Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Gov’t Reports
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Congressional Research Service Releases Report on Section 527 Groups
The Congressional Research Service has released Political Organizations Under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code (RS21716), also available on the Tax Analysts web site as Doc 2005-3455, 2005 TNT 34-44. Here is the Summary: Political organizations have the primary purpose of influencing federal, state, or local elections and conducting similar activities. Those that qualify…
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Tax Reform of Short-Term Residential Rentals
The Congressional Research Service has released Tax Treatment of Short Term Residential Rentals — Reform Proposal (RS22052), also available on the Tax Analysts web site as Doc 2005-3301, 2005 TNT 33-47. Here is the Summary: Generally, taxable income has included rental income from real property. However, an exclusion for de minimis rental income (from the…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Background Information
The Joint Committee on Taxation has released Background Information Relating To The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCX-2-05). Here is the opening: The Joint Committee on Taxation (“JCT”) was established under the Revenue Act of 1926 and is one of the oldest joint committees of the Congress. It is composed of five Members of the House…
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GAO Report on Tax System Challenges in the 21st Century
The General Accounting Office has released 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government. Pages 76-81 discuss Tax System Challenges in the 21st Century. Here is the opening: American taxpayers paid about $1.9 trillion in combined federal taxes, including income, payroll, and excise taxes, in fiscal year 2004. These taxes, along with over…
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CBO Releases Report on Revenue Effects of 53 Potential Tax Changes
The Congressional Budget Office yesterday released Budget Options (364 pages), its annual report on options for altering federal spending and revenue. See here for its 80-page section on Revenue Options, which explains the estimated revenue effects of 53 potential tax changes: Marginal Individual Income Tax Rates Option 1: Raise Marginal Tax Rates for Individuals…
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Senate Committee Report Takes Aim at Tax Shelter Industry
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has released a 142-report, The Role of Professional Firms in the U.S. Tax Shelter Industry: The bipartisan Subcommittee report . . . provides new details about the abusive tax shelters promoted by KPMG, Ernst & Young, or PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as the…
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IRS Budget Request
The IRS has published The Budget in Brief FY 2006. Here is the opening: The IRS budget request for FY 2006 is $10,679,261,000, a $443,174,088 increase, or 4.3%, over the FY 2005 enacted budget of $10,236,086,912. This represents a 1% decrease in Taxpayer Service and a 2% decrease in Business Systems Modernization, respectively, and an…
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Treasury Department Releases 2005 Blue Book, Holds Technical Briefing
The Treasury Department today released the 159-page 2005 "Blue Book," General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2006 Revenue Proposals, which summarizes the revenue proposals in the President’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget. Here is the Introduction: This report summarizes the revenue proposals in the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget. These proposals include making permanent the…
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Congressional Research Service Issues Report on Social Security and Taxation
The Congressional Research Service has published Social Security: Calculation and History of Taxing Benefits (RL32552). Here is part of the Summary: Preliminary data for tax year 2002, show that 10.8 million income tax returns had taxable Social Security benefits, and that these returns included $94.7 billion in Social Security benefits in taxable income. In 2002,…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Overview of Methods Used in Preparing Revenue Estimates of Proposed Tax Code Changes
The Joint Committee on Taxation has issued Overview Of Revenue Estimating Procedures And Methodologies Used By The Staff Of The Joint Committee On Taxation (JCX-1-05). Here is a portion of the Executive Summary: This document provides an overview of the current procedures used in the revenue estimating process. The emphasis is solely on methodology and…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Report on Options to Improve Tax Compliance and Reform Tax Expenditures
The Joint Comittee on Taxation yesterday released the 435-page Options To Improve Tax Compliance And Reform Tax Expenditures (JCS-2-05). Here is part of the Introduction and Summary: This report, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, presents various options to improve tax compliance and reform tax expenditures. This report is prepared at…
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Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis Publishes Impact of Advertising on IRA Participation
The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis has published Information, the Introduction of Roths, and IRA Participation (OTA Working Paper 91), by Warren B. Hrung (Office of Tax Analysis, Treasury Department). Here is the abstract: This study investigates the issue of whether part of the increase in total IRA contributions from 1997 to 1998 can…
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SOI Publishes 2002 Partnership Tax Data
The just-released Statistics of Income Bulletin (Fall 2004) includes Partnership Returns for 2002 by Tim Wheeler (SOI) & Maureen Parsons (SOI). Here is the summary: The total number of partnerships increased to 2,242,169, but net income (less deficit) decreased to $270.7 billion. For related data, see here. For other partnership tax data, see here.
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SOI Publishes 2002 Individual Income Tax Data
The just-released Statistics of Income Bulletin (Fall 2004) includes Individual Income Tax Returns, 2002 by Michael Parisi (SOI) & Scott Hollenbeck (SOI). Here is the summary: Taxpayers filed 130.1 million individual income tax returns for Tax Year 2002, reporting $6.0 trillion of adjusted gross income. For related data, see here. For other individual income tax…
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SOI Publishes 2001 Private Foundation and Charitable Trust Data
The just-released Statistics of Income Bulletin (Fall 2004) includes Domestic Private Foundations and Charitable Trusts, 2001 by Melissa Ludlum (SOI). Here is the summary: Nearly 70,800 private foundations filed Forms 990-PF and reported disbursements of nearly $27.4 billion in contributions, gifts, and grants for Tax Year 2001. For related data, see here. For other private…
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SOI Publishes 2000 Corporate Foreign Tax Credit Data
The just-released Statistics of Income Bulletin (Fall 2004) includes Corporate Foreign Tax Credit, 2000 by Scott Luttrell (SOI). Here is the summary: For Tax Year 2000, 5,917 U.S. corporations claimed foreign tax credits, reducing their U.S. income tax liability by $48.4 billion. For related data, see here. For other corporate foreign tax credit data, see…
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Treasury’s Office of Tax Analysis Publishes Optimal Tax Enforcement
The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis has published Optimal Tax Enforcement: A Review of the Literature and Practical Implications (OTA Working Paper 90), by Janet G. McCubbin (Chief, Special Studies Branch, IRS Statistics of Income Division). Here is part of the abstract: Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have recently intensified compliance research and…
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SOI Releases 2001 Tax-Exempt Organization Data
The just-released Statistics of Income Bulletin (Fall 2004) includes Charities and Other Tax-Exempt Organizations, 2001 by Paul Arnsberger (SOI). Here is the summary: Nonprofit charitable organizations held over $1.6 trillion in assets and filed over 240,000 information returns for Tax Year 2001. For related data, see here. For other exempt organization tax data, see here.
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Report on Tax Expenditures
The Joint Committee on Taxation yesterday released Estimates Of Federal Tax Expenditures For Fiscal Years 2005-2009 (JCS-1-05). Tax expenditures are "revenue losses attributable to provisions of the Federal tax laws which allow a special exclusion, exemption or deduction from gross income or which provide a special credit, a preferential rate of tax or a deferral…
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CBO Publishes Report on Impact of Time Frame on Distributional Analysis
The Congressional Budget Office has published Effective Tax Rates: Comparing Annual and Multi-year Measures. Here is the Introduction and Summary: The distribution of the economic burden of taxes is central to tax policy. In constructing measures of effective tax rates — the share of their income that people pay in taxes — analysts must confront…
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GAO Releases Report on the Earned Income Tax Credit
The General Accounting Office has released a 57-page report on The Earned Income Tax Credit. Here is part of the Conclusion: The EITC program lifts millions of low-income taxpayers and their families out of poverty. However, its high rates of noncompliance — overclaims for the credit — could potentially undermine the credibility of the program…
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CBO Report on Diamond & Orszag’s Plan to Save Social Security
In December 2003, the Brookings Institution published a book by Peter Diamond (MIT) & Peter Orszag (Brookings Institution), Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach: [Diamond & Orszag] propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it.…
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Joint Tax Committee Releases List of Expiring Tax Provisions
A last-minute stocking stuffer: The Joint Committee on Taxation has released an 18-page report, List of Expiring Federal Tax Provisions 2004-2014 (JCX-71-04) (12/23/04): This document, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, provides a listing of tax provisions (other than those providing time-limited transition relief after the repeal of an underlying rule)…
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Olson on Tax Reform Options
See here for a copy of the November 7, 2002 32-page memorandum by Pamela F. Olson, then-Assistant Treasury for Tax Policy (now at Skadden, Washington, D.C.), to Treasury Secretary Snow. Here is the Introduction: We have developed a paper stating the case for why the current tax system must be reformed as well as five…
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SOI Releases Tax Return Data by Zip Code
The IRS Statistics of Income Division has released Individual Income Tax Return Data by ZIP Code: Number of Returns (total and by income bracket) Exemptions AGI Salary & Wage Income Investment Income Earned Income Tax Credit Tax Liability Schedule C Income Schedule F Income Schedule A Deductions So you can check to see, for example,…