Taxes

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

Starting next year, firms will need to amortize their research and development (R&D) expenses over five years rather than immediately deduct them from taxable income, a policy change designed to raise federal tax revenue in the short term. As policymakers decide on the future of this scheduled tax change, one option would be to delay

This map shows state gas tax rates as of July 2021, using recently released data from the American Petroleum Institute. States levy gas taxes in a variety of ways, including per-gallon excise taxes collected at the pump, excise taxes imposed on wholesalers (which are passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices), and sales taxes that apply

The families of roughly 60 million children received their first installment of the enhanced Child Tax Credit payments on July 15. We’re here to bust some of the common misconceptions surrounding the payments. 1. You can keep these payments. Many families have expressed concern over keeping the money fearing they’ll have to pay it back

Policymakers broadly agree that investments by the federal government in highways, mass transit, and other modes of transportation are crucial to facilitate the nation’s economic activity, but they can’t seem to agree on how to fund such investments. The current debate is over corporate income taxes, and therein lies the problem. The standard approach long

Over the past few weeks the media has reported on how wealthy taxpayers who own sports teams lower their tax liability by deducting the cost of purchasing a sports team over 15 years. Contrary to claims that deducting the cost of a sports team from taxable income is a “loophole,” such deductions are a normal

The District of Columbia weathered the pandemic with stable tax collections, down only less than 1 percent in FY 2020 while recovering above pre-pandemic levels in FY 2021. Yet, even as lawmakers in eleven states have cut income taxes this year, the D.C. Council has responded to surpluses and growth by voting to include substantial

Last month, the Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), allowing to stand the Individual Mandate it created that penalizes taxpayers for not having proper health insurance and opening the way for President Biden and Congress to reimplement it. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data from 2014 through 2018 shows that

While sales tax holidays have been politically popular for a long time, they’ve seen a boost with lawmakers in several states this year as a way to share unanticipated surpluses with taxpayers. Although state budgets may be in unusual places this year, sales tax holidays remain the same as they always have been—ineffective and inefficient.

Under a territorial tax system, multinational businesses primarily pay taxes to the countries in which they are physically located and earn their income. This means that territorial tax regimes do not generally tax the income companies earn in foreign countries. A worldwide tax system, on the other hand—such as the system previously employed by the

Eleven states have enacted laws this year to reduce income tax rates, in most cases paired with other structurally sound tax reforms. If North Carolina state senators get their way, their state will be the twelfth—and perhaps the most significant to date. On June 10, 2021, the North Carolina Senate passed House Bill 334 with

In the United States, tobacco is taxed at both the federal and state and sometimes even local levels. These layers of taxes often result in very high levels of taxation—the highest of any consumer item. The retail price of cigarettes, for instance, is more than 40 percent taxes on average. In some states, like Minnesota

Job creation tax credits. Investment tax credits. Research and development tax credits. Payroll withholding tax rebates. Property tax abatements. Those are just five of the major categories of tax incentives states offer with the goal of encouraging new investment and economic development in their state. Nearly all states offer at least one of those major