Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Think Tank Reports
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A New Tax Bracket for Millionaires?
Tax Policy Center, A New Tax Bracket for Millionaires?, by Rachel Johnson & Jim Nunns: The debate over extending the 2001–2003 tax cuts beyond 2010 has revolved around two options: extend all provisions for all taxpayers, and the president’s proposal to extend all provisions except those that apply only to high-income taxpayers. A third option has drawn…
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2011 Business Tax Climate: Chilliest in Blue States
The Tax Foundation today released the 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index (8th ed.) which ranks the fifty states according to five indices: corporate tax, individual income tax, sales tax, unemployment insurance tax, and property tax. Here are the ten states with the best and worst business tax climates: 1 South Dakota 41 North Carolina 2…
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CTJ Releases Tax Reports
Citizens for Tax Justice has released two reports: How to Enact (and Maintain) Tax Reform Will Taxes Cause Former Bush Adviser Greg Mankiw to Work Less?
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Guide to State Tax Ballot Questions
The National Taxpayers Union has released 2010 General Election Ballot Guide — The Taxpayer’s Perspective: This is a guide to nearly 100 statewide ballot questions and more than 450 county, city, and local measures in 33 states that NTU has identified as potentially having a significant impact on taxpayers.
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CTJ: Number of Decedents Subject to Estate Tax Continues to Drop
Citizens for Tax Justice has released State-by-State Estate Tax Figures: Number of Deaths Resulting in Estate Tax Liability Continues to Drop: New data from the IRS show that only 0.6 percent of deaths in the U.S. in 2008 resulted in estate tax liability in 2009. (Estate taxes are usually filed during the year after the year…
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Mad Men Tax Planning
Tax Policy Blog, Mad Men and Taxes (No Spoilers!), by Joseph Henchman: If you haven't watched last night's season four finale of Mad Men, I won't give anything away other than something you already knew: Don Draper is selling his Ossining, NY house where he's been letting his ex-wife and her new husband live. His…
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CBPP: Concentration of Income Accelerated in 2008
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities yesterday released Tax Data Show Richest 1% Took a Hit in 2008, But Income Remained Highly Concentrated at the Top; Recent Gains of Bottom 90% Wiped Out, by Hannah Shaw & Chad Stone: An analysis of recently released IRS data on pre-tax income by economists Thomas Piketty and…
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Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Releases Tax Expenditures Report
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget yesterday released released a report on Tax Expenditures, which concluded: Reforming tax expenditures could go a long way toward closing the fiscal gap. Moreover, the changes would improve the complex and inefficient tax system. Plus, as a matter of fiscal governance, transparency, and consistency, the murky world of…
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The U.S. Is Not Ready for ReadyReturn
The Technology Policy Institute has published Should the Government Prepare Individual Income Tax Returns?, by Joseph Cordes & Arlene Holen. Here is the Executive Summary: Simplifying the complex U.S. tax code is the most direct way to reduce both the public and private costs of complying with the federal income tax, but tax reform is…
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Tax Foundation Releases Property Tax Data
The Tax Foundation has published New Census Data on Property Taxes on Homeowners, as well as a property tax lookup tool. Here are links to specific charts: Property taxes paid on owner-occupied housing for each of the 792 high-population counties (65,000 or greater) for 2009 (ranked by taxes as a percentage of home value) Property taxes paid on…
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Viard: The Myth of a Return to Clinton-era Taxes
Alan Viard (American Enterprise Institute), The Myth of a Return to Clinton-era Taxes: Under the president’s proposal, virtually all of top earners’ ordinary income will be taxed at 44.6%, starting in 2013. We’re not just going back to the Clinton-era rates of 40.8% and 43.7%. [For the details, see The High-Income Rate Reductions: The Neglected…
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Fact-Checking the Tax Provisions in the ‘Pledge to America’
FactCheck.org criticizes the several "dubious factual claims" in the Republican Party's Pledge to America, including these tax provisions: Pledge, page 14: Unless action is taken, a $3.8 trillion tax hike will go into effect on January 1, 2011 that will unravel these policies. A family of four with a household income of $50,000 a year will…
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Sinai: Cap Gains Taxation — Less Means More
Wall Street Journal op-ed, Cap Gains Taxation: Less Means More, by Allen Sinai (President, Decision Economics Inc): A new study suggests a zero cap gains rate could create millions of jobs at a fraction of the cost of the spending stimulus. Congress is deliberating on what to do about the “Bush tax cuts”—the reductions in income, capital gains…
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Growth Consequences of Estate Tax Reform
The American Family Business Foundation has released Growth Consequences of Estate Tax Reform: Impacts on Small and Family Businesses, by Douglas Holtz-Eakin & Cameron T. Smith (both of the American Action Forum): This paper examines the impacts of a higher estate tax rate on asset accumulation, small and family businesses’ cost of capital, investment outlays, desire…
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State Migration Trends, 1993-2008: From Blue States to Red States
The Tax Foundation has released a State to State Migration Data calculator: The Tax Foundation has launched an interactive tool that shows state-to-state migration data, including the number of taxpayers that move into and out of a particular state, along with changes in the flow of income to and from the state. Users select a state…
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ObamaCare’s 1099 Reporting Requirement & The Coming Dividend Tax Increase
Curtis S. Dubay (Heritage Foundation) has published two reports: Health Care Bill’s 1099 Reporting Burdens Businesses: "One the most troubling policies in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a new requirement that businesses report more information on their activities to the Internal Revenue Service. This new requirement will force businesses to divert scarce…
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CBPP: Cutting State Corporate Income Taxes Is Unlikely to Create Many Jobs
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published Cutting State Corporate Income Taxes Is Unlikely to Create Many Jobs, by Michael Mazerov: Corporate income taxes are important sources of revenue that states use to fund public services, including services essential to long-term economic growth like education, infrastructure, health care, and public safety. Nonetheless, a…
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Viard: The Neglected Stepchild of the Bush Tax Cuts
Alan D. Viard (American Enterprise Institute) has published The High-Income Rate Reductions: The Neglected Stepchild of the Bush Tax Cuts. Here is the abstract: Congress is considering allowing the Bush tax cuts’ rate reductions for high-income households to expire at the end of 2010 while providing a deficit-financed extension of the middle-class portion of the…
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Tax Foundation Publishes New Issue of Tax Watch
The Tax Foundation has published the Fall 2010 issue of Tax Watch, with these articles: Costly Countdown: Will the Bush Tax Cuts Expire? Estate Tax May Rise from the Grave Congress Targets Oil Companies for Tax Hikes Dividend Tax Rates May Soar to 68 Percent
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Quick Facts on Obama’s Bonus Depreciation & 100% Expensing Proposals
Tax Policy Center, Quick Facts: Bonus Depreciation and 100 Percent Expensing: What is the latest proposal? What is bonus depreciation and how does it work? What types of investment benefit? What types of businesses benefit? How much will it cost? Why does this sound familiar? Is it an effective form of economic stimulus?
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39% of Revenue From Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts Would Come From Business Income
The Tax Foundation today released Over One-Third of New Tax Revenue Would Come from Business Income If High-Income Personal Tax Cuts Expire: Advocates of allowing the top two federal income tax rates to expire claim that only 2 or 3 percent of businesses would be affected, but a new Tax Foundation report shows that more…
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Home Values Fell 16% in 2008, But Property Taxes Rose 4.2%
Tax Foundation, Property Tax Revenue Increased As Property Values Fell: The Case-Shiller index, a popular measure of residential home values, shows a drop of almost 16% in home values across the country between 2007 and 2008. As property values fell, one might expect property tax collections to have fallen commensurately, but in most cases they…
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State Tax Revenues Rise for Second Consecutive Quarter
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government reported today that state tax revenues increased for the second consecutive quarter, up 2.2% for the second quarter of 2010: Corporate income tax: -18.8% Personal income tax: +1.6% Sales tax: +5.9% The largest increase was in the Northeast (+8.3%); the largest decrease was in the Rocky Mountain (-4.4%). State tax revenues rose in 30 states:…
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Where Do State and Local Governments Get Their Tax Revenue?
Tax Foundation, Where Do State and Local Governments Get Their Tax Revenue?: Property Sales-Gen Sales-Spec Individual Business License U.S. 30.8% 22.9% 10.8% 22.9% 4.3% 8.2% AL 16.4% 29.5% 17.3% 22.7% 3.7% 10.3% AK 11.0% 2.2% 3.6% 0.0% 10.1% 73.1% AZ 29.2% 39.6% 8.7% 14.8% 3.4% 4.3% AR 15.5% 39.5% 11.9% 24.9% 3.6% 4.4% CA…