Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Think Tank Reports
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AEI Panel Discussion on Corporate Income Tax Reform: The View from the States
The American Enterprise Institute held a panel discussion yesterday on Corporate Income Tax Reform: The View from the States: A panel of experts disagreed Wednesday at AEI on how states should tax corporations and income, but they agreed that the federal government could help the states by drawing parameters. In many ways, states have been…
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CBPP: Best Practices for State Tax Expenditure Reporting
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities today released Promoting State Budget Accountability Through Tax Expenditure Reporting: Each year states spend tens, maybe hundreds, of billions of dollars through “tax expenditures.” Tax expenditures are tax credits, deductions, and exemptions that reduce state revenue. They can include everything from poverty-reducing tax credits, to middle-class benefits, to…
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Who Benefits From Tax Expenditures?
Roberton Williams (Tax Policy Center) has published Who Benefits From Tax Expenditures?, 131 Tax Notes 511 (May 2, 2011): Overall, tax expenditures give more benefits to high-income households relative to income but are roughly proportional to tax liabilities. The top quintile collects 55% of all income, pays 67% of all taxes, and gets nearly 65%…
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Increasing Income Inequality Around the World
The Economist, Income inequality: Rich and Poor, Growing Apart: Think income inequality growth is primarily an American phenomenon? Think again: : American society is more unequal than those in most other OECD countries, and growth in inequality there has been relatively large. But with very few exceptions, the rich have done better over the past…
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Seven Reasons Why Tax Increases Are the Wrong Approach
Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage more loopholes Tax increases undermine competitiveness
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A Child Tax Benefit Reference Manual
Elaine Maag, Stephanie Rennane & C. Eugene Steuerle (all of the Tax Policy Center) have published A Reference Manual for Child Tax Benefits. Here is the abstract: The individual income tax contains multiple provisions that favor families with children. They range from credits targeted towards low-income families to deductions that favor higher income families. Some…
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Tax Foundation v. Ed Kleinbard: U.S. Multinationals’ Foreign Tax Rate
The Tax Foundation has released U.S. Multinationals Paid $100 Billion in Foreign Income Taxes According to Most Recent IRS Data: In recent months, a number of press accounts have mentioned the amount of taxes paid by U.S. multinational firms on their foreign income. Some of the more sensational articles would have readers believe that U.S.…
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Public Opinions on Taxes: 1937 to Today
American Enterprise Institute, Public Opinions on Taxes: 1937 to Today: With talk of fundamental tax reform in the air, AEI updates the Public Opinion Study on Taxes, which takes a comprehensive look at polling on taxes from 1937 to the present. 48% say the federal income taxes they pay are too high. 45% say…
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Lessons from the 1986 Tax Reform Act
Jason J. Fichtner & Jacob M. Feldman (both of the George Mason University, Mercatus Center), Lessons from the 1986 Tax Reform Act: What Policy Makers Need to Learn to Avoid the Mistakes of the Past: The 1986 Tax Reform Act (TRA86) was designed to improve three aspects of the tax code: efficiency, equity, and simplicity. TRA86…
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State & Local Taxes Paid by Households Headed by Unauthorized Immigrants
Immigration Policy Center, Estimates of the State and Local Taxes Paid by Unauthorized Immigrant Households: The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants. These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. Collectively, these households paid…
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Laffer: The Economic Burden Caused by Tax Code Complexity
The Laffer Cebter for Supply Side Economics has published The Economic Burden Caused by Tax Code Complexity: This study creates a comprehensive estimate of the total administrative costs, time costs, and direct tax compliance costs created by the complex U.S. federal income tax code. Th is paper deals only with Segments B, C, D and…
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CTJ: America’s Tax System Is Not as Progressive as You Think
Citizens for Tax Justice, America’s Tax System Is Not as Progressive as You Think: Conservative lawmakers and pundits often claim that the richest Americans are paying a disproportionate share of taxes while a huge number of lower-income Americans pay nothing at all. They’re wrong. It’s true that the very rich pay a large share of…
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Taxing the ‘Rich’ to Close the Deficit
The Heritage Foundation has published Tax Day 2011: Deficit Spending Hides Future Tax Hikes, by Curtis S. Dubay: To collect the additional revenue necessary to close the 2010 deficit, income tax rates would have to have been considerably higher than their current levels. Without altering other aspects of the tax code, if Congress collected the extra…
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Are Corporations Paying Their Fair Share of Taxes?
Tax Time: Are Corporations Paying Their Share?, by Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele: Like others in Congress and the media, Cantor, Bachmann and Pawlenty insist that American businesses are paying too much in corporate income tax. They claim the onerous tax burden is killing jobs and forcing companies to move abroad. To reverse…
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Today Is Tax Freedom Day — Earlier in MS, TN & SC, Later in CT, NJ & NY
Today is Tax Freedom Day, the day on which Americans will have earned enough money to pay all federal, state, and local taxes for the year: Tax Freedom Day® will arrive on April 12 this year, the 102nd day of 2011. That means Americans will work well over three months of the year, from January 1…
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CBPP: A Repatriation Tax Holiday Is a Lousy Idea
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released Tax Holiday for Overseas Corporate Profits Would Increase Deficits, Fail to Boost the Economy, and Ultimately Shift More Investment and Jobs Overseas: Providing large multinational corporations with a large tax cut via a repatriation tax holiday is not likely to generate the promised investments or jobs…
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How Large Are Tax Expenditures?
Tax Policy Center, How Large Are Tax Expenditures?, by Donald Marron: Tax expenditures are getting increased scrutiny from budget hawks and tax reformers. New Treasury estimates, released as part of President Obama’s recent budget, indicate that these tax preferences will reduce individual and corporate income tax revenues by almost $1.1 trillion in 2011. Those provisions…
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Work, Child, and Education Tax Incentives
Tax Policy Center: Tax Simplification: Clarifying Work, Child, and Education Incentives, by Elaine Maag (Urban Institute): The federal income tax code is riddled with complex provisions concerning children. Families with children qualify for and receive substantial assistance, but the provisions are difficult for parents to understand and for the IRS to administer. This article proposes making uniform…
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TPC Resource Guide to the Tax Provisions of Obama’s 2012 Budget
The Tax Policy Center has released a resource guide to the tax provisions of President Obama’s 2012 Budget: The guide includes descriptions of the proposals, links to more detailed commentary on key provisions, and a new TPC distributional analysis of the overall proposal as well as major elements of the plan. The guide includes information…
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Tax Foundation: No Country Leans on Upper-Income Households as Much as U.S.
The Tax Foundation yesterday released No Country Leans on Upper-Income Households as Much as U.S.: [T]his table shows the share of taxes paid by the richest 10% of households, the share of all market income earned by that group, and the ratio of what that 10% percent of households pays in taxes versus what they…
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Tax Foundation: On April 1, U.S. Is #1 (World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate)
The Tax Foundation has released Countdown to #1: 2011 Marks 20th Year That U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Is Higher than OECD Average: There is increasing recognition in Washington that the U.S. corporate tax rate is out of step with the lower tax rates of most industrialized and emerging nations. Indeed, 2011 marks the 20th year…
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Tax Foundation: Who Benefits from Corporate Tax ‘Loopholes’?
Tax Foundation, Who Benefits from Corporate “Loopholes”?: President Obama has been critical of so-called tax loopholes because, he maintains, they unfairly reward some industries—such as the oil and gas industry—and incentivize others to expand overseas rather than domestically. Despite this well stated position, the president’s recently released FY 2012 budget shows that, like most people,…
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ITEP Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has released Guide to Fair State and Local Taxes: The guide explains the differences between progressive, flat, and regressive taxes — and why you should care. It covers the full range of taxes that states and localities can impose, including personal and corporate income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes,…
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CBPP: To Avert Revenue Loss, States Should Decouple From § 168(k) Expensing
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, States Can Avert New Revenue Loss by Decoupling From Federal Expensing Provision: A recent change in federal tax law regarding business investment in machinery and equipment could be very costly for many states — at a time when they can least afford it. Nineteen states are on track to…