Publications
Document Type:
Article/Tax Facts
A Practical Challenge to Stand-Alone Corporate Tax Reform (Article/Tax Facts)
Donald Marron
Leaders in both parties appear to favor revenue-neutral corporate tax reform that would lower today's 35 percent tax rate while slashing corporate tax breaks. Individual tax reform appears much more contentious, so some observers wonder whether Congress might pursue corporate tax reform by itself, separate from any individual reforms. Such reform faces a big practical challenge, however. Many corporate tax breaks also apply to noncorporate businesses, which are taxed under the individual income tax. Efforts to broaden the corporate base could therefore have significant effects on individual income taxes, making it difficult to pursue corporate reform separately.
Published: 05/06/13
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Top Individual Income Tax Rates: How Does the U.S. Compare? (Article/Tax Facts)
Jim Nunns
Discussions of the effect of taxes on international competitiveness usually focus on corporate income tax rates, but individual income tax rates may also affect a country’s (or state’s) ability to compete for workers.
Published: 04/03/13
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Estate Taxes After ATRA (Article/Tax Facts)
Benjamin H. Harris
The American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) made estate tax law permanent following more than a decade of constant change. Following ATRA, the estate tax remains one of the most progressive parts of the tax code. In 2013, estates with gross assets exceeding $20 million will account for nearly three-fourths of the total estate tax revenue. About one-fifth of the burden will fall on estates valued between $10 million and $20 million, while just 7 percent will come from estates worth less than $10 million.
Published: 02/25/13
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Corporate Dividends Paid and Received, 2003-2009 (Article/Tax Facts)
Joseph Rosenberg
This article presents IRS data on corporate dividends paid and received. Following the 2003 legislation that lowered the individual tax rate on dividends, roughly $350 billion of net corporate dividends have been paid annually. Less than half that amount has shown up as qualified dividend income on individual tax returns.
Published: 09/17/12
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Income and Taxes of the Very Rich (Article/Tax Facts)
Roberton Williams
Roberton Williams compares the adjusted gross incomes of the top 400 with the incomes of all other taxpayers with income over $1 million and finds that because they realize more capital gains, the top 400 tend to have lower effective income tax rates than other very high-income taxpayers.
Published: 07/06/12
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State Tax Systems Can Be Important Part of Safety Net (Article/Tax Facts)
Elaine Maag
Taxes and transfers at the state and federal level can have a large impact on the well-being of low-income families. How large a role states play varies, as demonstrated by the Urban Institute’s recently released Net Income Change Calculator (http://nicc.urban.org). In twelve states, state taxes account for over 10 percent of total support and in others, state income taxes provide no support.
Published: 05/21/12
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Gas Taxes, Gas Prices, and Fuel Economy (Article/Tax Facts)
Kim Rueben ,
Yuri Shadunsky
Gas prices have increased substantially since the beginning of this year, continuing their upward trend since 1990. American drivers are pushing the federal and state governments to implement policies to lower gas prices. But gasoline taxes have not contributed to the increase in gas prices. Rather than bringing pump prices down, lowering gasoline taxes or having gas tax holidays will mostly shift gasoline purchases across state lines or encourage people to fuel up during the gas tax holidays. Such proposals will siphon away revenues from already cash-strapped states and do little to help consumers and the economy.
Published: 04/24/12
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How Large Are Tax Expenditures? A 2012 Update (Article/Tax Facts)
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 2012. Those provisions will also increase spending on refundable tax credits by $91 billion and will reduce payroll and excise tax receipts by $113 billion. Together, tax expenditures will total almost $1.3 trillion this year.
Published: 04/09/12
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Changes in Reported Income, 2007-2009 (Article/Tax Facts)
Eric Toder
Adjusted gross income (AGI) reported on individual income tax returns dropped 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, but AGI reported by taxpayers with income of $1 million or more fell by near half. Lower realized capital gains, which are concentrated among the highest income groups, accounted for three-fifths of the drop in AGI. These changes reduced the share of AGI reported by taxpayers with incomes of a $1 million or more from 16.1 percent to 9.5 percent. But the concentration of income at the very top of the distribution has begun to increase again as the stock market has rebounded.
Published: 03/27/12
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Changes in the Distribution of Top Marginal Tax Rates, 1958-2009 (Article/Tax Facts)
Daniel Baneman ,
Jim Nunns
The statutory rate structure of the federal individual income tax — the number and width of brackets and the level of rates — has changed significantly over time, as has the distribution of taxpayers across rates. This article examines how the top statutory marginal tax rate changed at various percentile breaks using data from all available years, 1958-2009.
Published: 03/06/12
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