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 read
The coronavirus relief package represents the second-largest recovery legislation, behind only the CARES Act, for a combined total of more than $3 trillion in support.
8 min read
As Congress works to provide another round of emergency economic relief, it is a good time to step back and consider how tax policy affects entrepreneurs and small businesses.
3 min read
Combined state and local tax collections were down only $7.6 billion across the period, representing a total state and local tax revenue decline of 0.7 percent compared to the first nine months of 2019.
6 min read
A bipartisan group of lawmakers released two compromise relief bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic, totaling about $908 billion: The Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act and the Bipartisan State and Local Support and Small Business Protection Act.
4 min read
On Monday, members of the bipartisan Gang of Eight negotiating an end-of-year pandemic relief package announced that they had settled on language and had divided the package into two bills: a pandemic aid package and a $160 billion state and local support package.
6 min read
Any additional relief to address a temporary economic crisis should be temporary, targeted toward those most in need, and consistent with good long-term tax policy.
3 min read
Our new study provides a 360-degree assessment of New York’s budget crisis, analyzes proposed revenue options, and offers solutions to raise revenue without driving more taxpayers out of the state or undoing recent positive reforms
106 min read
Policymakers should consider finding ways to simplify the administration of relief during future crises. This will help ensure the relief is timely and targeted, key components of any successful relief package for this crisis or crises in the future.
3 min read
With days left until government funding runs out, congressional lawmakers are down to the wire to fund the government and provide additional pandemic-related relief to the households and businesses trying to make it through the winter.
3 min read
A bipartisan coalition of Senators unveiled a $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill on Tuesday, which includes, among other provisions, $160 billion in additional aid to state and local governments. It is worth briefly exploring what this would mean, and the amounts of aid your state might expect.
5 min read
While a sweeping tax policy bill is unlikely in the near future, lawmakers may be able to come together on a smaller scale. Pairing better cost recovery on a permanent basis with support for vulnerable households as well as additional pandemic-related relief would help promote a more rapid return to growth and help businesses and households weather the ongoing crisis.
4 min read
At the end of 2020, 33 temporary tax provisions are scheduled to expire at the federal level. These provisions generally fall under four categories: cost recovery, energy, individual, and other business provisions.
20 min read
We sat down with the owners of Black Narrows Brewing Company, a family-owned craft brewery situated in a small island-town on Virginia’s scenic Eastern Shore, to discuss the challenges they face as a small business during COVID-19 and what they would like to see legislators do to reduce short- and long-term barriers for entrepreneurs.
What do election results mean for the future of the federal tax code? What role will tax policy play in curbing the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? How should policymakers address the federal deficit and could a carbon tax be part of that solution? How much of President-elect Joe Biden’s pre-election tax plan will actually come to pass?
A recent Deutsche Bank analysis proposes a federal work-from-home tax (“privilege tax”), which is designed to strip away the financial benefit of remote work.
5 min read
President Biden and Congress should concentrate on areas of common ground, finding incremental places to improve the tax code. A bipartisan bill recently introduced to help retirement savings is a good model for what incremental reform may look like.
4 min read
Zoom Video Communications announced that, come November, the company will start collecting and remitting local utility and communications taxes in California, New York, Maryland, and Virginia.
5 min read
If we consider Biden’s tax plan over the entire budget window (2021 to 2030) as a percentage of GDP—1.30 percent—it would rank as the 6th largest tax increase since the 1940s and and one of the largest tax increases not associated with wartime funding.
6 min read
While there is still plenty of work to be done to get unemployed Americans back to work, the U.S. economy as a whole is now recovering strongly from the pandemic-induced economic downturn, outperforming forecasts from earlier in the year and outperforming most other developed countries.
4 min read
Following the Wayfair decision, states’ move to tax online sales has increased the importance of simplicity in sales tax systems, as sellers now have to deal with differing regulations in multiple states. There are over 11,000 standard sales tax jurisdictions in the United States in 2020
2 min read