Individual and Consumption Taxes

Comparing Europe’s Tax Systems: Property Taxes

Ranking Individual Income Taxes on the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index

IRS Signals Approval of Entity-Level SALT Cap Workaround, But States Should Still Think Twice

New Jersey May Be the First State Without an Excise Tax Levy on Recreational Marijuana

New Jersey’s tax design adds another element to the ongoing experiment with legal recreational marijuana in the states.

Prospects for Federal Tax Policy After the 2020 Election

President Biden and Congress should concentrate on areas of common ground, finding incremental places to improve the tax code. A bipartisan bill recently introduced to help retirement savings is a good model for what incremental reform may look like.

Comparing Europe’s Tax Systems: Consumption Taxes

How do consumption tax codes compare among European OECD countries? Explore our new map to see how consumption tax systems in Europe compare.

Election Analysis: California and Colorado Voters Resist Temptation to Shift More of Property Tax Burden to Businesses

In Tuesday’s election, voters in two states—California and Colorado—were tasked with deciding whether to amend their states’ constitution to change how the property tax burden is distributed. In many ways, the ballot measures were mirror images of each other, but the outcomes were similar.

Election Analysis: Why Voters Split the Difference on Income Tax Measures

Illinois voters rejected a high graduated rate income tax (“Fair Tax”) while Arizonans embraced a large income tax rate increase for high earners, among the many attention-grabbing results from Tuesday’s elections.

Election Analysis: Recreational Marijuana Now Legal in Four More States

Voters in four states, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota, approved ballot measures legalizing recreational marijuana.

Results of 2020 State and Local Tax Ballot Measures

See the results of the most notable state and local tax ballot measures during Election 2020 with our curated resource page.

Biden’s Call for More Tax Credits Further Complicates the Tax Code

Over the course of the 2020 presidential election campaign, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has proposed new tax credits for health insurance, child care, elderly care, and homeownership, in addition to expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Bipartisan House Bill Introduced to Further Encourage Retirement Savings

The Securing a Strong Retirement Act seeks to encourage retirement savings by simplifying and expanding the use of different types of retirement accounts.

Spain’s Recovery Budget Comes with Tax Hikes

While other countries in Europe are working towards introducing tax cuts and stimulating economic recovery by supporting business investment and employment, Spain is putting more fiscal pressure on households and businesses.

A Preliminary Look at 2019 Tax Data for Individuals

The latest IRS data continues to illustrate that the net effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was to reduce effective tax rates across income groups. In 2019, the TCJA again expanded the use of several deductions and credits, made the standard deduction more favorable than itemizing, and lowered taxes for most taxpayers.

The Unintended Consequences of Higher Corporate Taxes on Income Inequality

Increasing the corporate tax rate is often offered as a solution to income inequality because higher-income individuals tend to own more corporate shares than others and may bear the burden of a tax increase on corporate income.

Comparing Europe’s Tax Systems: Individual Taxes

How do individual income tax codes compare among European OECD countries? Explore our new map to see how individual income tax systems in Europe compare.

Tax Treatment of Groceries, Candy, and Soda Can Get Tricky

Even in 2020, jack-o’-lanterns and fake skeletons have popped up in neighborhoods as they do every October, although Halloween may look and play out differently this time around.

Zoom Calls Not a Taxing Matter

Zoom Video Communications announced that, come November, the company will start collecting and remitting local utility and communications taxes in California, New York, Maryland, and Virginia.

2021 Tax Brackets

The IRS recently released the new 2021 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.

2020 State Tax Ballot Initiatives and the Future of State Tax Policy

They may not draw as much attention as elections for office, but Election Day 2020 will also feature a number of important votes on tax-related ballot initiatives in states around the country. What are the ballot measures taxpayers should be paying attention to this year and what could they mean for the future of state tax policy? Tax Foundation Vice President of State Projects Jared Walczak and Senior Policy Analyst Katherine Loughead break down measures ranging from recreational marijuana legalization in New Jersey and Montana to income tax increases in Illinois and Arizona.