Data

How Well-Funded Are Pension Plans in Your State?

Although most states are on solid financial footing following the coronavirus crisis, pension liabilities are a deep-seated problem that long predates the pandemic.

Countries Should Be Cautious about Relying on Inheritance Taxes for Revenue

As tempting as inheritance, estate, and gift taxes might look especially when the OECD notes them as a way to reduce wealth inequality, their limited capacity to collect revenue and their negative impact on entrepreneurial activity, savings, and work should make policymakers consider their repeal instead of boosting them.

Tax Relief for Families in Europe

Most countries provide tax relief to families with children—typically through targeted tax breaks that lower income taxes. While all European OECD countries provide tax relief for families, its extent varies substantially across countries.

How Does Your State Treat Social Security Income?

Thirteen states tax Social Security benefits, a matter of significant interest to retirees. Each of these states has its own approach to determining what share of benefits is subject to tax, though these provisions can be grouped together into a few broad categories.

How Much Does Your State Collect in Property Taxes Per Capita?

Property taxes are an important source of revenue for local and state governments. In FY 2018, property taxes generated over 30 percent of total U.S. state and local tax collections and over 70 percent of local tax collections.

A Comparison of the Tax Burden on Labor in the OECD, 2021

Governments often justify higher tax burdens with more extensive public services. However, the cost of these services can be more than half of an average worker’s salary.

Joint Committee on Taxation Data Shows Federal Tax System Is Progressive

New Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) data indicates that the federal tax system is progressive, consistent with similar analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the OECD.

Dividend Tax Rates in Europe, 2021

How Much Does Your State Collect in Sales Taxes Per Capita?

Rightsizing a state’s sales tax base can not only make the tax more equitable and better align it with the modern economy but also generate revenue that can be used to pay down the rates of more harmful taxes. That is why sales tax base broadening, which is favored by public finance scholars across the political spectrum, features in many tax reform plans.

Taxing Capital – An International Comparison

The taxation of capital—at both the individual and the corporate level—is much debated and affects economic growth by lowering the incentives to save and invest.

Top Personal Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2021

Most countries’ personal income taxes have a progressive structure, meaning that the tax rate paid by individuals increases as they earn higher wages. The highest tax rate individuals pay differs significantly across Europe, with Denmark (55.9 percent), France (55.4 percent), and Austria (55 percent) having the highest top statutory personal income tax rates among European OECD countries.

What Location Matters Can Tell Us About State Tax Competitiveness

Location Matters is an account of tax complexity and the ways that tax structure affect competitiveness. For policymakers, it represents an opportunity to explore the seemingly more arcane tax provisions that can have a significant impact on business tax burdens, and to discover how their tax code—often completely by accident—picks winners and losers.

U.S. Top Combined Integrated Tax Rate on Corporate Income Would Become Highest in the OECD

Under President Biden’s tax plan, the United States would tax corporate income at the highest top rate in the industrialized world, averaging 65.1 percent.

Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes in Europe, 2021

Estate tax is levied on the property of the deceased and is paid by the estate itself. Inheritance taxes, in contrast, are only levied on the value of assets transferred and are paid by the heirs. Gift taxes are levied when property is transferred by a living individual. The majority of European countries covered in today’s map currently levy estate, inheritance, or gift taxes.

OECD Report: Tax Revenue as a Percent of GDP in Latin American and Caribbean Countries Is below the OECD Average

Taxes on goods and services were on average the greatest source of tax revenue for Latin American and Caribbean countries

State and Local Individual Income Tax Collections Per Capita

The individual income tax is one of the most significant sources of revenue for state and local governments, generating approximately 24 percent of state and local tax collections in FY 2018.

Federal Individual Income Tax: Exemptions and Treatment of Dividends (1913-2021)

Federal Capital Gains Tax Collections, Historical Data (1954-2018)

Corporate Investment Outweighs Federal Revenue Losses Since TCJA

The Biden administration has argued for raising the corporate tax rate to offset the drop in federal corporate revenues following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, claiming it did not lead to more corporate investment as advertised. Although corporate revenues did drop following this tax reform, the ensuing increase in corporate investment far exceeds these revenue losses.

Capital Gains Tax Rates in Europe, 2021