As scrutiny over data center investment and AI rises, some commentators are concerned about how expensing interacts with these ongoing investments. Most of these concerns misunderstand what expensing does.
5 min read
Hall’s research helped economists understand how taxes distort investment decisions, while his work with Rabushka shows how to minimize those distortions. Although the US remains far from a pure consumption tax, Hall’s work informs efforts to reduce the tax burden on investment, improve neutrality, and promote long-run economic growth.
3 min read
Florida has long maintained one of the nation’s most competitive state tax codes, but a fundamental change proposed by Amendment 3 could undermine that competitiveness.
30 min read
While there are many factors that affect a country’s economic performance, taxes play an important role. A well-structured tax code is easy for taxpayers to comply with and can promote economic development while raising sufficient revenue for a government’s priorities.
72 min read
The 2026 Regional Tax Competitiveness Index for Spain highlights a growing divergence between regions that have embraced tax reform and those whose tax systems have remained largely unchanged.
7 min read
The federal government’s debt burden and interest on the debt are near record levels and headed higher, raising legitimate concerns about an eventual debt crisis. Given the increasingly dysfunctional budget process, the most viable option on the table to stave off such a crisis is a statutory bipartisan fiscal commission with buy-in from leaders of both parties.
6 min read
Imposing sales taxes on rental car companies’ fleet purchases, in addition to the sales and rental car excise taxes levied when those cars are rented, yields double taxation and causes harmful tax pyramiding.
9 min read
Corporations in the United States pay federal corporate income taxes levied at a 21 percent rate. Forty-four states and DC also levy taxes on corporate income, with top marginal rates ranging from 2.5 percent in North Carolina to 11.5 percent in New Jersey.
2 min read
What happens when voters decide tax policy directly? This November, roughly 40 tax measures are on the ballot across 17 states. Some states want higher taxes on top earners, others want to write low rates into their constitutions, and Missouri voters will decide whether to start a fund that could one day replace every state tax.
Rather than continuing the Trump administration’s tariff policy, policymakers should explore new solutions that can raise sustainable revenue with fewer distortions, like replacing the tariffs with a value-added tax.
5 min read
High property taxes levied not only on land but also on buildings and structures can discourage investment in infrastructure, which businesses would have to pay additional tax on.
3 min read
On Election Day, Coloradans will get to decide on two competing measures on income taxes: an initiated statute that would cap income taxes at the current 4.4 percent rate; and a constitutional amendment that would authorize a graduated-rate individual and corporate income tax, paired with an initiated statute setting new rates, with a top rate of 8.4 percent.
6 min read
The 2026 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index allows policymakers and taxpayers to evaluate and measure how their regions’ tax systems compare.
8 min read
The Rental Housing Investment Act (RHIA) would remove much of that tax penalty by allowing developers of new rental housing to immediately deduct up to $150,000 of cost per unit.
7 min read
Congress has passed some major simplifying reforms in recent years, but the tax code has still grown more complex over the past few decades. New carveouts, savings vehicles, and targeted tax increases would complicate it further.
8 min read
Applying the sales tax, a traditional broad-based consumption tax, is perfectly appropriate, but excessive targeted taxation of wireless services lacks the traditional justifications—a user-pays system or the internalization of social costs—for excise taxation, raising consumer costs and discouraging investment.
5 min read
Studies have repeatedly shown that US businesses and consumers are bearing a disproportionate share of the tariff burden.
7 min read
Americans will spend 6.9 billion hours complying with IRS tax filing and reporting requirements in 2026, costing about $387 billion in lost productivity. Including an additional $157 billion in out-of-pocket costs, complying with the federal tax code will cost Americans more than $544 billion this year, over 1.7 percent of GDP.
10 min read
Many states levy taxes on liquids on a per-barrel basis. However, some states define a “barrel” differently than the standard measurement. The landscape of unharmonious units creates complexity and compliance costs for businesses that must pay these taxes in multiple states.
5 min read
With much of the continent celebrating Oktoberfest, it is a great time to examine beer taxes across Europe. Hefty beer taxes increase the price consumers pay for their libations.
5 min read