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
How Biden’s Business Tax Proposals Would Impact Taxpayers Across States
The Biden administration has targeted U.S. businesses, including corporations and passthrough entities, to raise revenue to fund new spending. However, individual taxpayers across America will end up footing the bill.
4 min read
IRS Sends Nearly $15 Billion of Advance Child Tax Credit Payments
New Treasury Department data released on the advance Child Tax Credit payments shows the distribution by state, including how much, on average, households in each state received. The expansion will only be in effect for the 2021 tax year—if policymakers wish to continue providing the increased benefits, they must address the administrative and revenue costs of the policy.
4 min read
Cutting the Cord from Cable Has States Courting New Revenue Streams
If states wish to tax digital streaming and download services, they should do it the right way, by including them in their sales tax base—preferably as part of broader reforms paired with commensurate rate reductions—rather than inventing new excise taxes or shoehorning taxation of the new economy into outdated statutes.
4 min read
Even Within States, Tax Treatment Differs by Industry
States can enhance tax neutrality across industries by reforming tax structures that penalize certain business activity, leaning less on generous incentives, and focusing more on creating a tax code that provides for low and competitive burdens for all comers.
5 min read
Piling on the GILTI Verdicts
The Biden administration has proposed to significantly increase the tax burden on foreign income through a policy known as Global Intangible Low-Tax Income (GILTI). While the administration’s rhetoric focuses on doubling the tax rate on GILTI from 10.5 percent to 21 percent, this is less than half the story.
5 min read
New Research Suggests Estimates of Wealth Inequality Likely Overstated
New research from Federal Reserve Bank of Boston economists suggests wealth inequality has grown less than previously estimated and that shares of wealth held by top earners drops significantly when accounting for sources of lower- and middle-class wealth that are often overlooked.
2 min read
New Tax in Town? Federal Proposal to Deschedule and Tax Marijuana
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D), and Sen. Cory Booker (D) released their discussion draft—the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act—for federal descheduling of marijuana. While federal descheduling impacts all states, it does not deschedule marijuana in states which choose to keep their own ban.
6 min read
Insights from the UN World Investment Report for Global Tax Reform
The United Nations (UN) recently released its annual “World Investment Report,” which shows the dramatic fall in global foreign direct investment (FDI) caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
3 min read