In the New York Times' Room for Debate, Roberton Williams discusses the estate tax and why, despite its shortcomings, it still has an important role in federal tax policy.

In commentary for the San Francisco Chronicle, Gene Steuerle asserts that all of the following myths about Social Security retirement ages are wrong: (1) increasing the retirement age will reduce benefits; (2) increasing the retirement age discriminates against lower-income workers with shorter...

This article examines the economic benefits of alternative minimum tax reform relative to the current policy baseline. The authors find that AMT reform can lead to improved progressivity, greater efficiency, and a lessened compliance burden while raising an equal amount of revenue.

[Financial Times] Just how big is the tax cut under debate in the US? How big in relation to the economy and current tax collections? And how big compared with past cuts? We know that President George W. Bush and the House of Representatives want $1,600 billion of tax cuts over 10 years,...

[Houston Chronicle] Why is the tax code so complicated? Because whenever politicians face important tax policy choices, they always compromise with more complexity. That way they can avoid painful trade-offs.

[New York Times] President Bush will sign his long-promised tax cut today. But conservatives shouldn't break out the champagne just yet, nor should liberals start taking their antidepressants. Passing the cuts was easy. Mesmerized by projections of mountainous surpluses, few legislators...

[Contra Costa Times] Economics can sometimes go round the bend. For instance, in theory, you could avoid the drawbacks of taxes - discouraging work and saving and encouraging tax shelters - by taxing people randomly. The idea is that you can't avoid taxes if you can't anticipate them....

The 2001 tax cut has been roundly criticized because so much of the benefit goes to the rich, but the bill also did much to help low- and middle-income families. Most notably, it increased the child tax credit and made it refundablethat is, available to families with incomes too low to owe...

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) generally reduces marriage penalties for head of household filers marrying single filers, with combined incomes up to $80,000. The law's relevant marriage penalty provisions in order of effect are (1) the refundable, doubled...

In June 2001, Congress and the president approved the Economic Growth and Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA), the largest tax cut in two decades. The multiyear cut, scheduled to phase in gradually over the decade, will reduce taxes (and government revenue) by $1.35 trillion by 2010. EGTRRA then...