Taxes

This week’s map shows the five states that have an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in their individual income tax codes: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, and Minnesota. Under an individual alternative minimum tax, many taxpayers are required to calculate their income tax liability under two systems and pay the higher amount. The federal AMT was created in 1963, after Congress

Recent Biden administration proposals rely heavily on revenue from better Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax collections to fund spending initiatives. The American Families Plan uses several avenues to reduce the tax gap (or the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed), from increasing the IRS’s tax enforcement budget to improving information technology and expanding reporting

August 15th was the deadline to take advantage of the premium tax credits (PTC) originally provided in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and recently expanded in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Future extensions may provide longer-lasting benefits, although the extensions may create trade-offs for consumer choice and program costs. The ACA provided a refundable

Tackling climate change and shifting the economy towards renewable energy has been a key part of the Biden administration’s agenda.  However, this effort must first confront an overly complicated and non-neutral tax code, particularly in how it treats nuclear energy, for the White House to reach its ambitious goal of a 100 percent clean energy

Within the last year, the median sales price of houses sold in the United States rose by 16.2 percent while sales of new single-family houses dropped by 19.4 percent, an indication that demand for housing continues to outpace supply. While President Biden has many proposals aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing, including tax

To facilitate and foster cross-border trade and to prevent significant competitive distortions, the European Union requires EU countries to levy a minimum excise duty of €0.36 per liter (US $1.55 per gallon) on gas. As today’s map shows, only Bulgaria and Hungary stick to the minimum rate, while all other EU countries opt to levy

This week’s map showcases states which levy alternative minimum taxes (AMTs) to prevent corporations from reducing their corporate income tax liability beyond a certain level. Under an AMT, corporations are required to calculate their income tax liability under two systems and pay the higher amount. This requirement under the federal AMT imposed steep compliance costs

Last week the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released an updated list of “Harmful Tax Practices” that have been identified as part of a country peer review process. One notable element of the recent list states that the United States has committed to abolish the deduction for Foreign Derived Intangible Income (FDII). However,

Binyamin Applebaum of The New York Times recently authored an op-ed calling for the adoption of return-free filing. Under return-free filing, many taxpayers would receive an already-completed return that they could amend. It’s an appealing idea, but for it to deliver its promised benefits, the U.S. tax code would have to be much simpler. The

Critics of depreciation deductions for business expenses in the tax code occasionally argue that assets that can go up in value, like structures or sports teams, should not receive the same depreciation deductions as assets that decline in value. That criticism is driven by a deeper dispute over whether businesses should be taxed on the

One of the proposals in Congress’ eclectic grab-bag of payfors in the bipartisan infrastructure package is an effort to curb tax evasion in cryptocurrency by imposing a series of reporting requirements on the industry. While it makes sense to ensure cryptocurrency transactions are treated similarly to other financial assets, the nature of these requirements as

With several states contemplating legalization of recreational marijuana, and federal lawmakers starting the process of federal descheduling, it is a good time to examine the tax implications of legalization. Taxes play a crucial role in the success of marijuana reform, as competitive prices in a licensed market are key to convert illicit consumption to the

Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its annual analysis of the distribution of American household incomes and tax burdens, this time for 2018, the year after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was enacted. CBO data shows that the TCJA reduced federal tax rates for households across every income level while increasing the

Today’s map zeroes in on states that have a “marriage penalty” in their individual income tax brackets. Under a graduated-rate income tax system, a taxpayer’s marginal income is subject to progressively higher tax rates. A marriage penalty exists when a state’s income brackets for married taxpayers filing jointly are less than double the bracket widths that

The Biden administration’s proposals to increase transfer payments and expand federal benefits in many ways resemble the social safety net policies of Scandinavian countries. To fully follow the Scandinavian model would require additional taxes that place a higher burden on middle-income earners, but instead, Biden proposes higher taxes on corporations and households making more than

A vehicle miles traveled (VMT) proposal gaining steam in Pennsylvania would be the equivalent of a state gas tax of more than $2 per gallon, and that’s not all the Commonwealth is considering. With infrastructure spending and taxation—both state and federal—the topics of the day, Pennsylvania’s recently appointed Transportation Revenue Options Commis­sion (TROC) has published

It appears that the recent dip in corporate tax collections, which the Biden administration has noted for concern and justification for increasing the corporate tax rate among other proposals to raise taxes on corporations, was largely due to temporary factors related to the pandemic rather than the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts (TCJA) of 2017.

Louisiana legislators passed a tax reform plan that has received overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, but voters will get the ultimate say on whether that plan succeeds. In light of this, it may be valuable to walk through what is included in these reforms and what effect the changes will have on

This is the beginning of a map series in which we’ll explore different types of excise taxes throughout Europe, starting with excise duties on beer. According to EU law, every EU country is required to levy an excise duty on beer of at least €1.87 per 100 liters (26.4 gal) and degree of alcohol content, translating

The Senate has begun deliberations over a bipartisan plan to provide $550 billion in new spending for a wide range of infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, public transit, broadband, and the electrical grid. The good news is that lawmakers avoided raising taxes to cover the cost of the new spending and instead used some reasonable