Research report Options for Increasing Medicare Revenues
Gordon B. Mermin, Bowen Garrett, Lillian Hunter, C. Eugene Steuerle
Display Date
File
File
Download Report
(1.1 MB)

Medicare faces serious short-term and long-term financial pressures. This report examines the revenue and distributional effects of options to increase revenues for Medicare and discusses their relative pros and cons. We use the Tax Policy Center microsimulation model to estimate the effect of each option on revenues over ten years and on the distribution of after-tax income in one year. The options include increasing Medicare tax rates, increasing individual income tax rates, broadening the tax base, increasing corporate income tax rates, and enacting a value-added tax.

Primary topic Individual Taxes
Research Area Medicare