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Individual Income and Payroll Taxes

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State Tax Rates on Long-Term Capital Gains, 2026

State Tax Rates on Long-Term Capital Gains, 2026

Savings and investment are essential for individuals’ and families’ financial security and for long-term economic growth. Policymakers should therefore consider reforms that can help mitigate—rather than add to—tax codes’ biases against saving and investment.

5 min read
2027 tax brackets or 2027 federal income tax brackets and rates including the standard deduction, child tax credit

2027 Tax Brackets

Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2027 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2028.

5 min read
2027 State Tax Competitiveness Index Interactive Tool 2027 State Tax Index

2027 State Tax Competitiveness Index

The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.

121 min read
An “Outsourcing Tax” Is a Misguided Approach to Global Business Senator Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act is a proposal to discourage US companies from outsourcing jobs and services abroad for products consumed by Americans.

Economic Education Includes Addressing Tax Confusion

Economics isn’t just a course with supply and demand graphs and a quirky usage of “guns and butter.” It’s a discipline focused on incentives and responses, and we can see its impact all around us, shaping our world and our choices.

3 min read
IRS tax enforcement provisions to increase IRS budget and IRS funding See more on IRS expansion and Inflation Reduction Act IRS details

How Much Does the US Government Lose to Tax Fraud?

While the government will never close the tax gap or fully eliminate tax fraud, lawmakers and the IRS can institute several reforms to reduce the gap, including simplifying the tax code, increasing third-party information reporting, and coordinating anti-fraud efforts.

7 min read
Social Security Reform Options

Could an Employer Compensation Tax Save Social Security?

With Social Security insolvency rapidly approaching and policymakers exploring changes to benefits and taxation, Congress could look to base-broadening reforms like the ECT as a guide for how to think about taxing compensation and broadening the tax base.

4 min read
International Tax Competitiveness Index, 2026

International Tax Competitiveness Index 2026

While there are many factors that affect a country’s economic performance, taxes play an important role. A well-structured tax code is easy for taxpayers to comply with and can promote economic development while raising sufficient revenue for a government’s priorities.

72 min read

The California Billionaire Tax’s Ever-Shifting Goalposts

Wealth taxes have been a failure everywhere they’ve been tried, which may be why advocates for the California amendment are saying this is a new frontier. But the countries that have tried this gamble know the frontier well, and they’ve left it in the dust.

Congressional Budget Office Projects Spending Growth Will Outpace Revenue Growth

Why the US Needs a Fiscal Commission to Help Solve the Debt Crisis

The federal government’s debt burden and interest on the debt are near record levels and headed higher, raising legitimate concerns about an eventual debt crisis. Given the increasingly dysfunctional budget process, the most viable option on the table to stave off such a crisis is a statutory bipartisan fiscal commission with buy-in from leaders of both parties.

6 min read
2026 State Tax Ballot Measures

The 2026 Ballot Measures Shaping State Taxes

What happens when voters decide tax policy directly? This November, roughly 40 tax measures are on the ballot across 17 states. Some states want higher taxes on top earners, others want to write low rates into their constitutions, and Missouri voters will decide whether to start a fund that could one day replace every state tax.

Colorado Income Tax | Amendment 87 & Proposition 136

Colorado’s Election Day Choice on Income Taxes

On Election Day, Coloradans will get to decide on two competing measures on income taxes: an initiated statute that would cap income taxes at the current 4.4 percent rate; and a constitutional amendment that would authorize a graduated-rate individual and corporate income tax, paired with an initiated statute setting new rates, with a top rate of 8.4 percent.

6 min read