Will Boehner try to build bridges before leaving office?
Speaker of the House John Boehner resigns.聽His resignation鈥攊n the wake of a conservative effort to overthrow him鈥攊ncreases the chances that Congress will fund the government at current levels through December 11 and聽聽this week. The Senate plans to approve a 10-week continuing resolution today. The biq question is what happens next: Will Boehner try to cut bipartisan deals on spending and the debt limit before he leaves at the end of October? Or will the House sink further into its ideological morass? Second verse, same as the first.
GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio proposes a tax incentive for paid family leave.The Florida Senator would give a聽聽to businesses that offer workers between four and 12 weeks of paid leave. His example: If a business gives its employee $1,600 for four weeks of leave, the firm would receive a $400 tax credit. The聽聽at $4,000 per worker.
In Michigan, just a few more days of 鈥渢ax-free鈥� online shopping.聽The state鈥檚 Main Street Fairness law goes into effect on October 1. Online retailers聽with a physical聽presence in the state, such as Amazon,聽聽a 6 percent sales tax on all purchases made by聽Michigan shoppers. This should generate $50-$60 million in annual revenue. It will also make it impossible for many of the state鈥檚 online shoppers to聽.
Popular, but not paid for: State tax triggers.聽TPC鈥檚 Norton聽聽state policymakers who link tax cuts to 鈥渢riggers鈥� as a way to avoid covering their costs. Backers say they make sense: Cuts only happen if there鈥檚 revenue to offset them. But too often policymakers tie the tax cuts to revenue projections. If future budgets can鈥檛 accommodate the tax cuts, the burden falls on future legislators to fix the problem. Their unpleasant choices: Find money by cutting spending or raising other taxes, or roll back the tax cut.
How low can a tax rate go?听罢丑别听, a canton of Switzerland, haven鈥檛 increased significantly in 40 years. Companies and celebrities have made the most of its well-known low tax rates, but the party may be about to end.聽 The local government has a new plan to slash its deficit over the next four years that聽 may include a tax increase. This year, a single taxpayer in Zug pays a top tax rate of 22.9 percent. That鈥檚 less than half what they pay in Scandinavia.
US taxpayers, you think you have it bad?聽Some US politicians decry the complexity of the US tax code and call for simplicity (), but it could be worse. A Brazilian tax attorney named Vinicios Leoncio spent 23 years writing a 41,200-page book, called聽Beloved Homeland,听迟丑补迟听. He argues that the law limits Brazil鈥檚 ability to manage economic crises and exacerbates income inequality. What would a South American Rand Paul do?
TPC鈥檚 call for papers.聽Propose a聽聽for TPC鈥檚 next research conference with the IRS, scheduled for June 23, 2016. Topics could include measuring and influencing taxpayer compliance, estimating taxpayer compliance costs, tax complexity, improving tax administration, or understanding the nature and behavior of the taxpayer population. Proposals are due December 1, and papers are due May 19, 2016.
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