Treasury Department Archive

The pitfalls of over-reliance on economics research in corporate tax policy
December 6, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares In rare cases when academic research attracts political attention, the results can be dramatic. An illuminating example of such an impact is an episode where a single review article became the chief justification for a drastic corporate tax rate cut with a direct budgetary impact of around 900 million euros. A close reading

NC Reinforces Its Tax Reform Legacy
December 3, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares With the adoption of its new budget in mid-November, North Carolina has reinforced its position as a leader in pro-growth tax reform, becoming the 12th state to enact income tax rate reductions in 2021 alone. (An additional four states implemented income tax cuts in 2021 that were previously adopted or were automatically triggered
Government Shut Down Averted, For Now
December 3, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Congress funds the federal government through mid-February. The House and Senate voted last night to temporarily fund the government through Feb. 18, averting a partial government shutdown at midnight tonight. The $1.65 trillion bill for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1 funds most government agencies at last year’s levels. The result:
A Shut Down Over Shots?
December 2, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares A government shutdown, at least for weekend, seems increasingly likely. Congress needs to act quickly to avoid a shutdown tomorrow night. But roadblocks keep appearing. Some Senate Republicans insist they’ll block any continuing resolution that includes funding to enforce vaccine mandates—a non-starter for Democrats. And the two parties are at odds over the

Comparing Consumption Tax Systems in Europe, 2021
December 2, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Today we examine how European countries rank on consumption taxes, continuing our map series on our recently published 2020 International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI). The ITCI measures and compares the competitiveness and neutrality of all 36 OECD countries’ tax systems, looking at corporate income taxes, individual taxes, consumption taxes, property taxes, and the

Cigarette Taxes and Cigarette Smuggling
December 2, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Key Findings: Excessive tax rates on cigarettes in some states induce substantial black and gray market movement of tobacco products into high-tax states from low-tax states or foreign sources. New York has the highest inbound smuggling activity, with an estimated 52.2 percent of cigarettes consumed in the state deriving from smuggled sources in

Trump-Biden Tariffs Hurt Domestic Manufacturing
December 1, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Boosting American industry is a policy objective shared by many lawmakers and is a key issue at debate in the Build Back Better Act as well as other year-end legislation. Missing from the debates is how the tariffs put in place by the Trump administration, and largely maintained by the Biden administration, are
Still Working On A Stopgap Funding Bill
December 1, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Stop gap funding bill vote today? House Democratic leaders still are trying to assemble a continuing resolution in time for a vote as early as today. The stopgap funding bill would keep the government open into at least mid-January. But most Republicans, who instead want bipartisan agreement on specific agency funding levels, may

Could Tax Incentives Help Recruit and Retain Teachers?
December 1, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares In November, our children’s high school principal announced he’ll retire at the end of the year, after 16 years of service. I was shocked, but shouldn’t have been. After nearly two years of chronic upheaval and conflict in public education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I can only imagine how attractive

Only The Rich Can Play: A Cautionary Tale Of Who Really Benefits From Tax Subsidies
December 1, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares A prediction: When Congress finally passes the Build Back Better bill, Hill leaders will quietly slip in at least one obscure, last-minute tax break to benefit an elite group of wealthy taxpayers. Few lawmakers will know it is there. Journalists won’t discover it until after the measure has passed. It won’t be the