All corporate income taxes fall on capital investment, but the structure should not make matters worse, and policymakers should take care not to distort investment decisions through the use of targeted incentives for select firms or activities instead of a lower rate for all businesses.
2 min read
France’s individual income tax system is the least competitive among OECD countries. France’s top marginal tax rate of 45.9 percent is applied at 14.7 times the average national income. Additionally, a 9.7 surtax is applied to those at the upper end of the income distribution. Capital gains and dividends are both taxed at comparably high top rates of 34 percent.
2 min read
Recreational marijuana taxation is one of the hottest policy issues in the U.S. Currently, 19 states have implemented legislation to legalize and tax recreational marijuana sales.
5 min read
While supporters of the federal estate tax may be correct that only a fraction of estate tax returns eventually pays the estate tax, IRS data shows that it disproportionately impacts estates tied to successful privately owned businesses. Thus, it acts as a second or third layer of federal tax on these successful businesses over the owners’ lifetime.
9 min read
According to the corporate tax component of the 2022 International Tax Competitiveness Index, Latvia and Estonia have the best corporate tax systems in the OECD.
3 min read
The IRS recently released the new inflation adjusted 2023 tax brackets and rates. Explore updated credits, deductions, and exemptions, including the standard deduction & personal exemption, Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), capital gains brackets, qualified business income deduction (199A), and the annual exclusion for gifts.
4 min read
IRS and Census data show that people and businesses favor states with low and structurally sound tax systems, which can impact the state’s economic growth and governmental coffers.
12 min read
It’s unlikely these implemented and proposed windfall taxes will achieve their goals of addressing high gas and energy prices and raising additional revenues. They would more likely raise prices, penalize domestic production, and punitively target certain industries without a sound tax base.
9 min read
When examining tax burdens on businesses, it is important to consider both federal and state corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are one of the most economically damaging ways to raise revenue and are a promising area of reform for states to increase competitiveness and promote economic growth, benefiting both companies and workers.
2 min read
Carryover tax provisions help businesses “smooth” their risk and income, making the tax code more neutral across investments and over time.
4 min read
Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local government and generating state-level revenue in some states as well.
5 min read
With continued concerns over inflation, individuals may be wondering how their tax bills will be impacted. Less than half of OECD countries in Europe automatically adjust income tax brackets for inflation every year.
2 min read
Tennessee, Alaska, Hawaii, and Kentucky levy the highest beer excise tax rates in the nation. How does your state compare?
3 min read
The mix of tax sources states choose can have important implications for both revenue stability and economic growth, and the many variations across states are indicative of the different ways states weigh competing policy goals.
29 min read
Patent box regimes (also referred to as intellectual property, or IP, regimes) provide lower effective tax rates on income derived from IP. Most commonly, eligible types of IP are patents and software copyrights. Currently, 13 of the 27 EU member states have a patent box regime.
4 min read
A marriage penalty exists when a state’s income brackets for married taxpayers filing jointly are less than double the bracket widths that apply to single filers. In other words, married couples who file jointly under this scenario have a higher effective tax rate than they would if they filed as two single individuals with the same amount of combined income.
2 min read
About half of all European OECD countries have either announced, proposed, or implemented a digital services tax.
4 min read
However well-intended they may be, sales tax holidays remain the same as they always have been—ineffective and inefficient.
43 min read
’Tis the season to crack open a cold one. Ahead of International Beer Day on August 5th, let’s take a minute to discover how much of your cash is actually going toward the cost of a brew with this week’s tax map, which explores excise duties on beer.
3 min read
Reviewing reported income helps to understand the composition of the federal government’s revenue base and how Americans earn their taxable income. The individual income tax, the federal government’s largest source of revenue, is largely a tax on labor.
10 min read