Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Think Tank Reports
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CBPP: Six Tests for Corporate Tax Reform
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Six Tests for Corporate Tax Reform: Congress may consider major changes to the corporate tax code this year. In light of the nation’s significant economic and budgetary challenges, a well-designed corporate tax reform proposal should: Contribute to long-term deficit reduction Reduce the tax code’s bias towards debt financing Reduce…
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CTJ: Tax Proposals in President Obama’s FY 2012 Budget
Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Proposals in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget: While the President’s budget does include many laudable proposals to raise revenue, these don’t come close to offsetting the revenue losses from the tax cuts that he proposes. Congress should approve a budget resolution that raises at least as much revenue as…
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CTJ: Boeing Gets $35 Billion Federal Contract, Pays Zero Federal Income Taxes
Citizens for Tax Justice, Boeing’s Reward for Paying No Federal Taxes Over Last Three Years? A $35 Billion Federal Contract: Despite reporting nearly $10 billion in domestic pre-tax profits between 2008 and 2010, the Boeing Corporation, which was granted a contract worth as much as $35 billion to build airplanes for the federal government earlier…
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U.S. Effective Corporate Tax Rate Among Highest in World
Cato Institute, New Estimates of Effective Corporate Tax Rates on Business Investment: This bulletin presents estimates of effective corporate tax rates on new capital investment for 83 countries. “Effective” tax rates take into account statutory rates plus tax-base items that affect taxes paid on new investment, such as depreciation deductions, inventory allowances, and interest deductions.…
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State & Local Tax Burden: Highest in NJ & NY, Lowest in AK & NV
The Tax Foundation yesterday released State-Local Tax Burdens Fall in 2009 as Tax Revenues Shrink Faster than Income: Combined state and local tax burdens fell slightly in fiscal year 2009, as taxes shrank faster than income due largely to a slower economy, according to a new study by the Tax Foundation. Taxpayers in New York,…
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Big Increases in Tax Prosecutions (27%), Convictions (15%)
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University has released data on tax prosecutions: Overall, the data show that [tax] prosecutions … are up 26.7% from levels reported in 2005. Figure 1: Monthly trends in prosecutions [T]he data show that [tax] convictions … are up 15.3% from levels reported in 2005. Figure 1: Monthly trends in convictions
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VAT Rates Needed to Erase Obama’s Deficits
The Tax Foundation has released VAT Rates Needed to Erase Obama Deficits: Although President Obama’s recently released budget includes roughly $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues over the next ten years, it still racks up $7.2 trillion in deficits through 2021. We are often asked what kind of tax increases would be needed to raise enough…
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CTJ: Tax Justice Digest
Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Justice Digest (Feb. 18, 2011): Obama’s FY 2012 Budget Would Make Permanent 81% of the Bush Tax Cut Gimmers of Hope on Taxes in the States Virginia Gov. Says No to EITC Expansion, Yes to Corporate Tax Breaks to Pull Kids Out of Public Schools If the State Auditor Can’t Estimate It, Then It’s…
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FactCheck.org: ObamaCare Requires the IRS to Hire 1,000 More Workers
FactCheck.org, IRS and the Health Care Law, Part II: Q: Is the IRS seeking more than 1,000 new workers to administer the new health care law? A: Yes. … The IRS budget request for fiscal year 2012 shows that the agency is seeking at least 1,269 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) at a cost of $473…
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Cell Phone Tax Rankings
The Tax Foundation today released States Target Cell Phones for Stealth, Burdensome Taxes: The number of U.S. cell phone subscribers has grown significantly in recent years, from 55 million in 1997 to 292 million in 2010. That period has also seen a fall in landline telephones (there are now 50 million), and 2007 marked the…
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Corporate Tax Report Card: U.S. Gets an F
American Enterprise Institute, Report Card on Effective Corporate Tax Rates: United States Gets an F, by Kevin Hassett & Aparna Mathur: At 35%, the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate is the highest among all the countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Since the 1980s, other OECD economies have been steadily lowering their tax…
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Tax Lawyers and Tax Complexity
Cato Institute, Tax Lawyers, Tax Complexity, and the Broader Problem of a Self-Serving Legal Profession, by Daniel J. Mitchell: The Internal Revenue Code is nightmarishly complex, as illustrated by this video. Americans spend more than 7 billion hours each year in a hopeless effort to figure out how to deal with more than 7 million…
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State & Local Sales Tax Ranking
The Tax Foundation yesterday released Ranking State and Local Sales Taxes: Retail sales taxes are correctly described in textbooks as “transparent” taxes; citizens are aware of how much they pay and when. On any particular purchase, an individual can easily identify the amount and percentage he paid in sales tax; it’s right there on the…
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State Tax Revenues Rise for Third Consecutive Quarter
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reports that state tax revenues increased for the third consecutive quarter, up 4.5% for the third quarter of 2010: Corporate income tax: +1.6% Personal income tax: +4.3% Sales tax: +4.3% The largest increase was in the Northeast (+10.8%); the smallest increase was in the Far West (+2.2%). State tax revenues rose in 43 states, with ten…
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CTJ: Tax Justice Digest
Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Justice Digest (Jan. 21, 2011): A Tale of Two Tax Commissions: Georgia vs. Vermont Bad and Less Bad: Business Tax Cuts vs. Grocery Tax Cuts Lawmakers in 4 States [HI, ME, NY, WI] Want to Make Tax Reform More Difficult Ohioans Battle Stormy Conditions The Specter of the So-Called “Fair Tax” Rises Again…
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Tax Policy Center Wins $1 Million MacArthur Award
Congratulations to the Tax Policy Center, recipient of a $1 million 2010 MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions: Analyzing how tax policy impacts people. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, provides non-partisan, credible information on tax policy and the outcomes of different tax proposals. During heated…
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Illinois Corporate Tax Hike Inches U.S. Closer to #1 Global Tax Ranking
Tax Foundation, Illinois Corporate Tax Hike Inches U.S. Closer to #1 Ranking Globally: The recent move by Illinois lawmakers to increase the state’s corporate tax rate from 7.3% to 9.5% is further evidence that no tax change is made in a vacuum. Not only did the rate hike move Illinois from having the 21st highest…
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CTJ: Tax Justice Digest
Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Justice Digest (Jan. 14, 2011): Flood of Bad Tax Ideas Coming from the States Governor Jerry Brown Enters California’s Budget Battle ITEP Releases New Report on Capital Gains Tax Breaks in the States New Project to Focus on Fiscal Issues in Kentucky New Resource on Refundable Tax Credits for Low-Income Families Tax…
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Pew Launches Tax Expenditure Database
The Pew Economic Policy Group has launched the Tax Expenditure Database: Pew’s Subsidyscope presents a first-of-its-kind database of federal tax expenditure estimates from the Department of Treasury (Treasury) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). The database allows users to easily view specific tax expenditures from either Treasury or JCT and, in many cases, make…
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CBPP: ‘Democratic’ Parts of Tax Cut Bill Boost Economy, ‘Republican’ Parts Add to Deficit
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Zandi Analyses Show “Democratic” Measures in Tax Cut-UI Deal Boost Economy, “Republican” Measures Add to Deficit Risks: As a result of the tax cut-unemployment insurance legislation that President Obama signed into law last week, economic forecasters have substantially upgraded their outlook for 2011. … An analysis of the compromise…
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Obama Tax Compromise Better for Low-Income Taxpayers Than Alternatives
Tax Foundation, Obama’s Tax Compromise and its Effects on Low-Income Taxpayers: With both the Bush-era tax cuts and stimulus tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year, Congress has been vigorously debating the future of federal tax policy. There has been little agreement on which cuts to extend, whom to extend them…
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Life Insurance Lobbies Hard Against Estate Tax Repeal
The American Family Business Foundation has released Life Insurance Cash Cow: An Issue Brief on the Hidden Side of Estate Tax Lobbying: Estate tax advocates often portray their fight as a struggle for fairness against greedy billionaires and spoiled heiresses, but as this American Family Business Foundation Issue Brief documents, it’s the multi-billion-dollar life-insurance industry…
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CBO: Tax Cuts Were Least Effective Stimulus in Recovery Act
The Congressional Budget Office has released Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output From July 2010 Through September 2010 (Nov. 2010), which reports that the tax relief included in the Recovery Act had less of a stimulative impact than either government purchases or transfer payments to individuals and governments.…
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State Winners and Losers If the Bush Tax Cuts Expire
Tax Foundation, How Would Expiration of Bush-Era Tax Cuts Affect State and Local Budgets?: We highlight four main areas of interaction between state finances and the expiring tax cuts. First we discuss how potential changes in federal tax law would change state and local income tax revenue, both directly and in more subtle, interactive ways.…
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Bipartisan Group Issues Budget Plan Calling for 6.5% National Sales Tax
The Bipartisan Policy Center, formed in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell, today released a 140-page report by its Debt Reduction Task Force co-chaired by Pete Dominici and Alice Rivlin, Restoring America’s Future (Executive Summary). Here are the components of the plan to Create a Simple, Pro-Growth…