The United States has long been a forward-thinking country that builds for tomorrow through saving, investment, and entrepreneurship. Saving gives us security, investment gives us rising incomes through enhanced productivity, and entrepreneurship drives economic growth and dynamism, creating new opportunities.
However, over the last fifty years, all three have been eroded. Citizens aren’t saving enough, businesses aren’t investing enough, and the country is undergoing a retreat in the level of economic growth and dynamism.
As it is, the U.S. tax code places substantial burdens on each of these essential factors of our economy. What’s worse, while other nations have become more attractive, there has been a proliferation of proposals in the U.S. that would only cause further harm—wealth taxes, “mark-to-market” capital gains taxes, estate taxes, and financial transaction taxes.
Below, we offer in-depth analysis of these and other proposals, which highlight a harmful trend in tax policy. Americans are industrious, entrepreneurial, and innovative. Policymakers should ensure we have a tax code that enhances those qualities, not hinders them.
Universal savings accounts would boost savings for low-income households, allowing them to better withstand economic shocks, such as pandemics and recessions, and plan for major expenses, such as an expanded family, education, and housing needs.
36 min read
Americans are saving less. While the U.S. saving rate has regularly lagged behind its peers, it has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Increasingly, people are turning to credit cards to fill the gaps in their budgets.
For U.S. policymakers looking to encourage greater saving and financial security, particularly among low- and moderate-income households facing serious affordability challenges, the experiences in both the UK and Canada indicate that universal savings accounts are an effective policy tool to help reach that goal.
4 min read
For most Americans, saving is a taxing experience. Our neighbors to the north have found a better solution—and U.S. lawmakers should take note.
5 min read
The uncertain future of American finances in a time of potential economic instability points to the need for tax reforms that encourage individuals to save and build financial security in a relatively simple way, such as through universal savings accounts.
6 min read
What has President Joe Biden proposed in terms of tax policy changes? Our experts provide the details and analyze the potential economic, revenue, and distributional impacts.
23 min read
New modeling finds that the wealth taxes proposed by Sen. Warren and Sen. Sanders would raise significantly less revenue than promised, face serious administrative and compliance challenges, and would increase foreign ownership of U.S. capital.
38 min read
A key element of America’s dynamism problem is a drop in entrepreneurship. Removing tax barriers for entrepreneurs would improve America’s dynamism while making America’s tax code more neutral, efficient, and simple for all taxpayers.
25 min read
Capital gains taxes create a burden on saving because they are an additional layer of taxes on a given dollar of income. The capital gains tax rate cannot be directly compared to individual income tax rates, because the additional layers of tax that apply to capital gains income must also be part of the discussion.
14 min read
The success of any mark-to-market system lies in its ability to accurately value tangible and non-tangible (or non-tradable) assets such as intellectual property and brand-value recognition. Administrative regulations, guidance, and enforcement are the Achilles’ heel of any plan to annually tax accrued gains.
17 min read
Policymakers should exercise caution in deciding whether to enact an FTT given the uncertainty regarding the FTT’s ability to raise revenue and the significant damage it could cause to the U.S. financial system
39 min read
Because withholding taxes can create double taxation and administrative friction even where foreign tax credits are available, the European Commission’s 2026 Tax Omnibus proposal to eliminate them on dividend, interest, and royalty payments between EU companies regardless of holding percentage would foster stronger cross-border savings and investment.
6 min read
If you want more energy production, taxing producers is the wrong place to start. And if you want to tax companies more if they’re making big profits, the corporate income tax already does that.
Introduced by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Michael Bennet (D-CO), The Taxing Buybacks from Big Oil Windfalls Act would raise the stock buyback excise tax from 1 percent to 25 percent for large oil and gas companies.
4 min read
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a proposed 5 percent annual wealth tax on billionaires to fund direct payments to Americans and expand social welfare programs.
5 min read
Washington lawmakers are holding their first hearing on long-anticipated legislation that would create a new 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million.
6 min read
While the OBBBA brings some stability by making many of the TCJA’s reforms permanent, it generally fails to reform the tax code’s accumulating complexity.
31 min read
Who are Trump Accounts really for, and will they actually help families save? With yet another savings vehicle added to an already confusing system, do these accounts solve a real problem—or just add more complexity?
Our experts explain how this major tax legislation may affect you and how policymakers can better improve the tax code.
24 min read
Several major new tax breaks are scheduled to expire at the end of 2028, setting the stage for another tax fight to either extend them or allow them to expire.
5 min read
If the federal government really wanted to make saving more accessible for taxpayers, it would swap the proposal for Trump Accounts to replace the complicated mess of savings accounts currently available with universal savings accounts.
5 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 lawmakers continue to debate the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” they should abandon temporary and complex policy in favor of simplicity and stability.
4 min read
As Republicans look for ways to offset the budgetary cost of extending the expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and potentially enacting other tax cuts, the latest estimates indicate several trillion dollars could be raised by reducing tax credits and other preferences in the tax code.
5 min read
While tariffs are often presented as tools to enhance US competitiveness, a long history of evidence and recent experience shows they lead to increased costs for consumers and unprotected producers and harmful retaliation, which outweighs the benefits afforded to protected industries.
Social Security is by far the largest federal government spending program. The latest trustees report shows the program is on a fiscally unsustainable path that will exacerbate the US debt crisis if its imbalances are not addressed in the near term.
33 min read
As part of the 2024 presidential campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing to tax long-term capital gains at a top rate of 33 percent for high earners, taking the top federal rate to highs not seen since the 1970s.
3 min read
Short FormWith pandemic-era savings now fully depleted and the majority of Americans pointing to their finances as their biggest source of stress, one thing is clear: the US needs policies that help people save more.
4 min read
Many developed countries have repealed their wealth taxes in recent years for a variety of reasons. They raise little revenue, create high administrative costs, and induce an outflow of wealthy individuals and their money. Many policymakers have also recognized that high taxes on capital and wealth damage economic growth.
30 min read
Lawmakers should see 2025 as an opportunity to consider more fundamental tax reforms. While the TCJA addressed some of the deficiencies of the tax code, it by no means addressed them all.
8 min read
Universal savings accounts would boost savings for low-income households, allowing them to better withstand economic shocks, such as pandemics and recessions, and plan for major expenses, such as an expanded family, education, and housing needs.
36 min read