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The Deduction Podcast

Welcome to The Deduction, a Tax Foundation podcast and your guide to the complicated world of tax and economics.

From the impacts of tariffs and trade wars to debates over who pays and how much, each episode, our experts untangle another aspect of the tax code.

 

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Launching Tax Foundation Europe

Launching Tax Foundation Europe

As the world of tax policy becomes more interconnected, the Tax Foundation is stepping up, recognizing the pressing need for informed and principled tax policy education in an ever-evolving landscape.

Tackling Financial Literacy with Jed Collins

Financial literacy is a problem that educators around the country are trying to tackle. Today, we’re speaking with Jed Collins, a former NFL player, who is leading the charge in the financial education arena by guiding high school and college students, as well as professional athletes, through the world of finance.

2024 Tax Relief Act Saving Americans Dwindling Savings-01

Saving Americans’ Dwindling Savings

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.

October is Economic Education Month

Economic Education Month and TaxEDU

Its economic education month and understanding how taxes affect the economy is important. We pull back the curtain to discuss why the Tax Foundation launched its tax literacy initiative, TaxEDU.

Prohibition by price taxes and illicit trade china and cigarette taxes in the united states the deduciton podcast

Prohibition by Price

Step into the shadows of illicit trade where taxation, incentives, and criminal networks intersect to fuel the lucrative cigarette smuggling market.

The Inflation Reduction Act One Year Later

One year after its enactment, there are concerns about the Inflation Reduction Acts overall fiscal impact, the additional complexity it introduces to the tax system, and the sustainability of its initiatives.

Who pays taxes? A complete measure of federal state local tax burden and government transfers (fiscal incidence) finds a US progressive fiscal system.

Interesting Interest Rates

Interest rates and tax policy, two vital components of our economic landscape, often interact in fascinating ways. They influence the behavior of individuals, businesses, and governments. But how exactly?

Cyber Monday, Post-Wayfair Edition, South Dakota v. Wayfair online sales tax

The Wayfair Sales Tax Ruling, Five Years Later

It’s the 5th anniversary of the groundbreaking Wayfair Supreme Court decision–a ruling that marked a new era of sales tax collection and changed how we think about taxation in the digital age.

A Bittersweet Broadcast

On this “not-so-heavy-on-the-policy” episode, our much-beloved host, Jesse Solis, is joined by the Deduction’s Senior Producer, Dan Carvajal, and Marketing Associate, Kyle Hulehan, to share some bittersweet news.

Inflation Reduction Act green energy tax credits including clean vehicle credit and clean electricity tax credit

Tax Ideas for the EU Green Transition

The past few years have brought a renewed push from countries across the globe to combat climate change. In the European Union, policymakers have put a timeline on their climate agenda. By 2050, the EU wants to achieve a net-zero economy. Sean Bray, director of European policy, breaks down how much it would cost to achieve this goal.

What’s Missing from the Tax Burden Debate

When we discuss tax policy, the conversation inevitably turns to who pays, who should pay, and how much they should pay. Unfortunately, the tax burdens debate is often missing a key point: how income transfer programs—like Social Security or Medicaid—affect households’ tax burdens.

Global excise tax trends and global excise tax applications data and research on excise taxes

Exploring Excise Tax Trends

The tax base around the world is shrinking for traditional excise taxes, including taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and motor fuel. But newer excise taxes on things like carbon, cannabis, and ride-sharing are on the rise. What makes a good design for these taxes and where may excise taxes go in the future as the traditional “sin tax” base continues to shrink?

Child Tax Credit Reform Debate Continues Tax Cuts and Jobs Act TCJA Expiration and tax policy trade-offs Family Security Act Mitt Romney and Brookings Hamilton Project

The FairTax?

The FairTax, on paper, sounds simple. But when you pull back the curtains, this proposal leads to more questions than answers.

Joe Biden Feb 2023

Biden’s 2024 Budget

The White House says this budget will reduce the deficit, strengthen Medicare, and will only target the well-off. But are those claims true? Erica York, senior economist, walks through the details with Jesse. They discuss what the economic impact of this budget would be and what parts stand a chance at actually becoming law.

Expanding affordable housing tax policies

Rethinking Affordable Housing Tax Policy

Affordable housing is an issue that has had long-standing bipartisan interest in D.C. But the path to increase the supply of affordable housing, though often well-intentioned, has created a bureaucratic nightmare.

2023 local income taxes by state and municipality 2023 local income tax rates and local taxes or local income tax data by county

A Look at Local Income Taxes

Levied in thousands of cities, counties, school districts, and other localities, local income taxes are often used to either lower other taxes (like property taxes) or raise more revenue for local services. While they may make sense on paper, local income taxes come with more challenges than other local revenue sources.

Biden state of the union address 2023 tax proposals stock buybacks tax billionaire minimum tax expanded child tax credit

State of the Union Reaction 2023

President Biden shared his policy aspirations during the State of the Union address, outlining three tax proposals in his remarks: quadrupling the brand-new excise tax on stock buybacks, instituting a “billionaire minimum tax,” and extending the now-lapsed expanded Child Tax Credit. We discuss the prospects of major tax changes becoming law in a divided government and what these proposals signal about how President Biden thinks about tax policy as he enters the latter half of his first term.

States eye taxes on high earners, including state capital gains tax plans or taxes on long-term capital gains income and state estate tax proposals

Wealth Taxes Reach the States

Since 2021, 43 states have provided substantial tax relief for taxpayers and businesses. But this year, a new trend has emerged in the opposite direction: a push for states to tax investment. Jared Walczak joins Jesse to discuss how wealth tax proposals to higher capital gains income taxes would affect investment, job creation, and migration between states—and why they’re happening now.