As the U.S. federal, state, and local governments, as well as countries around the world, continue to implement measures to support their economies amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our experts are providing trusted analysis of the latest coronavirus tax developments to better inform policymakers, journalists, and taxpayers.
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The major tax-related benefits in the $1.9 trillion economic relief plan are a third round of direct payments, extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and a $10,200 unemployment insurance income exemption for 2020, and an expansion of the Child Tax Credit.
6 min read
Congress chose to exempt forgiven Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans from federal income taxation. Many states, however, remain on track to tax them by either treating forgiven loans as taxable income, denying the deduction for expenses paid for using forgiven loans, or both.
7 min read
The American Rescue Plan Act’s restriction on states’ Fiscal Recovery Funds being used to directly or indirectly offset a net tax cut is vague and raises difficult questions of interpretation and application. A broad interpretation of this prohibition may be unconstitutional.
19 min read
The government of Hartford County, Connecticut is in line to receive $173 million in local aid under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). There’s only one problem: the government of Hartford County doesn’t exist, nor do any of Connecticut’s other counties have county-level government despite being allocated a collective $691 million under the bill.
4 min read
State and local tax policy have always mattered, but the rise of remote work is bringing tax burdens and economic competitiveness to the forefront. It is a development that states cannot afford to ignore.
5 min read
As the Biden administration and Congress consider making the expanded child tax credit permanent, a nearly $1.6 trillion expansion of tax code-administered benefits, they should consider financing it in a way that doesn’t create significant headwinds to economic recovery.
3 min readTax policy can help by giving businesses current access to future tax “assets”—deductions and credits the businesses will be allowed or owed over time any way under current law—instead of making them wait.
5 min read
The Great Recession provides some insight into how tax revenues declined during a deep recession. Across OECD countries, revenues fell by 11 percent from 2008 to 2009 with corporate income taxes seeing the steepest decline at 28 percent. Revenues from individual income taxes fell by 16 percent.
4 min read
Governmental responses to the coronavirus outbreak will require creativity and flexibility—and one aspect of that may involve temporarily rethinking how we structure not only unemployment insurance (UI) benefits but also the taxes that pay for them.
5 min read
The House bill would provide two weeks of paid sick leave to workers who must quarantine, take care of a family member who is sick with coronavirus, or care for their children whose school or daycare has closed due to the public health emergency.
2 min read
Instead of simply reaching for fiscal stimulus with the goal of increasing economic activity, tax policy changes can give vulnerable individuals and businesses additional liquidity and space to survive the reduction in economic activity needed in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
5 min read
Taxes present one policy tool available to ease the impending liquidity crunch brought on by the coronavirus crisis, which policymakers are already pursuing by postponing the tax payment deadline and waiving interest and penalties.
3 min read
In the short term, states must anticipate reduced tax collections as the economy slows. And here, not all taxes are created equal. As a general rule, income taxes are more volatile than consumption taxes.
4 min read
The bill, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, would expand federal medical leave, create an emergency paid sick leave requirement, and provide tax credits against employer-side payroll taxes to help offset the cost of these two programs, among other provisions.
3 min read