Comparing the Growth and Income-Boosting Effects of Tax Reform Options

As policymakers evaluate changes to the tax code, such as proposals coming from presidential candidates and the White House, it will be important for them to evaluate the relative effects of various provisions. There are many ways to raise a dollar of revenue, and many ways to offer taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. relief—some tax changes are more efficient than others, providing more economic benefit for less change in revenue. In other words, policymakers ought to be asking, “How can I get the most bang for my buck?”

We’ve used the Tax Foundation General Equilibrium Model to compare four tax reductions and one tax increase: making Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) 100 percent bonus depreciation permanent, making the TCJA individual provisions permanent, increasing the child tax creditA tax credit is a provision that reduces a taxpayer’s final tax bill, dollar-for-dollar. A tax credit differs from deductions and exemptions, which reduce taxable income, rather than the taxpayer’s tax bill directly. (CTC) by $500, implementing a $10,000 Roth-style universal savings accounts (USAs) for taxpayers making under $200,000, and implementing a corporate minimum tax such as one proposed by former Vice President Joe Biden.

The chart below shows the estimated change in gross domestic product (GDP) and after-tax income for taxpayers in the middle quintile (40 percent to 60 percent) per billion dollars of revenue for each policy

Once made permanent, 100 percent bonus depreciation would generate more long-run economic output and a larger increase in after-tax incomeAfter-tax income is the net amount of income available to invest, save, or consume after federal, state, and withholding taxes have been applied—your disposable income. Companies and, to a lesser extent, individuals, make economic decisions in light of how they can best maximize their earnings. per dollar of forgone revenue than the other four proposals. Making bonus depreciation permanent would be one of the most efficient ways to increase after-tax incomes for the middle class.

Comparisons like this can help improve the process of navigating upcoming TCJA expirations and staking out new policy ideas. For example, we estimate that making the individual provisions permanent would increase long-run economic output by 2.2 percent, but this would reduce long-run federal revenue by $165 billion annually. On the other hand, permanence for TCJA 100 percent bonus depreciationBonus depreciation allows firms to deduct a larger portion of certain “short-lived” investments in new or improved technology, equipment, or buildings in the first year. Allowing businesses to write off more investments partially alleviates a bias in the tax code and incentivizes companies to invest more, which, in the long run, raises worker productivity, boosts wages, and creates more jobs. would increase economic output by 0.9 percent at a long-run annual cost of $10 billion of revenue. Proposals such as USAs, a larger child tax credit, or a 1 percentage point corporate rate reduction are less efficient tax cuts in terms of economic output, while a corporate minimum tax is a less efficient revenue increase. See the tables below for the macroeconomic and distributional effects of all five policies.

Keeping in mind which policies offer the most cost-effective growth helps illustrate the economic and distributional trade-offs among different tax proposals.

Macroeconomic Effects of Five Federal Tax Proposals

Source: Tax Foundation General Equilibrium Model, November 2019.
Proposal	100 Percent Bonus Depreciation Permanent	TCJA Individual Provisions Permanent	Universal Savings Accounts	Maximum Child Tax Credit Increase to $2,500	Reduce Corporate Income Tax to 20 Percent	Corporate Minimum Tax
Gross Domestic Product	0.9%	2.2%	0.04%	0.06%	0.1%	-0.3%
Capital Stock	2.2%	N/A	0.07%	0.1%	0.1%	-0.7%
Wages	0.8%	0.9%	0.01%	0.03%	0.1%	-0.2%
Full-Time Equivalent Jobs	172,000	1.5 million	6,750	88,000	23,000	-56,000
Conventional Long-Run Annual Revenue (billions)	-$10 billion	-$165	-$1.4	-$29	-$12	$26.6

Distributional Effects of Five Federal Tax Proposals

Source: Tax Foundation General Equilibrium Model, November 2019.
Income Group	100 Percent Bonus Depreciation Permanent	TCJA Individual Provisions Permanent	Universal Savings Accounts	Maximum Child Tax Credit Increase to $2,500	Reduce Corporate Income Tax to 20 Percent	Corporate Minimum Tax
0% to 20%	0.76%	1.2%	0%	0.36%	0.1%	-0.32%
20% to 40%	0.73%	1.6%	0%	1.26%	0.09%	-0.25%
40% to 60%	0.73%	1.4%	0.01%	0.84%	0.09%	-0.26%
60% to 80%	0.70%	1.6%	0.01%	0.48%	0.09%	-0.25%
80% to 100%	0.79%	1.5%	0.02%	0.06%	0.09%	-0.40%

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