Taxes

After Trump’s Cuts, US Taxes Are Fourth Lowest in the Developed World

By Michael Rainey

Total U.S. taxes as a share of the economy fell to 24.3% last year, thanks in large part to the tax cuts signed into law by President Trump in 2017, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and...
Biden Unveils $3.2 Trillion Tax Plan Targeting Corporations Like Amazon

By Yuval Rosenberg

Joe Biden rolled out a plan Wednesday to raise $3.2 trillion in additional taxes over 10 years, with the wealthy and corporations paying more to cover the cost of spending proposals on health care,...
Bad News for Charity on Giving Tuesday

By Michael Rainey

“Despite Giving Tuesday and despite all the charitable appeals that almost certainly landed in inboxes, charitable donations by individuals declined by slightly more than 1 percent in 2018, according...
Only One Demographic Group Opposes Warren’s Wealth Tax

By Yuval Rosenberg

The idea of a wealth tax like the one proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is popular with a broad swath of voters, Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley of The New York Times report . A new nationwide poll...
Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate

By Michael Rainey

The extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...

Public Investment Is the Key to Avoiding Economic Stagnation: Report

By Michael Rainey

Economic stagnation on a global scale is a growing threat, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The group’s November economic outlook...
Pushing Back Against the Wealth Tax at the Dem Debate

By Michael Rainey

Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended her proposed wealth tax at the Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night: “I’m tired of freeloading billionaires,” Warren said . “I think it's time that we ask...
Democrat's New Taxes Wouldn't Hit Just Billionaires

By Michael Rainey

Some Democratic tax proposals are focused on making millionaires and billionaires pay more, but other households would be affected as well. Neil Irwin of The New York Times points out Tuesday that...
An Easy Way to Get $1 Trillion More in Tax Revenue?

By Michael Rainey

The first step in reforming the U.S. tax system doesn’t involve raising rates or eliminating deductions, say former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Penn Law professor Natasha Sarin. Instead,...
FedEx Battles New York Times Over Trump’s Tax Cuts

By Michael Rainey

The New York Times published a piece Saturday highlighting the huge windfall FedEx received from the 2017 GOP tax cuts — and the company’s CEO isn’t happy with the analysis. According to the Times,...

Rising Income Inequality Is a Fiscal Risk: Moody’s

By Yuval Rosenberg

Income inequality in the United States last year reached the highest level since the Census Bureau started tracking it more than 50 years ago, even as median household income also reached a nominal...
Judge Rejects State Challenge to SALT Deduction Limit

By Michael Rainey

A lawsuit by four states challenging the cap on state and local tax deductions was dismissed Monday by a federal judge. The states – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland – claimed that the...
Bernie Sanders’ New Inequality Tax Targets High CEO Pay

By Michael Rainey

Bernie Sanders released a plan Monday that would penalize companies that pay their CEOs far more than their average workers. The proposal is designed to combat rising income inequality, Sanders said...
What Tax Cheats (and Mistakes) Cost the IRS

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday said that the annual “tax gap,” the difference between federal taxes owed and the amount actually collected, averaged $441 billion from 2011 to 2013. Of that...
4 Lessons from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act So Far

By Michael Rainey

Most tax experts agree that it’s too soon to make any final conclusions about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has been in effect for less than two years and contains provisions that seek to...