This report describes the Roth 401(k) and discusses its potential effects. We find that the Roth 401(k) option will add complexity for employees and employers with little collateral social gain. The Roth 401(k) is unlikely to induce significant new private saving; almost all of the benefits are...
The White House says lowering taxes on capital gains and dividends will create jobs and opportunity. Tax analyst and commentator Len Burman thinks not.
Rising house prices have led to increasing property taxes and to calls for property tax reform. However, it is important to realize that many state and local governments currently offer property tax relief programs. We examine the property tax relief programs offered through state income tax...
Claims that increasing capital gains tax rates will adversely impact stock markets and economic growth are not strongly supported by empirical data. Over the last half-century, the correlation between the maximum capital gains tax rate and the ratio of the S&P index to GDP has been about -0....
Following decades of relative stability, income inequality has risen sharply in the United States since the 1970s. Households at the top of the income distribution saw their pretax incomes grow most; similar trends and magnitude are present for after-tax incomes, too.
The panoply of U.S. tax and transfer programs often act in concert to penalize low-income families who increase their work effort or marry, by saddling them with high effective marginal tax rates. These effective marginal tax rates-often the product of multiple, hidden phase-outs in benefit...
[Investor's Business Daily] In this article, Senior Fellows Rudolph Penner and Eugene Steuerle diagnose the hidden calamity confronting the federal budget and offer a mix of simple, powerful mechanisms to "make the budget ever more responsible instead of ever less." Currently, Social...
For nearly a decade, federal higher education subsidies have increasingly been delivered through the tax code rather than through direct spending programs such as grants, loan subsidies, and work study. This paper reviews the results of using new modules in the TRIM and Tax Policy Center...
The leading policy goal for 401(k)-type plans and Individual Retirement Accounts is to help families accumulate wealth for retirement. Given this objective, policy-makers have created tax penalties for either withdrawing funds too quickly or too slowly. This Tax Fact explores these tax penalties...
An Analysis of the Roth 401(k)
This report describes the Roth 401(k) and discusses its potential effects. We find that the Roth 401(k) option will add complexity for employees and employers with little collateral social gain. The Roth 401(k) is unlikely to induce significant new private saving; almost all of the benefits are...
Under the Sheltering Lie
The White House says lowering taxes on capital gains and dividends will create jobs and opportunity. Tax analyst and commentator Len Burman thinks not.
Property Tax Credits Offered Through State Income Tax Systems
Rising house prices have led to increasing property taxes and to calls for property tax reform. However, it is important to realize that many state and local governments currently offer property tax relief programs. We examine the property tax relief programs offered through state income tax...
Capital Gains Tax Rates, Stock Markets, and Growth
Claims that increasing capital gains tax rates will adversely impact stock markets and economic growth are not strongly supported by empirical data. Over the last half-century, the correlation between the maximum capital gains tax rate and the ratio of the S&P index to GDP has been about -0....
Income Taxes and Income Inequality Since 1979
Following decades of relative stability, income inequality has risen sharply in the United States since the 1970s. Households at the top of the income distribution saw their pretax incomes grow most; similar trends and magnitude are present for after-tax incomes, too.
The True Tax Rates Confronting Families With Children
The panoply of U.S. tax and transfer programs often act in concert to penalize low-income families who increase their work effort or marry, by saddling them with high effective marginal tax rates. These effective marginal tax rates-often the product of multiple, hidden phase-outs in benefit...
An International Perspective on Gasoline Taxes
While U.S. gasoline prices were indeed at a historical high after Katrina, they are both declining and much lower than gas prices in other countries.
Time To Take Federal Budget Off Autopilot
[Investor's Business Daily] In this article, Senior Fellows Rudolph Penner and Eugene Steuerle diagnose the hidden calamity confronting the federal budget and offer a mix of simple, powerful mechanisms to "make the budget ever more responsible instead of ever less." Currently, Social...
The Distributional Consequences of Federal Assistance for Higher Education
For nearly a decade, federal higher education subsidies have increasingly been delivered through the tax code rather than through direct spending programs such as grants, loan subsidies, and work study. This paper reviews the results of using new modules in the TRIM and Tax Policy Center...
Penalties on IRAs and 401(k)s
The leading policy goal for 401(k)-type plans and Individual Retirement Accounts is to help families accumulate wealth for retirement. Given this objective, policy-makers have created tax penalties for either withdrawing funds too quickly or too slowly. This Tax Fact explores these tax penalties...