The Top Total Income Tax Rate on Corporate Profits, 1913-2011
Corporate profits are taxed under both the corporate and individual income taxes. The total income tax rate on corporate profits therefore depends on the corporate rate and the individual rates on dividends and capital gains, as well as on the share of after-tax profits corporations pay as dividends, the share of stock held in retirement and other nontaxable accounts, and the timing of capital gains realizations. To illustrate how these factors determine the total income tax rate on corporate profits, I made assumptions about corporate distributions, stock holdings in tax-favored accounts and patterns of capital gains realizations, and applied those factors to the top corporate and individual rates on dividends and capital gains over the 1913-2011 period (see graph)
Tax Reform: The Wheels Are Beginning To Turn
In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron discusses strategies to reform Americas broken tax code. Marron proposes ridding the system of corporate and individual tax preferences to create a fairer, simpler, and revenue-generating system with fewer tax breaks and lower rates across the board.
Tax Reform In An Era Of Deficits
Tax reform should focus on three goals:1) reducing needless complexity, 2) reducing backdoor spending through the tax code, and 3) reforming rules for taxing saving and investment to make our tax law more suitable for a globalized economy. This note summarizes steps that should be taken and how recent recommendations by the President’s Economic Recovery Board, the National Taxpayer Advocate, the President’s Fiscal Commission, and the Bipartisan Policy Center provide a road map for future changes.
Health Reform: A Four-Tranche System : Updated and Revised
This package of tables considers interactions between four different provisions of government support for health care that exist under the new Health Reform law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA): Medicare, Medicaid, Insurance Subsidies offered through the Exchange, and Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI). The summary table estimates the value of health benefits to families and singles at various income levels under the four options, and the charts show how these benefit levels change as income rises. Estimates for Medicare benefits are from CMS; estimates of Medicaid premiums are from the Health Policy Center. Backup tables work through the calculations for the value of the exchange subsidy and the tax subsidy for ESI.
Tax Policy and Small Business : Before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Committee on Ways and Means
Donald Marron’s testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, Committee on Ways and Means on tax policy and small business.
After Fannie and Freddie, A Role for Government In Mortgages?
In a contribution to the Christian Science Monitor, Donald Marron rethinks the government’s participation in mortgage markets.
Federal Budget: Fix It Before A Crisis
In a contribution to the CNNMoney.com, Donald Marron discusses the urgent need to reverse the federal deficit and reform the tax code.
Conversations: Eric Toder
Eric Toder is codirector of the Urban- Brookings Tax Policy Center and a fellow with the Urban Institute. He was previously Treasury deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis under President Clinton and served as director of the IRS Office of Research from 2001 to 2004. Earlier in his career, Toder was deputy assistant director for tax analysis at the Congressional Budget Office.
With the Obama administration and Congress gearing up for a potential tax reform effort, Toder recently spoke with Tax Analysts’ Meg Shreve to discuss the challenges facing lawmakers as they consider tax reform.
The Pointless Debate Over the Social Security Trust Fund
What does matter is that Social Security expenses are expected to rise by about 50 percentfrom about 4.3 to 6.3 percentage points of GDPfrom 2008 to 2030, and taxes aren’t. As the baby boomers retire, higher expenses and less tax revenue mean that the national deficit will rise year after year.
Tax Proposals in the 2012 Budget
President Obama’s 2012 Budget contains a number of tax provisions that would cut taxes for low- and middle-income households and raise taxes on wealthier taxpayers. This resource guide describes the tax proposals, offers more detailed commentary on key provisions, and links to tables showing the distributional effects of the overall proposal and various elements of the plan.