All Tax VOX
Welfare, subsidies, and tax credits: words that shape the deficit debateIn much public discourse, direct government aid for the poor is easily dismissed by the pejorative 鈥渨elfare,鈥� Gleckman writes, but spending-like subsidies administered through the revenue code provoke far less outrage.
How to simplify the tax code in 2013Making the tax code less complicated and more efficient may not achieve the rate-cutting, base-broadening reform many want, Gleckman writes,聽but it can have important consequences for real people.
Bowles-Simpson II: a new plan to avoid the sequesterThe Bowles-Simpson聽framework seems a plausible alternative to the current game of sequester-and-gridlock, Gleckman writes.
Congress makes bipartisan push for online sales taxRepublicans and Democrats have signed on to legislation that would allow states to collect taxes on what consumers buy over the Internet.聽The measure would finally resolve a decades-old dispute over whether states can collect sales taxes on mail-order and online purchases, Francis writes.
A new marriage penalty for the richNew Medicare payroll tax could cost high income couples as much as $1,350 in extra tax. But some couples will get a tax break.
Spending cuts: five reasons allowing sequestration is bad policySpending cuts will begin to automatically take effect in two weeks, Harris writes, and allowing the sequester's automatic spending cuts to happen would be terrible policy.
Why welfare, food stamps, and other programs often discourage workFood stamps, welfare, Medicaid and other tax and transfer systems can sometimes penalize people for earning that extra dollar of income, Steuerle writes.
Valentine's Day 2013: love and taxes after the 'fiscal cliff'Just in time for Valentine鈥檚 Day, the Tax Policy Center has updated its marriage bonus and penalty calculator to reflect the provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Williams聽discusses three tax provisions that will increase marriage penalties a lot in 2013 for many high-income couples.
Obama's State of the Union and the great deficit debateIn his State of the Union address Tuesday, Obama continued to express a willingness to slow the growth of Medicare, but only around the edges, Gleckman writes.聽
State of the Union address: Can Obama pull off corporate tax reform?President Barack Obama's State of the Union address will likely touch on tax reform, Gleckman writes,聽but it remains to be seen whether even corporate reform is possible in 2013.
What you should know about the budget outlookGale offers three reactions to聽the Congressional Budget Office's聽latest Budget and Economic Outlook.聽While we do not face an imminent budget crisis, Gale writes, the data in the Outlook imply that we are not out of the woods.
A permanent estate tax for the wealthy fewThe federal estate tax is finally permanent, Williams writes, although聽fewer than one in 700 estates will owe estate tax in 2013.
Immigration debate: a reason to separate work and family tax creditsWork and family tax credits are needlessly complex for immigrant families whose children's legal status and residency determine their eligibility those credits, Maag writes.
Can the income tax fund the government we want?The income tax鈥檚 ever-narrowing base simply cannot support the nation鈥檚 spending demands, Gleckman writes.
The drawbacks of using states as tax-reform laboratoriesWith Washington apparently stuck in gear on taxes, it may be tempting to see the states as leading a way to reform, Gordon writes, but the idea of states as laboratories for federal tax reform is fundamentally flawed.聽
Why the IRS should tax equity fund profits as ordinary incomeBusiness profits should be taxed as ordinary income, Rosenthal writes, and private equity funds are the same as other businesses, in that they deploy capital, labor, and other inputs to make their profits.- The risks of aiming low in deficit reductionSome on the left are defining successful deficit reduction too modestly, Penner writes,聽threatening to leave future fiscal policy perilously constrained.
The investment tax plan: implications for lower rates on capital gains?House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp's investment tax plan聽implicitly challenges our most basic and firmly held beliefs about why we tax investment gains the way we do, Sanchirico writes.
Payroll tax cuts may boost the economy more than you thinkPayroll tax cuts might play a bigger role than many thought in reversing economic slumps, Gleckman writes, according to new research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The burden of choice weighs on the tax systemThe current taxation of derivatives is complicated and inconsistent, Rosenthal writes.聽Investors often use these tax differences to manipulate the character, timing, or source of their income to reduce their tax liability, he adds.
