Teachers Are Omitting a Big Part of Financial Literacy
Most Americans don’t understand how the tax code works. According to a poll conducted by TaxEDU, a majority of respondents do not have a basic understanding of common tax concepts.
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The Tax Problem You, Me, and Patrick Mahomes Have in Common
Jock taxes on highly paid athletes and entertainers are here to stay, but states could make life easier for the rest of us, at very little cost, by adopting reasonable nonresident filing and withholding thresholds for ordinary taxpayers.
5 min read
Tracking Three IRS Datapoints to Watch During the 2026 Tax Filing Season
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.
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Rethinking Your Tax Refund
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.
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Short FormWhy Is My Tax Refund Larger This Year?
If 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.
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2026 State of the Union: Five Things to Know
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.
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Sources of Personal Income, Tax Year 2022
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.
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2026 Tax Brackets
Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2026 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2027.
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2025 Tax Brackets
Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2025 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2026.
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Changes to Charitable Giving Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
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
Tax Complexity Now Costs the US Economy over $536 Billion Annually
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.
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FAQ: The One Big Beautiful Bill, Explained
Our experts explain how this major tax legislation may affect you and how policymakers can better improve the tax code.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
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.
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State Implications of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
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.
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The Tax Code Should Not Be a Game of Hide-and-Seek
Lawmakers should push against efforts to lift the SALT cap, and they should keep an eye toward bringing additional transparency to the tax system.
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Short FormTax and Financial Illiteracy Are Costing Americans
The 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.
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State Individual Income Taxes on Nonresidents: A Primer
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.
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Enhancing Arkansas’s Safe Harbor for Remote Work Employees: A Step Toward Modernization and Reform
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.
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New Poll Shows Americans Think Tax Code Is Too Complex. This Year’s Tax Debate Should Fix That.
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.
National Tax Literacy Poll: Assessing Taxpayer Knowledge and Perceptions of the US Tax System
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