All Tax VOX
Who benefits from tax preferences? You do.Just about everyone benefits from tax preferences, Gleckman writes, a conclusion reaffirmed by a new Congressional Budget Office report on the distribution of tax expenditures.- Cut deductions to lower tax rates? Easier said than done.A major challenge facing tax reform that reduces itemized deductions to help pay for lower tax rates is that lots of middle-income people would lose at least some benefits, Gleckman writes.聽
Apple taxes: business as usualApple cut its taxes with the same tools multinationals have been using for years to minimize their worldwide tax liability, Gleckman writes. Apple鈥檚 tax avoidance shop, it seems, is a lot less innovative than its phone designers. 聽
Free the IRS from regulating political speechThe Supreme Court pushed the IRS into the morass of regulating political speech with its Citizens United decision. Congress needs to pull the IRS out of the political swamp.
IRS and the Tea Party: A small but bungling scandalThe IRS Tea Party scandal聽is a huge embarrassment for the IRS and likely to make it more difficult for the agency to police groups that have stepped over the political line, Gleckman writes. 聽But based on what we know so far, the IRS Tea Party debacle is no Watergate scandal.
Did the IRS illegally target the Tea Party? Seven questions answered.The IRS is under investigation for illegally targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups. Steuerle offers answers to seven basic questions about the IRS Tea Party scandal.
IRS was wrong to target Tea Party. What about other political groups?The IRS shouldn't have targeted the Tea Party, Gleckman writes. But the聽unsavory IRS actions should also shine a light on the law that gives tax-exempt status to political groups of all ideological stripes 鈥� not just the Tea Party.聽
Health cost growth slows. Time to rethink budget debate?If future medical costs continue to grow at their current low rate the federal budget will be in much better shape than most analysts thought, Gleckman writes. The slowdown in health spending growth聽is sure to drive the fiscal debate in some important and perhaps unexpected ways.
Want to understand tax reform? Read this report.The Joint Tax Committee鈥檚 Tax Reform Working Group Report is must-read material for聽tax geeks, or even normal people who want to keep up with the ongoing debate over tax reform, Gleckman writes.
How immigration policy impacts budget projectionsIf Congress allows more people into the United States, our population, labor force, and economy will all get bigger. With immigration policy up in the air, the economy's trajectory will be difficult to predict.聽
Tax reform: how to fix the international tax messCorporate tax reform is impossible without addressing international issues, Gleckman writes. Yet, this corner of the tax law is not only immensely complex but most proposed solutions inevitably run into massive political and policy roadblocks.
How to improve the tax subsidy for home ownershipIn spite of its widespread use and large fiscal cost, the mortgage interest deduction does little to promote home ownership, Toder writes. It provides no subsidy to the nearly two-thirds of taxpayers who do not itemize and only a modest subsidy to those in the 15 percent bracket.
Will Max Baucus retirement help tax reform? Don't count on it.Some believe the retirement of聽Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus will increase the likelihood of tax reform, but Gleckman argues his retirement may not result in a tax code rewrite.
Online sales tax is not a tax increase: Five things to knowThe Senate is close to passing a bill that would let states require online merchants to collect sales tax on their products. A few key myths about online sales tax, busted.聽
Online sales tax: Is it in our future?Online sales tax聽has growing bipartisan support among the nation鈥檚 governors, Francis writes, many of whom are strapped for tax revenues.
Taxes: Who would pay more under Obama budget?President Obama's 2014 budget would taxes on the highest-income American households, Gleckman writes, but middle-income households would also pay slightly more in taxes than under today鈥檚 law.
What happened to state tax reform?Months ago,聽several Republican governors proposed major tax reform plans, Gleckman writes, but聽by tax day, two of those governors had abandoned their tax reform plans. What happened?
How to simplify child-care tax benefitsCongress could simplify child-care tax benefits by harmonizing the maximum allowable expenses for both benefits, or eliminating one of the benefits altogether, Maag writes.
Obama budget: the plan to cap retirement savings benefitsPresident Obama's 2014 budget聽would limit tax benefits for workers with high-balance retirement saving accounts.聽The plan is a smart way to roll back the billions in tax breaks that go to investors who don鈥檛 need tax incentives to save for retirement, Harris writes.
Obama budget: How would the 'Buffett Rule' work?President Obama's 2014 budget proposal calls for a so-called 'Buffett Rule' that would ensure that high-income households pay at least a minimum percentage of their income in taxes.聽It turns out that setting a floor on the taxes rich people pay is not so easy, Williams writes.
