One relatively easy but meaningful step policymakers can take to make future tax seasons less burdensome is to modernize their state’s nonresident income tax filing, withholding, and reciprocity laws.
7 min read
Despite taxes playing a significant role in personal finances and being levied on a sizable portion of the U.S. population, most Americans are not just unhappy with the current tax code but also do not understand it.
4 min read
President Biden is proposing extraordinarily large tax hikes on businesses and the top 1 percent of earners that would put the U.S. in a distinctly uncompetitive international position and threaten the health of the U.S. economy.
19 min read
Reforming economic nexus thresholds would not only be better for businesses but for states as well. It is more cost-effective for states to focus on—and simplify—compliance for a reasonable number of sellers than to impose rules that have low compliance and are costly to administer.
4 min read
Designing tax policy in a way that sustainably finances government activities while minimizing distortions is important for supporting a productive economy.
3 min read
Short FormDon’t be fooled by tax myths and misconceptions this tax filing season.
3 min read
Short FormWorking from home is great. The tax complications? Not so much.
4 min read
Sales taxes go beyond a few extra bucks at the register. It’s not just about what you pay, but who pays. What are the implications of state sales tax bases across the U.S.?
We’re exploring the intricacies of the latest congressional act stirring up Washington—The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024.
The House Ways and Means Committee has advanced a tax deal to the House floor that would temporarily—and retroactively—restore two major business deductions for cost recovery and expand the child tax credit through 2025.
10 min read
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
Americans are saving less. While the U.S. saving rate has regularly lagged behind its peers, it has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Increasingly, people are turning to credit cards to fill the gaps in their budgets.
Explore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2024 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2025.
4 min read
Lawmakers should simplify the tax code so that taxpayers can understand the laws and the IRS can administer them with minimum cost and frustration.
36 min read
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
The latest tax gap report from the IRS has generated much media attention—and much misunderstanding.
6 min read
In recognition of the fact that there are better and worse ways to raise revenue, our Index focuses on how state tax revenue is raised, not how much. The rankings, therefore, reflect how well states structure their tax systems.
111 min read
Outside of the pandemic years, this year’s federal deficit is the highest in U.S. history. While tax revenue has increased about 28 percent since the pre-pandemic year 2019, spending has increased about 46 percent. Annual deficits are headed towards $3 trillion over the next few years.
3 min read
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
Simplicity in the tax code means taxes should be easy for taxpayers to pay and easy for governments to administer and collect.