Pass-Through Businesses

Does Your State Have a Marriage Penalty?

Fifteen states have a marriage penalty built into their bracket structure. Does your state have one?

Biden Plan’s Higher Taxation of Businesses Would Boost Collections to Highest in 40-Plus Years

President Biden’s tax proposals released as part of his fiscal year 2022 budget would collect about $2 trillion in new tax revenue from businesses over 10 years. This new revenue would bring income tax collections on businesses as a portion of GDP to its highest level on a sustained basis in over 40 years.

Details and Analysis of President Biden’s FY 2022 Budget Proposals

Explore President Biden budget proposals, including tax and spending in American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan. See Biden tax and spending proposals.

Tracking the 2021 Biden Tax Plan and Federal Tax Proposals

Taxes are once again at the forefront of the public policy debate as legislators grapple with how to fund new infrastructure spending, among other priorities. Our tax tracker helps you stay up-to-date as new tax plans emerge from the Biden administration and Congress.

How Biden’s Corporate Tax Increases Could Make Tax Enforcement Harder

If Biden wants to reduce tax evasion, raising the corporate rate, increasing the incentives to engage in tax evasion, and creating a larger tax advantage to becoming a pass-through business is counterproductive.

New Research Finds Limited Effects on Taxpayer Behavior from Pass-through Deduction

While proponents of the Section 199A pass-through deduction claimed it would boost investment and critics claimed it would encourage tax avoidance and income shifting, new research casts doubt on both claims.

Portland Small Business Owners Facing Weirdly High New Taxes—and It Could Get Worse

Newly implemented county and regional taxes yield state and local top marginal tax rates in excess of 26 percent for many Portland small businesses, and if all of President Biden’s tax proposals were adopted, those owners could face all-in marginal rates of more than 80 percent, far and away the highest in the country going back decades.

Reviewing Effective Tax Rates Faced by Corporate Income

Economists have proposed taxing corporate income more uniformly through corporate integration, which can be done in a variety of ways. Biden’s plan goes in the opposite direction by making worse the double taxation of corporate income.

Taxing Times: One Virginia Brewer's Experience During COVID-19

We sat down with the owners of Black Narrows Brewing Company, a family-owned craft brewery situated in a small island-town on Virginia’s scenic Eastern Shore, to discuss the challenges they face as a small business during COVID-19 and what they would like to see legislators do to reduce short- and long-term barriers for entrepreneurs.

Tracking the 2020 Presidential Tax Plans

Three-Fourths of New 2016 Investment Was Excluded from Improved Cost Recovery

New data sheds light on what share of new business investment was eligible for bonus depreciation as it existed before 2017 tax reform, and what share of new investment was excluded from improved cost recovery. This matters because the income tax is biased against investment in capital assets to the extent that it makes the investor wait years or decades to claim the cost of machines, equipment, or factories on their tax returns.

Pass-through Business

Pass-Through Business Deduction (Sec. 199A Deduction)

Marginal Tax Rates for Pass-through Businesses by State

Improving the Federal Tax System for Gig Economy Participants

Advances in technology have enabled workers to connect with customers via online platform applications for work ranging from ridesharing to home repair services. The rise of gig economy work has reduced barriers to self-employment, bringing tax challenges like tax complexity and taxpayer noncompliance.

A Preliminary Look at 2018 Tax Data

Initial 2018 IRS tax return data shows that the TCJA expanded the use of several credits and deductions, made the standard deduction more favorable than itemizing, reduced tax refunds, and lowered taxes for most Americans.

North Carolina’s Vetoed Budget Includes Good Tax Provisions

State Tax Changes as of July 1, 2019

Business in America

Who are the workers, consumers, and shareholders who interact with businesses in the U.S.? What forms do these businesses take? How do business taxes impact people’s lives? It is essential we answer these questions in order to design a business tax system that is simple, efficient, and enables economic progress.

Marginal Tax Rates for Pass-through Businesses Vary by State

Pass-through businesses are now the dominant business form in the U.S., making up more than half of the private sector workforce in every state. Federal taxes on income set a minimum tax rate for pass throughs, but marginal rates for pass throughs vary based on how states tax individual income.