Tag Archives: taxes
Tax expenditures are (mostly) not loopholes.
The great value of Lori Montgomery’s Post story on tax expenditures — other than the fact that she uses data from my Pew colleagues at Subsidyscope – is that she debunks the myth that the cost of these preferences is … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Obama’s “Buffett Rule” is a better AMT than the current AMT.
The New York Times is reporting that President Obama will propose a new minimum tax rate for millionaires later this week, designed to ensure that upper-income filers pay at least the same proportion of their income as “middle-income taxpayers”, though … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
AEI on Progressive Consumption Taxation
If you’re following the deficit debate in Washington, chances are you’ve heard some ideas about tax reform. And if you’ve listened to some ideas about tax reform, chances are you’ve heard the words “progressive consumption tax.” But “progressive consumption tax” … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Taxes and Economic Growth, Cont.
Matt Yglesias and I agree on the importance of tax code efficiency, but I still have concerns about the impact of high tax burdens on the capital side of the economy. It’s an impact that could be mitigated but not … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Why is Our Income Tax So Progressive?
I’ve been reading with interest the interchange between the Tax Foundation’s Scott Hodge, Greg Mankiw, Matt Yglesias, Scott Sumner, Karl Smith and Reihan Salam over Hodge’s post using OECD data to argue that the United States had the most “progressive” … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Pew’s take on Peter Orszag
Former OMB director Peter Orszag has an op-ed in today’s Times pushing a 2-year extension of the 2001/2003 tax cuts as a compromise. Auspiciously, Pew just updated its cost estimates of different policies surrounding these cuts. The 2-year full extension … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Tax Policy Center: Wyden-Gregg More Expensive, Progressive Than Obama Budget
It seems like Congress never wants for pie-in-the-sky tax reform ideas. Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future. The National Sales Tax. The Fair Tax. The Hall-Rabushka Flat Tax. And my personal favorite, the Automated Payment Transaction Tax. The Wyden-Gregg tax … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
A word about "Hauser's Law"…
The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by David Ranson several days ago making the case for "Hauser’s Law", the observation credited with Hoover Institution fellow W. Kurt Hauser that the U.S. federal tax system reaches a collection ceiling at … Continue reading
USA Today Gets Their Tax Numbers Wrong
There is an article in the Business section of USA Today that’s gotten some play: “Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950.” Here’s a quote: Federal, state and local taxes — including income, property, sales and other taxes … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
Do Progressive Taxes Increase Inequality?
Felix Salmon, who’s been a top notch writer on the financial crisis, makes the case that when a progressive income tax system is in place, the government has a self-interest in fostering plutocrats: Remember too that when you have a … Continue reading
Filed under Economics
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