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.

Eight Important Changes in the House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
The widely anticipated House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act includes hundreds of structural changes to the tax code. Here are the eight most important provisions in no particular order.
6 min read
Details of the House Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
The House Tax Cuts and Jobs act would fundamentally reform the U.S. tax code for the first time in over 30 years. Here are all the important details.
4 min read
Five Implications of Retaining the Property Tax Deduction Under Federal Tax Reform
To achieve meaningful tax reform, Congress will require significant base-broadeners. Saving the property tax deduction makes the math more difficult, but still leaves clear paths forward.
6 min read
The Jobs and Wage Effects of a Corporate Rate Cut
Corporate tax reform done right is key to growing the economy, boosting real family incomes, and making the U.S. a better place in which to do business.
5 min read

How the State and Local Tax Deduction Influences State Tax Policy
The state and local tax deduction isn’t just a costly federal subsidy. It also skews state and local tax policy decisions.
2 min read
Examining Different Assumptions About the Republican Framework’s Impact on Lower Middle-Income Households
The broad conclusion here is that, in drafting the Republican Framework, lawmakers have left themselves with at least one significant lever for delivering middle class tax relief: the child tax credit.
7 min read
