What is the Briefing Book?
The Briefing Book offers short explanations of important tax issues. Some sections provide background on the current state of tax and budgetary affairs: How much revenue does the federal government raise and from which sources? How does the budget process work? Others explain the key elements of the tax system: What taxes are now on the books? How do they affect individuals, families, and businesses? How do those effects change over time? Still others look forward, evaluating various proposals to improve the federal tax system: What incremental reforms would make the system work better? What impacts would more fundamental reforms have? And there are some that examine how state and local governments raise funds and how their taxes interact with the federal tax system.
How is the Briefing Book organized?
The Briefing Book is organized into four topic areas. Links at the end of each entry take you to references containing additional information. The glossary provides definitions of many technical terms related to taxation and budgeting.
Background discusses general aspects of the federal budget and the US tax system.
Key Elements of the US Tax System discusses specific aspects of federal individual and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, estate and gift taxes, and excise taxes and how they affect taxpayers.
How Could We Improve the Federal Tax System discusses changes that could make the current tax system simpler, fairer, and more efficient.
State and Local Tax Policy discusses how state and local governments raise funds to finance government services and other activities.
Glossary defines many terms used in the Briefing Book.
How to use the Briefing Book
The Briefing Book is not like most other books: there is no beginning, middle, and end, and few readers will start with the first brief and read straight through to the last. Instead, you can pick a topic, read the basic information, and then follow the links to publications if you want to learn more. You may occasionally want to check online for new material as we will periodically expand and update the Briefing Book.
Acknowledgements
The Briefing Book is the result of many people’s efforts. In addition to the authors listed below, certain people deserve special credit for their roles in bringing the current Briefing Book to fruition. Aravind Boddupalli managed the project, and Eric Toder oversaw the content and reviewed each entry. Ragan Anderson, Nora Cahill, Alex Dallman, Gabriella Garriga, Lillian Hunter, Muskan Jha, and Jerry Ta provided key assistance.
List of Authors
- Nikhita Airi
- Richard C. Auxier
- Aravind Boddupalli
- Thomas Brosy
- John Buhl
- Leonard E. Burman
- William G. Gale
- Tracy Gordon
- Janet Holtzblatt
- Elaine Maag
- Donald Marron
- Rob McClelland
- Gordon B. Mermin
- Benjamin R. Page
- Jeffrey Rohaly
- Steven M. Rosenthal
- C. Eugene Steuerle
- Brett Theodos
- Eric Toder
Last updated: January 2024