Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Congressional News
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TIGTA to Investigate Whether IRS Improperly Steered $500 Million in Contracts to Computer Company
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has agreed to investigate whether an IRS employee improperly steered more than $500 million in government contracts to Signet Computers, after receiving this letter from House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrell Issa. Washington Post, House Committee Investigating $500 Million in Contracts Between IRS, Computer Company:…
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Harry Reid Hires G.E. Lawyer as Chief Tax Adviser
New York Times DealBook: A Revolving Door in Washington With Spin, but Less Visibility, by Jesse Eisinger (ProPublica): Obsess all you’d like about President Obama’s nomination of Mary Jo White to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Who heads the agency is vital, but important fights in Washington are happening in quiet rooms, away from…
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CBO Rejects GOP Charge That It Slanted Report on Taxing U.S. Multinational Corporations
The Congressional Budget Office yesterday doubled down on its report, Options for Taxing U.S. Multinational Corporations, in response to a January 24, 2013 letter from House Ways & Means Chair Dave Camp charging that the report was "heavily slanted and biased": This letter responds to concerns you raised about the CBO's report, Options for Taxing…
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House Holds Hearing Today on Tax Reform and Charitable Contributions
The House Ways & Means Committee holds a hearing today on Tax Reform and Charitable Contributions: The hearing will examine the itemized deduction for charitable contributions as part of the Committee’s work on comprehensive tax reform. It also will receive testimony from witnesses on previous proposals to modify the deduction and its value. In connection…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Tax Expenditure Estimates for 2012-17
The Joint Committee on Taxation has released Estimate of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2012-2017 (JCS-1-13): Tax expenditure analysis can help both policymakers and the public to understand the actual size of government, the uses to which government resources are put, and the tax and economic policy consequences that follow from the implicit or…
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CBO: Refundable Tax Credits
Congressional Budget Office, Refundable Tax Credits: The number and total costs of the refundable credits in the income tax system have grown considerably since 1975. The number of credits peaked at 11 in 2010 before dropping to 6 in 2013 (see Figure 1). Their total costs (that is, the reduction in revenues and the increase…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases List of Expiring Federal Tax Provisions, 2013-2023
The Joint Committee on Taxation has released List of Expiring Federal Tax Provisions 2013-2023 (JCX-3-13): This document … provides a listing of Federal tax provisions (other than those providing time-limited transition relief after the repeal of an underlying rule) that are currently scheduled to expire in 2013-2023 (with references to the applicable section of the…
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Tax Foundation Gives F Grade to CRS Report on Tax Rates and Economic Growth
Tax Foundation: CRS Study on Tax Rates and Growth Still Flunks the Test, by Stephen J. Entin: Studies issued by the Congressional Research Service are intended to inform the Congress as it develops public policy and enacts legislation. A recent CRS publication on the effect of the top statutory tax rates on economic activity [Taxes…
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GAO: Evaluating Tax Expenditures
The Government Accountability Office has released Tax Expenditures: Background and Evaluation Criteria and Questions (GAO-13-167SP): Tax expenditures are reductions in a taxpayer's tax liability that are the result of special exemptions and exclusions from taxation, deductions, credits, deferrals of tax liability, or preferential tax rates. Similar to spending programs, tax expenditures represent a substantial federal…
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CBO: Options for Taxing U.S. Multinational Corporations
Congressional Budget Office, Options for Taxing U.S. Multinational Corporations: In 2008, 12% of all federal revenues came from corporate income taxes; about half was paid by multinational corporations reporting income from foreign countries. How the federal government taxes U.S. multinational corporations has consequences for the U.S. economy overall as well as for the federal budget.…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Overview of the Federal Tax System as in Effect for 2013
The Joint Committee on Taxation today released Overview of the Federal Tax System as in Effect for 2013 (JCX-2-13): This document … provides a summary of the present-law Federal tax system as in effect for 2013. The current Federal tax system has four main elements: (1) an income tax on individuals and corporations (which consists…
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House Approves Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal
The House last night approved H.R. 8 by a vote of 257-167 to avert the fiscal cliff. The bill now goes to the White House for President Obama's signature. Highlights of the bill include: Raise the marginal tax rate to 39.6% on income over $450,000 (joint) and $400,000 (single). Raise the tax rate on dividends…
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CRS Re-issues Report: Tax Rates on Rich Have ‘Negligible’ Effect on Economic Growth
The Congressional Research Service has reissued a report on tax rates and the economic growth after it was pulled in response to Republican criticism: Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945 (Updated) (R42729) (Sept. 14, 2012). Huffington Post, High-End Tax Hikes Would Have ‘Negligible’ Impact On Growth, Revised CRS…
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Senator Coburn Releases Ten Tax Expenditure Reforms
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has released Ten Tax Expenditure Reforms & Eliminations: $315 Billion Over Ten Years: The tax code is long overdue for comprehensive restructuring. Yet, instead of considering broad reform to simplify the code and lower rates, Washington continues to exacerbate the problem—doling out tax breaks and subsidies in the form of tax…
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Senate Holds Hearing Today on Tax Policy and Energy Efficiency
The Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure of the Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing today on Tax Reform and Federal Energy Policy: Incentives to Promote Energy Efficiency: Dan Arvizu (Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO) Steve Nadel (Executive Director, American Council for an Energy- Efficient Economy, Washington, D.C.) Mark F. Wagner (Vice…
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Republican Staff Study: CRS Report on Tax Rates Is Flawed
Joint Economic Committee Republican Staff Analysis, Historical Tax Rates: Rhetoric vs. Reality (Nov. 14, 2012): A recent report by the Congressional Research Service claims that changing the top statutory individual income tax rate has little or no effect on economic growth. To support this claim, the CRS report compares the top rates from 1945 through…
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Open CRS Releases Tax Reports
Constitutionality of Retroactive Tax Legislation (R42791) (Oct. 25, 2012) The Impact of the Federal Estate Tax on State Estate Taxes (R42788) (Oct. 24, 2012) Carbon Tax: Deficit Reduction and Other Considerations (R42731) (Sept. 17, 2012) Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945 (R42729) (Sept. 14, 2012) Tax Rates…
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CBO: Taxation of Owner-Occupied and Rental Housing
The Congressional Budget Office today released Taxation of Owner-Occupied and Rental Housing: This paper illustrates how the different tax treatments of owner-occupied and rented houses affect the relative costs of owning and renting. In the examples, a representative landlord computes the rental rate (the ratio of the rent to the value of the house) required to…
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Dems, GOP Trade Barbs After CRS Pulls Report on Tax Rates and Economic Growth
New York Times: Nonpartisan Tax Report Withdrawn After GOP Protest: The Congressional Research Service has withdrawn an economic report [Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945 (R42729) (Sept. 14, 2012), by Thomas L. Hungerford] that found no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth, a central tenet of…
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Joint Tax Committee: Repealing Deductions Pays for 4% Tax Rate Cut (Not 20% Claimed by Romney)
The Joint Committee on Taxation yesterday released a report throwing water on the possibility of reducing tax rates by eliminating tax expenditures. The report assumes that Congress allows today's reduced rates to rise in January and concludes that the elimination of certain provisions (the AMT; limitations on itemized deductions and personal exemptions for certain taxpayers;…
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Jost: ObamaCare Authorizes IRS Rule Expanding Premium Tax Credits
Timothy Stoltzfus Jost (Washington & Lee), The Internal Revenue Service’s Implementation and Administration of the Democrat’s Health Care Law: In a widely publicized paper, Jonathan Adler and Michael Cannon claim that the Affordable Care Act does not authorize federal exchanges to offer premium tax credits and that an IRS rule allowing them to do so…
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CBO: The Taxation of Capital and Labor Through the Self-Employment Tax
The Congressional Budget Office yesterday released The Taxation of Capital and Labor Through the Self-Employment Tax: The Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) tax is paid mainly by certain small business owners. That tax on sole proprietors and owners of partnerships is often characterized as one that parallels the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax that employers and…
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NY Attorney General Refuses to Back Off Investigation of 501(c)(4) Groups
Following up on last week's post, Camp, Hatch Call on NY AG to Back Off Investigation Into 501(c)(4) Groups: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent this letter to the top Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee informing him that he will not back down in his investigation of…
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House and Senate Hold Joint Hearing Today on Tax Reform and Capital Gains
The House Ways & Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee hold a rare Joint Hearing today on Tax Reform and the Tax Treatment of Capital Gains: The hearing will focus on the taxation of capital gains in the context of comprehensive tax reform. It will explore several tax reform policy issues relating to the treatment…
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Senate Holds Hearing Today on Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs holds a hearing today on Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code: The Subcommittee will examine the shifting of profits offshore by U.S. multinational corporations and how such activities are affected by the Internal Revenue Code and related regulations.…