Child Tax Credit (CTC)

Efforts to Combat Inflation’s Impact on the Tax Code Should Remain a Priority in 2023

While hoping for inflation’s continued decline, policymakers should finish the job and index the tax code to prepare for future bouts of high inflation and as a contingency in case it takes longer to defeat elevated inflation than expected.

Tax Policy in Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address

President Biden’s State of the Union Address outlined three tax proposals, including raising the tax on stock buybacks, imposing a billionaire minimum tax, and expanding the child tax credit.

Frustration and Delays as the 2023 Tax Filing Season Begins

A combination of long-standing IRS operational deficiencies, the agency’s temporary closure due to the pandemic, and the now-expired pandemic relief produced a perfect recipe for a paper backlog.

CBO Analysis Finds Income Growth and Progressive Tax Code in 2019

Newly published data from the CBO indicates in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic, American incomes continued to rise as part of a broad economic expansion. It also shows that, contrary to common perceptions, the federal tax system is progressive.

Prospects for Federal Tax and Budget Policy after the 2022 Midterms

Two weeks after the 2022 midterm elections, it’s becoming clearer where tax policy may be headed for the rest of the year and into 2023. In the short term, Congress must deal with tax extenders and expiring business tax provisions that may undermine the economy.

Shaky Economic and Fiscal Outlook Requires Stable and Pro-Growth Tax Extenders Policy

Policymakers face a difficult balancing act this year in what is likely to be an unusual tax extenders season.

Difficult Trade-Offs Make Policy Consensus on Child Tax Credit Elusive

As we near this year’s “lame duck” session of Congress, there has been renewed interest in reforming the child tax credit as part of a tax deal. Our new analysis highlights the trade-offs that policymakers will face

2023 Tax Brackets

The IRS recently released the new inflation adjusted 2023 tax brackets and rates. Explore updated credits, deductions, and exemptions, including the standard deduction & personal exemption, Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), capital gains brackets, qualified business income deduction (199A), and the annual exclusion for gifts.

Pro-Growth Tax Reforms Throughout the Republican Study Committee’s FY 2023 Budget

The United States needs to grow its way out of inflation and set the economy up for continued growth—the tax code provides tools for policymakers to do just that.

Tax Filing Season: Options for Improvement

Efforts to improve the taxpayer experience should focus on the IRS’s operations and include structural improvements to the tax code.

Chaotic IRS Filing Season Shows the Perils of Running Social Policy Through the Tax Code

As the deadline for tax filing nears, the IRS faces scrutiny for its backlog of returns, inaccessible taxpayer service, and delays in issuing certain refunds.

Personal Income Tax Adjusts for Inflation, But It Could Do Better

In times of inflation, a review of the tax code shows that some provisions are automatically indexed, or adjusted, to match inflation, while others are not. And that creates unfair burdens for taxpayers. But it’s not always as simple as just “adjusting for inflation.”

State Legislatures Take Up Tax Reform and Relief in 2022

After a whirlwind of cuts and reforms in 2021, it looks like 2022 might be an even bigger year for state tax codes. Republican and Democratic governors alike used their annual State of the State addresses to call for tax reform, and there is already serious momentum from state lawmakers nationwide to get the job done.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

10 Tax Reforms for Growth and Opportunity

By reducing the tax code’s current barriers to investment and saving and simplifying its complex rules, lawmakers would greatly enhance the ability of Americans to pursue new ideas, create more opportunities, and build financial security for themselves and their families.

The Child Tax Credit Score

The expanded Child Tax Credit from the American Rescue Plan was touted as a once-in-a-lifetime achievement toward reducing child poverty. But it was passed as a temporary tax measure. Temporary tax policy makes tax filing confusing, and the IRS has shown that it isn’t able to keep pace with being a social administrator and a tax collector. We discuss what taxpayers need to know about the ever-changing Child Tax Credit and how it may impact taxpayers this spring.

Alabama Should Pursue Permanent, Not Piecemeal, Solutions to Federal Deductibility Issues

Alabama lawmakers are acting to ensure that federal relief from the American Rescue Plan Act does not increase tax liabilities in the state.

Bumpy Tax Filing Season Ahead Due to IRS Backlog and Pandemic Tax Relief

The National Taxpayer Advocate argued the IRS telephone service “was the worst it has ever been” in 2021, with an answer rate of about 11 percent.

A Holiday Tradition: Tax Extenders Slated to Expire at End of 2021

Tax extenders this year can be split into three rough groups: expiring parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), expiring parts of various COVID-19 economic relief packages, and the Island of Misfit Extenders.

Taxing Decisions, 2021: Minisode 4, Waiting on the Senate

Senior policy analyst Garrett Watson joins host Jesse Solis to discuss the Build Back Better Act’s prospects and what tax changes—ranging from the SALT deduction to the Child Tax Credit—could change in order to gain enough support for passage.