interest deductions to permit expensing. Expensing is a key element of any tax system which seeks to put all economic activity on a level playing field.
9 min readUnder Conference Agreement, Fewer Households Would Face the Alternative Minimum Tax
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will temporarily reduce alternative minimum tax liability, but retain the complexity inherent to the tax.
4 min read