The total amount refunded as of the sixth week of reporting is running ahead of the past filing season by nearly $23 billion at $202.6 billion compared to $179.5 billion, while the average refund is up 10.9 percent at $3,571.
3 min read
While it may feel good to receive a tax refund, it does not represent your tax burden—the tax liability you actually owe to the government.
Short FormIf you’ve filed your taxes already, you may have noticed a larger refund this year. That’s due to changes Congress made with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year that retroactively cut taxes for 2025.
3 min read
President Trump is scheduled to deliver the annual State of the Union address to Congress. The speech is bound to address a multitude of topics, but taxes and (especially) tariffs will certainly feature prominently.
6 min read
As policymakers consider reforms to the individual income tax, understanding the types of income that make up the individual income tax base can help them understand the trade-offs of different changes to the tax system.
8 min read
Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2026 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2027.
5 min read
Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2025 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2026.
4 min read
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act contains several key policies that will affect how many taxpayers itemize, and how itemizers may benefit from deducting charitable donations.
4 min read
Americans will spend almost 7.1 billion hours complying with IRS tax filing and reporting requirements in 2025. This is equal to 3.4 million full-time workers—almost the population of Los Angeles and nearly 38 times the workforce the IRS employed in FY 2024—doing nothing but tax return paperwork for a full year.
9 min read
Our experts explain how this major tax legislation may affect you and how policymakers can better improve the tax code.
24 min read
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes many of the individual tax cuts and reforms of the TCJA permanent. It improves upon the TCJA by making expensing for R&D and equipment permanent. However, for the most part, it does not include further structural reforms, and instead introduces many new, narrow tax breaks to the code, adding complexity and raising revenue costs.
7 min read
As the US House hashes out its “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” statehouse lawmakers are watching closely, given the impact of both its tax and spending provisions on state budgets.
12 min read
Lawmakers should push against efforts to lift the SALT cap, and they should keep an eye toward bringing additional transparency to the tax system.
Short FormThe better we understand taxes, the better we can manage our finances, but it starts with familiarizing ourselves with basic tax concepts like how tax brackets work.
3 min read
As a rule, an individual’s income can be taxed both by the state in which the taxpayer resides and by the state in which the taxpayer’s income is earned.
52 min read
By streamlining, simplifying, and reducing tax burdens for remote and nonresident workers, a newly proposed bill could make Arkansas a more attractive state for both employees and employers.
4 min read
According to a new poll from the Tax Foundation and Public Policy Polling, more than half of taxpayers lack basic tax literacy, regardless of educational attainment, income level, or political affiliation.
Taxes and their broader impact are generally overlooked in American education. Taxes influence earnings, budgets, voting, and decisions on where to live, but do American taxpayers understand the US tax system?
25 min read
As we prepare for the tax code’s “move,” it’s time to start cleaning out the proverbial attic of our messy system. For the sake of our economy, moves toward growth must win the day.
As lawmakers prepare for the debate over the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), they may face increasing pressure to offset the cost of lowering tax rates by changing other parts of the tax code. One potential option to raise additional revenue to cover the cost of the TCJA’s reforms—like lower rates, a larger standard deduction, and a larger child tax credit—would be to repeal the head of household filing status.
5 min read