Windfall taxes, particularly those imposed on the oil and gas industry, often appear as a quick fix for governments seeking to raise revenue during periods of high commodity prices. However, while these taxes may offer short-term revenues, they can also trigger negative consequences that undermine their intended purpose.
21 min read
Policymakers should broaden and make permanent full expensing for additional asset classes and pursue structural reforms that reduce distortions in how businesses are taxed. A more consistent and predictable policy environment, paired with targeted improvements to loss treatment, R&D incentives, and compliance burdens, would give small business owners greater confidence to invest, hire, and grow.
Near-term corporate tax payments may fall, and financial statement data may appear unusual, but over time, revenues will stabilize, book-tax gaps will fade, and the US tax code will incentivize domestic investment.
8 min read
AI technology has a wide range of potential economic outcomes. It would be a mistake to tailor tax policy to the extreme end of that range. Still, policymakers shouldn’t do nothing: they should instead make tax reforms that are sound regardless of which AI scenario emerges.
7 min read
While Wyoming is outcompeting California in attracting data centers due to affordability and sound tax policy, lawmakers should avoid imposing discriminatory sales tax on data centers’ machinery and equipment (M&E) purchases.
6 min read
The recently proposed UK budget contains several tax measures that put a greater burden on the working class and ultimately fails to tackle the deeper structural problems of the UK’s tax code.
6 min read
In most European OECD countries, corporate income is taxed twice, once at the entity level and once at the shareholder level.
4 min read
Canada has the power to shape its own competitiveness by making itself an attractive destination for investment this 2025 budget season.
If Canada doesn’t make full expensing provisions permanent, it will drop to 13th place in the capital cost recovery ranking, once provisions expire in 2028.
5 min read
Although sometimes overlooked in discussions about corporate taxation, capital allowances play an important role in a country’s corporate tax base and can impact investment decisions—with far-reaching economic consequences.
6 min read
The ongoing economic uncertainty from Russia’s war in Ukraine, economic recovery, supply chain disruptions, and rising interest rates have highlighted the importance of business investment.
30 min read
Catastrophic rhetoric about US manufacturing is not justified. The tariffs are extremely counterproductive. Still, all is not well in the US manufacturing sector. What should we do?
7 min read
As Congress debates expensing and other policies impacting business investment, lawmakers should consider the importance of business investment in research and development (R&D) as a driver for economic growth. Recent studies suggest that the economic benefits of R&D spending are even greater than previously understood.
7 min read
While LIFO is rarely the main focus of the overall tax policy debate, it is a sound structural piece of the tax code. LIFO comes close to matching the economic ideal while still remaining true to the accounting principle.
15 min read
Compromising on the timing and availability of expensing—or offsetting the revenue losses by worsening other parts of the tax code—would squander an opportunity to craft a fiscally responsible, pro-growth tax reform.
Investment matters across the economy, and policymaking should reflect that.
4 min read
How does tax policy shape a nation’s competitiveness? Today, we’re diving into the showdown between the US and China, exploring how China’s enticing tax incentives pose a formidable challenge to America’s economic supremacy.
Restoring expensing for R&D, machinery, and equipment; extending better cost recovery to structures investment; and avoiding raising the corporate tax rate would create a stronger, pro-investment policy environment for the US economy.
44 min read
Both candidates’ policies would ultimately stifle the kinds of broad economic expansion they claim to seek.
Although sometimes overlooked in discussions about corporate taxation, capital allowances play an important role in a country’s corporate tax base and can impact investment decisions—with far-reaching economic consequences.
4 min read