The Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan Avoids Tax Increases, Undermines User-Pay Principle, and Misses Chance to Modernize Obsolete Programs
The good news is that lawmakers avoided raising taxes to cover the cost of the new spending and instead used some reasonable fees and asset sales. The bad news is that half of the offsets come from unused, debt-financed COVID-19 relief funds and the economic return on many of these investments is questionable.
7 min read
How Did We Ever Agree to Fund Infrastructure Investments?
As lawmakers explore funding mechanisms for additional federal infrastructure investment, they should focus on permanent, sustainable, and transparent revenue options that conform to the benefit principle. Permanent user fees, appropriately adjusted to restore and maintain their purchasing power, would serve as ideal revenue sources for federal infrastructure investments.
5 min read
D.C.’s Income Tax Hike Helps Maryland and Virginia, Not D.C.
Even as lawmakers in eleven states have cut income taxes this year, the D.C. Council has responded to surpluses and growth by voting to include substantial income tax increases in the budget.
7 min read
Amortization Deductions for Sports Teams Properly Part of the Income Tax System
The media has reported on how wealthy taxpayers who own sports teams lower their tax liability by deducting the cost of purchasing a sports team over 15 years. Contrary to claims that deducting the cost of a sports team from taxable income is a “loophole,” such deductions are a normal and proper part of the income tax system.
3 min read
Survey Shows Growing Tax Complexity for Multinationals
New data clearly points to an increase in tax complexity for multinationals in the OECD as well as globally. The OECD’s ongoing efforts to reform the international tax system will likely further add complexity to the international tax environment.
3 min read
North Carolina Considers Corporate Income Tax Repeal and Individual Income Tax Relief
Taken together, the proposed reforms would further solidify North Carolina’s position as a leader in sound tax policy and as a state whose tax code is among the most conducive to generating long-term economic growth.
7 min read
Illuminating the Hidden Costs of State Tax Incentives
In most states, tax incentives abound, usually offered as a way of promoting new investment or attracting certain industries by shielding them from the full impact of otherwise high tax rates.
6 min read
Intellectual Property Came Back to U.S. after Tax Reform, but Proposals Could Change That
Intellectual property is a key driver in the current economy. Among other things, intellectual property includes patents for life-saving drugs and vaccines and software that runs applications on phones and computers.
5 min read
Households Earning $75,000 or Less Paid Majority of Individual Mandate Penalties
Last month, the Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), allowing to stand the Individual Mandate it created that penalizes taxpayers for not having proper health insurance and opening the way for President Biden and Congress to reimplement it.
2 min read
Dynamic Scoring of Infrastructure Spending Proposals Offsets Small Portion of the Cost
While it is good that policymakers are taking the impact of the economy on tax revenue seriously, it is important to remember that the dynamic effect of increased spending would only offset a small portion of the total spending. In other words, new spending—like tax cuts—rarely pays for itself.
3 min read