Interesting observations in the tax prof blogosphere:
- Dan Shaviro (NYU) has some inside info about the forthcoming recommendations from the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform:
Reportedly (a little birdie told me), some people more in the know than I am are betting that the Tax Reform Commission will endorse neither the X-tax, which I would favor, nor the Graetz model, on which I’ve made my views clear, but rather will propose making various changes to the current income tax system. Some of the main possible features that I have heard about (plus my comments on them) are as follows:
- Exemption for capital income plus elimination of interest deductibility.
- Replace personal exemptions with a single, unified child tax credit.
- Replace various itemized deductions, such as those for charitable contributions and home mortgage interest, with percentage credits.
- A $10,000 cap on the exclusion for employer-provided health insurance.
- Vic Fleischer (UCLA) "share[s] Dan’s skepticism that any of this will go anywhere in the near term. But it may set the table for future debates and a move to a consumption tax by 2015 or so."
- Vic Fleischer (UCLA) answers the question: Do tax profs set their research agendas to "fulfill personal meaning"?
