The Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012 (PFSA) – Congress’ first crack at legislating the Buffett rule – would apply a broad-based 30 percent minimum tax for those earning more than $1 million a year. We have a pretty good idea of how this would affect people’s taxes: it would substantially raise them but [...]

The top tax rate on long-term capital gains is currently 15%. That’s why Mitt Romney is spending so much time talking about his tax returns. That revelation has set off a familiar debate about whether that low rate is appropriate. Often overlooked in these discussions, however, is the fact that the days of the 15% [...]

The year’s top story in state and local government was “hundreds of billions of dollars” in municipal bond defaults.  Oh wait, that didn’t happen.  It was “states coming to Congress as mendicants, seeking relief from the consequences of their choices.”  No, although the Dickensian imagery may fit with the holiday decorations, that didn’t happen either.  [...]

2011 was another active year for America’s tax and fiscal policy; thank you for sharing it with TaxVox. As we look forward to a busy 2012, we hope you’ll remember us in your end-of-year giving. By supporting the Tax Policy Center, you can help inform the debate about America’s fiscal future. Every tax-deductible gift will [...]

By Dan Baneman and Jim Nunns With election season heating up and 2012 just around the corner, we are hearing a lot about the pending expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts.  If the debate over the original 2010 expiration is any guide, much will center on whether the top rate should increase from 35 percent [...]

A year ago, the big worry in Washington was whether Congress would extend the Bush tax cuts before their end-of-year expiration. Failure would have meant a huge tax hike. This year the question is whether the super committee will produce a budget plan before its Thanksgiving deadline. Failure could mean huge spending cuts. Meanwhile, nobody [...]

Rick Perry is reportedly going to announce his tax reform plan, a so-called flat tax. There are, as far as I know, no details about the rate or exemption level of the tax or whether it will allow deductions for things like charitable contributions or mortgage interest.  So I can’t comment on the specific proposal, [...]

On September 21, TPC published several tables (T11-0359 through 0362) that examine how effective tax rates vary within income groups. Those tables were intended to shed light on recent claims that some high-income taxpayers face low tax rates. Unfortunately, we made an error in our calculations. That error, which involved rollover distributions from 401(k)s and [...]

Last week, the Census released the official poverty numbers for 2010. The proportion of people in poverty (15.1 percent) reached its second highest point since 1965, and the proportion of people living in deep poverty (half the poverty level) was the highest level since 1975 – 6.7 percent. The poverty line equaled $17,568 for a [...]

A graph on the cover of the Congressional Budget Office’s summer budget update illustrates two policy paths we could pursue over the coming decade. One would essentially keep our deficit manageable through 2021. The other would make things much worse. The light blue area in the graph shows the deficit’s history since 2000 and CBO’s [...]