A Comparison of the Tax Burden on Labor in the OECD, 2024
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.
16 min read
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Simplifying Saving and Improving Financial Security through Universal Savings Accounts
Universal savings accounts would boost savings for low-income households, allowing them to better withstand economic shocks, such as pandemics and recessions, and plan for major expenses, such as an expanded family, education, and housing needs.
36 min read
Overview and Analysis of the Impact of Marginal Taxes on High Incomes in the European Union
The recent push to increase taxes on the wealthy has gained significant traction across Europe. This report highlights the obstacles and complex interplay between tax policy and economic behavior, suggesting that simply raising tax rates on the wealthy might not yield the intended social benefits.
42 min read
How the Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Harmed the Economy
The Section 232 tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum raised the cost of production for manufacturers, reducing employment in those industries, raising prices for consumers, and hurting exports.
18 min read
The Impact of BEPS 1.0
The global landscape of international corporate taxation is undergoing significant transformations as jurisdictions grapple with the difficulty of defining and apportioning corporate income for the purposes of tax.
22 min read
State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1, 2024
Thirty-four states will ring in the new year with notable tax changes, including 15 states cutting individual or corporate income taxes (and some cutting both).
17 min read
Modernization of the Alcohol Tax
An alcohol by volume (ABV) tax could replace the existing alcohol tax system. An ABV tax would make alcohol taxes simpler, more transparent, and substantially more neutral than the current system.
18 min read
Cannabis Taxation: Lessons Learned from U.S. States and a Blueprint for Nationwide Cannabis Tax Policy
Marijuana taxation is one of the hottest policy issues in the United States. Twenty-one states have implemented legislation to legalize and tax recreational marijuana sales.
16 min read
Cigarette Taxes and Cigarette Smuggling by State, 2021
People respond to incentives. As tax rates increase or products are banned from sale, consumers and producers search for ways around these penalties and restrictions.
17 min read
How Well Do Carbon Taxes Match Their Promise? A New Proposed Metric
While existing carbon taxes are a step towards the right direction in addressing climate change and incentivizing reductions in emissions, there is considerable room for improvement to reach the ideal theoretical carbon tax model.
59 min read
Testimony: The Costs and Complexity of the Federal Tax Code Demand Reform
Lawmakers should simplify the tax code so that taxpayers can understand the laws and the IRS can administer them with minimum cost and frustration.
Details and Analysis of Making the 2017 Tax Reforms Permanent
Lawmakers will have to weigh the economic, revenue, and distributional trade-offs of extending or making permanent the various provisions of the TCJA as they decide how to approach the upcoming expirations. A commitment to growth, opportunity, and fiscal responsibility should guide the approach.
18 min read
Marketplace Facilitator Laws: Past, Present, and a Better Future
The current patchwork of state laws taxing marketplace facilitators is complex, burdensome, and inefficient. States should work to resolve these issues and standardize the otherwise disparate requirements—with or without an inducement from Congress or the courts.
29 min read
Excise Taxes and Fees on Wireless Services Drop Slightly in 2023
To alleviate the regressive impact on wireless consumers, states should examine their existing communications tax structures and consider policies that transition their tax systems away from narrowly based wireless taxes and toward broad-based tax sources.
18 min read
2023 European Tax Policy Scorecard
The variety of approaches to taxation among European countries creates a need to evaluate these systems relative to each other. For that purpose, we have developed the European Tax Policy Scorecard—a relative comparison of European countries’ tax systems.
52 min read
International Tax Competitiveness Index 2023
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.
88 min read
Anti-Avoidance Policies in a Pillar Two World
The global minimum tax agreement known as Pillar Two is intended to curb profit shifting. However, OECD countries already have a variety of mechanisms in place that seek to prevent base erosion and profit shifting by multinational corporations.
40 min read
How Taxing Consumption Would Improve Long-Term Opportunity and Well-Being for Families and Children
Income taxes impose steeper economic costs, and often steeper administrative and compliance costs, than consumption taxes. Moving to a consumption tax would end the tax bias against saving and investment and provide an opportunity to greatly simplify anti-poverty programs embedded in the tax code.
45 min read
2023 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index
The 2023 Spanish Regional Tax Competitiveness Index allows policymakers and taxpayers to evaluate and measure how their regions’ tax systems compare.
6 min read
A Guide to the Fossil Fuel Provisions of the Biden Budget
One prominent feature of President Biden’s agenda on the environment is to target U.S. fossil fuel producers and production with nearly $97 billion in tax increases over the next decade.
16 min read