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.

Ways & means tax proposal seeks to combat extraterritorial taxes and discriminatory taxes Global minimum tax revenue OECD Pillar Two revenue OECD impact assessment OECD Pillar One tax Pillar one amount a Biden interest limitation Biden interest deduction rule Biden interest expense limitation Business interest expense limitation Democrat Senate international tax overhaul discussion draft legislation (Wyden Brown Warner international tax overhaul) or Sen Wyden international tax plan,
Blog

Three Questions on Pillar One

While the global minimum tax gets much attention in the media, there is another significant piece to the deal.

6 min read
France social security contributions French workers upward mobility France marginal tax rates and France upward mobility
Blog

Lithuanian Model Could Help French Workers’ Upward Mobility

Reshaping some of these policies to generate a smoother variation of marginal tax rates over different income levels would likely raise labor supply and encourage the upward mobility of workers and especially that of average-income workers.

5 min read
Inflation Reduction Act minimum tax or Inflation Reduction Act corporate minimum tax Biden OECD tax proposals hurt FDI Ways and Means proposal profit shifting, federal corporate income tax liabilities under Ways and Means profit shifting proposal
Blog

Biden and OECD Tax Proposals Would Hurt FDI

Academic research indicates foreign direct investment (FDI) is highly responsive to the corporate effective tax rate (ETRs); that is, the tax rate after accounting for all deduction and credits available to corporations.

3 min read
PA corporate tax cut Pennsylvania corporate tax cut PA business tax cut Pennsylvania corporate net income tax
Blog

Pennsylvania Cuts Corporate Net Income Tax Rate

Policymakers from both parties in Harrisburg have proposed reducing Pennsylvania’s 9.99 percent corporate net income tax (CNIT) rate but could not agree on an approach—until now. With the enactment of HB 1342 lawmakers finally succeeded in cutting what had been the second highest state corporate tax rate in the nation.

7 min read
EU windfall profits tax EU energy security EU fossil fuel EU presidency European Union presidency including Czech presidency Europe council EU VAT Rates: EU VAT Directive & EU Reduced VAT Rates
Blog
Europe

Tax Files Under New Council of EU Presidency: Czechia

As the Czech EU presidency considers a plan to manage various tax-related files, it would be wise to consider principled tax policy that broadens the tax base and reduces the tax wedge on strategic investment.

4 min read
section 179 expensing state tax conformity section 168 Oklahoma State Capital Building
Blog

Oklahoma Becomes First State in Nation to Make Full Expensing Permanent

Gov. Stitt signed into law a pro-growth bill that will set the state apart from its peers. Other states should look to follow Oklahoma’s example and make full expensing permanent to maintain their competitiveness in an increasingly mobile economy.

3 min read