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.
One US Tax Policy OECD Countries Should Copy
Rather than adopt temporary policies that phase out and expire, policymakers should focus their efforts on long-term reforms to support investment.
7 min read
The OBBBA Gets Expensing Right. States Should Follow Suit.
However states choose to respond to other tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they should conform to the pro-growth provisions, which represent a marked improvement in the corporate tax code.
12 min read
One Big Beautiful Bill Does Better with Permanence, but Is Still Full of Temporary Provisions
Several major new tax breaks are scheduled to expire at the end of 2028, setting the stage for another tax fight to either extend them or allow them to expire.
5 min read
Oklahoma Continues to Pursue Pro-Growth Tax Reforms, but the Job Is Not Done
Oklahoma can continue to enhance its competitiveness by pursuing a variety of reforms to the corporate and individual income tax, but it should avoid policies that would negatively impact the economy, like enacting a wholesale elimination of the property tax.
6 min read
The EU Budget’s CORE Is Rotten
The European Commission proposed new budget options for 2028 to 2034. It is worth zooming in on one new proposal for revenues that would support EU-level spending. The “Corporate Resource for Europe,” or CORE, provides a good opportunity to think through how best to raise revenue for the EU budget.
5 min read
‘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.
5 min read
Fiscal Forum: Future of the EU Tax Mix with Dr. Michele Chang
Sean Bray interviews Dr. Michele Chang, Director of the Masters in Transatlantic Affairs and Professor of European Political Governance at the College of Europe, about the future of the EU tax mix.
12 min read
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes many of the individual tax cuts and reforms of the TCJA permanent. It improves upon the TCJA by making expensing for R&D and equipment permanent. However, for the most part, it does not include further structural reforms, and instead introduces many new, narrow tax breaks to the code, adding complexity and raising revenue costs.
7 min read
Alabama’s 2025 Legislative Session Advances Pro-Growth Tax Reforms
Alabama’s 2025 legislative session mostly demonstrates a commitment to pro-growth tax policies that enhance competitiveness and reduce compliance burdens.
4 min read
State Implications of the GILTI to NCTI Conversion
The One Big Beautiful Bill’s changes to the taxation of international income have surprising implications for state codes, yielding tax increases and a revised tax base that, through quirks of state incorporation, bears very little resemblance to the federal base and almost nothing of its purpose.
10 min read