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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.

Who Shoulders the Burden of Federal Income Taxes? high-income earners, high-income taxpayers, progressive tax system, federal income tax, income inequality, wealth tax

Under the HEROES Act, State Budgets Could Soar as the Economy Suffers

The HEROES Act, proposed by House Democrats as a next round of fiscal relief during the coronavirus outbreak, contains about $1.08 trillion in aid to states and localities. That would bring the pandemic total to $1.63 trillion—an amount so large that it might overwhelm their ability to spend it and could reward fiscal irresponsibility.

8 min read
LIFO tax treatment of inventory LIFO repeal US supply chain resiliency Biden small business taxes Biden tax plan small business impact Investments in long-lived assets, such as structures, must be deducted over long cost recovery periods: up to 27.5 years (for residential buildings) or 39 years (for nonresidential buildings), cost recovery of buildings.

Reducing the Bias Against Long-term Investments

Other countries have shown that providing deductions in line with invested capital costs can have positive impacts both on investment and on debt bias.

7 min read

Watch: Coronavirus: A Path to Economic Recovery

What challenges should we expect to face as the U.S. economy begins to re-open? When is the right time for legislators to start focusing on long-term recovery vs. short-term needs? What policies should federal legislators pursue to clear a path to recovery?

1 min read
White House considers capital gains tax cut, neutral cost recovery, full expensing amid coronavirus economic relief options, coronavirus business relief

White House Considers Neutral Cost Recovery for Structures

When considering long-term policies for increasing long-run levels of investment and economic growth, full expensing and neutral cost recovery are better targeted than policies like a capital gains cut.

6 min read