In a pattern that has become all too common in recent decades, the newly enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) added yet another layer of complexity to an already complex and burdensome federal tax code.
9 min read
The Inflation Reduction Act increases the IRS’s budget by roughly $80 billion over 10 years. The money is broken into four main categories—enforcement, operations support, business system modernization, and taxpayer services—as well as a few other small items such as an exploratory study on the potential of a free-file system.
6 min read
In dollar terms, the industries that would account for the largest book minimum tax liabilities are manufacturing, at $73.2 billion, followed by finance, insurance, and management at $46.9 billion.
6 min read
While exempting accelerated depreciation from the book minimum tax would reduce some of the economic harm of the tax, there remain many unresolved problems within the design and structure of the tax that make it a poorly chosen revenue option.
3 min read
Some 40 years ago, the U.S. dealt with high inflation and slow economic growth. Then as now, the solution is a long-term focus on stronger economic growth and sustainable federal budgets.
5 min read
Efforts to improve the taxpayer experience should focus on the IRS’s operations and include structural improvements to the tax code.
4 min read
As the deadline for tax filing nears, the IRS faces scrutiny for its backlog of returns, inaccessible taxpayer service, and delays in issuing certain refunds.
5 min read
By reducing the tax code’s current barriers to investment and saving and simplifying its complex rules, lawmakers would greatly enhance the ability of Americans to pursue new ideas, create more opportunities, and build financial security for themselves and their families.
40 min read
A new report finds many businesses have yet to receive tax refunds that they are due from pandemic-related emergency relief. Future business tax relief must be provided in a timely manner during the next downturn, because delayed tax relief is not much better than no relief at all.
3 min read
The National Taxpayer Advocate argued the IRS telephone service “was the worst it has ever been” in 2021, with an answer rate of about 11 percent.
4 min read
Passage of Louisiana Amendments 1 and 2, which are aimed at the sales tax and individual and corporate income taxes, respectively, would substantially simplify the Pelican State’s tax code and provide tax relief in both the short and long term.
8 min read
Increasing tax compliance is a major part of the Biden administration proposal to raise revenue for physical and social infrastructure. Reducing the tax gap—the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid—is a good way to raise revenue, but it doesn’t come without trade-offs, and it’s important to go about it in the right way.
3 min read
Recent Biden administration proposals rely heavily on revenue from better IRS tax collections to fund spending initiatives. The American Families Plan uses several avenues to reduce the tax gap (or the difference between taxes paid and taxes owed), from increasing the IRS’s tax enforcement budget to improving information technology and expanding reporting requirements.
4 min read
Return-free filing could reduce compliance costs for many taxpayers, but would only be as good as the system it is administrating.
4 min read
Louisiana legislators passed a tax reform plan that has received overwhelming support in both the House and Senate, but voters will get the ultimate say on whether that plan succeeds. In light of this, it may be valuable to walk through what is included in these reforms and what effect the changes will have on taxpayers.
5 min read
The good news is that lawmakers avoided raising taxes to cover the cost of the new spending and instead used some reasonable fees and asset sales. The bad news is that half of the offsets come from unused, debt-financed COVID-19 relief funds and the economic return on many of these investments is questionable.
7 min read