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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.

 

Tax Policy and the US Economy Enhancements to Our Tax Foundation Modeling Framework

Tax Policy and the US Economy: Enhancements to Our Modeling Framework

The Tax Foundation models tax policy using our proprietary Taxes and Growth model, illustrating the economic, revenue, and distributional impacts of different changes to the federal tax code. We’ve recently implemented improvements to the model that have been underway for the past several years, and we will be detailing them further in our forthcoming model methodology update.

4 min read

Reducing Germany’s Corporate Tax Rate to 25 Percent

Ahead of Germany’s federal election, the country’s economy remains stuck in a prolonged recession, with GDP stagnating for the past two years and failing to surpass its pre-pandemic level.

6 min read
Trump reciprocal tariffs EU VAT The European VAT is Not a Discriminatory Tax Against US Exports

The European VAT is Not a Discriminatory Tax Against US Exports

The Trump administration appears to be moving in a “reciprocal” policy direction despite the significant negative economic consequences for American consumers of across-the-board tariffs on goods coming into the US. However, the EU’s VAT system should not be used as a justification for retaliatory tariffs.

6 min read
Reducing spending in the tax code tax expenditures could help pay or raise trillions for 2025 tax reform

Cleaning Up the Tax Code Could Raise Trillions for Tax Reform

As Republicans look for ways to offset the budgetary cost of extending the expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and potentially enacting other tax cuts, the latest estimates indicate several trillion dollars could be raised by reducing tax credits and other preferences in the tax code.

5 min read
EU VAT policy including EU VAT revenue and EU VAT compliance report

The EU’s Questionable VAT Policy

In a recent survey regarding companies’ barriers to conducting business in the EU single market, VAT ranked first. Policymakers should invest in reforming VAT systems to close both compliance and policy gaps in ways that improve the overall efficiency of their tax systems.

7 min read