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State Investment Tax Credits, the Commerce Clause, and Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler
No Description Available.
The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals: Legislative Initiatives and Their Revenue Effects
This report discusses legislative initiatives regarding the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individuals, which was originally enacted to ensure that all taxpayers, especially high-income taxpayers, paid at least a minimum amount of federal taxes.
The Potential Distributional Effects of the Alternative Minimum Tax
No Description Available.
Individual Accounts: What Rate of Return Would They Earn?
It has been proposed to add individual accounts to Social Security in which investors could hold private securities. Calculations that project the earnings of individual accounts typically presume that they will earn a rate of return equal or close to the historical rate of return. But is there evidence that future rates of return will differ from history in predictable ways?
Energy Tax Policy
This report brief discusses the history, current posture, and outlook for federal energy tax policy.
Summary of Joint Committee on Taxation's Staff Proposals Relating to Charitable Contributions
No Description Available.
Energy Tax Policy
This report brief discusses the history, current posture, and outlook for federal energy tax policy.
Fundamental Tax Reform: Options for the Mortgage Interest Deduction
No Description Available.
The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals: Legislative Initiatives and Their Revenue Effects
This report describes the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), specifically revenue effects of modifying AMT and Legislative Initiatives.
Tax Deductions for Catastrophic Risk Insurance Reserves: Explanation and Economic Analysis
No Description Available.
Estate Taxes and Family Businesses: Economic Issues
The 2001 tax revision began a phaseout of the estate tax, by increasing exemptions and lowering rates. The estate tax is scheduled to be repealed in 2010 and a provision to tax appreciation on inherited assets (in excess of a limit) will be substituted. The 2001 tax provisions sunset, however, so that absent a change making them permanent the estate tax will revert, in 2011, to prior, pre-2001, law.
Income Tax Relief in Times of Disaster
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, disaster areas have been designated in 64 parishes in Louisiana, 52 counties in Mississippi, six counties in Alabama, and three counties in Florida. Special provisions are available for taxpayers to help recover from the impact of a disaster.
Hurricane Katrina: The Response by the Internal Revenue Service
After Hurricane Katrina, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced several tax relief measures to aid affected individuals and businesses. They cover a range of subjects, from postponing deadlines for paying taxes and filing returns for individuals, employee benefit plans and tax-exempt bond issuers, to waiving penalties for certain fuel excise taxes. This report summarizes these measures and discusses the statutory authority for the IRS’s actions.
Tax Policy Options After Hurricane Katrina
No Description Available.
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Tax Credit
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit are temporary provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Since their initiation in the mid-1990s, the Congress has allowed the credits to lapse four of the five times they were up for reauthorization. In each instance, they were reinstated retroactive to their expiration dates as part of large tax-related measures. The employment tax credits never have been addressed independently of broader legislation. This report describes the WOTC and WtW Tax Credit and outlines issues for members of Congress.
H.R. 3768: the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005
This report compares the provisions in H.R. 3768, the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, as passed by the House with those in the amended version of the bill that was passed by the Senate.
Federal Excise Tax on Tires: Where the Rubber Meets the Road
This report examines the history of the federal excise tax on tires. The excise tax on tires was first levied in 1918 mainly because of revenue needs brought about by World War I. The tax was reduced after the war, and then repealed in 1926. The levy was reintroduced during the Great Depression at a time when federal individual income tax revenues were plummeting, and was increased to help finance World War II. Today, the premise for the excise tax on tires is that heavier vehicles cause greater damage to both roadways and bridges, and that the excise tax on tires resembles a pricing mechanism that is a proxy for highway wear-and-tear charges.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Percentage of Total Tax Returns and Credit Amount by State
The earned income tax credit (EITC), established in the tax code in 1975, offers cash aid to working parents with relatively low incomes who care for dependent children. The EITC is the only federal cash aid available to all working poor families with children. For eligible filers with income tax liability, the EITC reduces their taxes.
Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation:
No Description Available.
Federal Deductibility of State and Local Taxes
This report addresses the potential impact of changing the status of federal deductibility on state and local government tax systems, individual taxpayers, and the federal budget.
Taxes and Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Reconciliation: A Brief Summary
On April 28, 2005, Congress approved an FY2006 budget resolution (H.Con.Res.95) with reconciliation instructions calling for three bills: a bill containing spending cuts ($1.5 billion in FY2006 and $34.7 billion over five years); a bill increasing the public debt limit by $781 billion (to $8,965 billion); and a bill containing tax cuts.
The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals: Legislative Initiatives and Their Revenue Effects
This report discusses legislative initiatives regarding the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for individuals, which was originally enacted to ensure that all taxpayers, especially high-income taxpayers, paid at least a minimum amount of federal taxes.
Extending the 2001, 2003, and 2004 Tax Cuts
This report discusses the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA, and the Working Family Tax Relief Act of 2004 (WFTRA). Since all of the tax reductions provisions of all three of these acts expire at some point in the future, Congress faces the issue of whether to extend and/or make the reductions permanent. Extending these tax reductions, however, is likely to significantly reduce federal revenues in the future.
Federal Income Tax Thresholds for Selected Years: 1996 through 2006
No Description Available.
Major Tax Issues in the 109th Congress
Report on tax issues facing Congress in late 2005, including state of the economy, federal budget, Hurricane Katrina, and more.
Taxes and Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Reconciliation: A Brief Summary
On April 28, 2005, Congress approved an FY2006 budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 95) with reconciliation instructions calling for three bills: a bill containing spending cuts ($1.5 billion in FY2006 and $34.7 billion over five years); a bill increasing the public debt limit by $781 billion (to $8,965 billion); and a bill containing tax cuts.
Tax Incentives for Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles
No Description Available.
Value-Added Tax as a New Revenue Source
This report discusses the valueadded tax (VAT), which has been frequently discussed as a full or partial replacement for the U.S. income tax system.
Proposed Federal Income Tax Exclusion for Civilians Serving in Combat Zones
No Description Available.
The Internal Revenue Service's Use of Private Debt Collection Agencies: Current Status and Issues for Congress
Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA, P.L. 108-357), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has acquired for the second time in its history the legal authority to hire private debt collection agencies (PCAs) to assist in the collection of certain individual tax debt. The grant of authority grew out of a proposal made by the Bush Administration in its budget request for the IRS in both FY2004 and FY2005. This report focuses on IRS’s current plan for hiring PCAs to collect delinquent individual taxes and the policy issues it raises. It begins with an examination of the scope of IRS’s authority to use PCAs under the AJCA and concludes with a discussion of the main issues for Congress as it oversees IRS’s efforts to implement and manage the private tax debt collection initiative. The report will be updated to reflect significant legislative action and new developments related to the initiative
Higher Education Tax Credits: An Economic Analysis
This report provides analysis of the education tax credit program in the context of issues facing Congress in regard to higher education. This report begins with a review of the economic rationale for subsidizing education, then describes federal subsidies for education in general and the education tax credits in particular. An analysis of the education credits follows and the report concludes with a discussion of education tax credit policy options.
Estate and Gift Taxes: Economic Issues
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA, P.L. 107-16) repeals the estate tax in 2010. During the phase-out period, the new law increases the exempt amount to $3.5 million by 2009 ($1.5 million in 2005), lowers the top rate to 45% by 2007 (the top rate in 2005 is 47%), and repeals the federal credit for state death taxes in 2005. The federal gift tax remains though the rate is reduced to the top personal income tax rate (35% in 2005). After repeal of the estate tax, carryover basis replaces step-up in basis for assets transferred at death. The legislation includes an exemption from carryover basis for capital gains of $1.3 million (and an additional $3 million for a surviving spouse). However, the estate tax provision in EGTRRA automatically sunsets December 31, 2010.
Brief Facts and Statistics
This report provides facts and statistics about Social Security that are frequently requested by Members of Congress and their staffs. It includes information about Social Security taxes and benefits, the program's impact on its recipients' incomes, federal tax receipts, federal spending and the economy, administrative information, and selected facts about Medicare.
Internet Taxation: Issues and Legislation in the 109th Congress
This report discusses issues of state and local taxation of Internet transactions because commerce conducted by parties in different states over the Internet.
Tax Benefits for Health Insurance: Current Legislation
This report discusses a variety of potential proposals to change the tax benefits for health insurance and medical expenses, including measures that would expand the availability and attractiveness of health savings accounts (HSAs), or employer tax credits.
Tax Credits for Individual Development Accounts
An individual development account (IDA) is a structured savings instrument for lower income individuals. This report discusses legislation introduced in the 108th Congress to establish IDA programs utilizing tax benefits to encourage program development.
Tax Treatment of the Use of Employer-Provided Aircraft for Entertainment: Current Law and Issues for Congress
No Description Available.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement: A Brief Description
No Description Available.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement: A Brief Description
No Description Available.
An Introduction to the Design of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
This report discusses the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which is a federal provision that reduces the income tax liability of taxpayers claiming the credit. These taxpayers are typically investors in real estate development projects that have traded cash for the tax credits to support the production of affordable housing. The credit is intended to lower the financing costs of housing developments so that the rental prices of units can be lower than market rates, and thus, presumably, affordable.
Tax Reform and Distributional Issues
No Description Available.
The Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax of the 1980s: Implications for Current Energy Policy
No Description Available.
State and Local Sales and Use Taxes and Internet Commerce
In theory, state sales and use taxes are based on the destination principle, which prescribes that taxes should be paid where the consumption takes place. States are concerned because they anticipate gradually losing more tax revenue as the growth of Internet commerce allows more residents to buy products from vendors located out-of-state and evade use taxes. The size of the revenue loss from Internet commerce and subsequent tax evasion is uncertain. Congress is involved in this issue because commerce conducted by parties in different states over the Internet falls under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The degree of congressional involvement is an open question.
State and Local Sales and Use Taxes and Internet Commerce
In theory, state sales and use taxes are consumption taxes based on the destination principle. The destination principle prescribes that taxes should be paid where the consumption takes place. Sales taxes collected at the point of sale achieve this if consumption takes place near the point of transaction. Thus, to remain consistent with the destination principle, consumers pay a use tax on products purchased out-of-state and used in their home state where consumption likely takes place.
State and Local Sales and Use Taxes and Internet Commerce
No Description Available.
The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline and the Highway Trust Fund: A Short History
Excise taxes have long been a part of our country's revenue history. The federal government first imposed its excise tax on gasoline at a one-cent per gallon rate in 1932 to correct a federal budgetary imbalance. The burden for much of the tax ultimately falls on the consumer. The Highway Revenue Act of 1956 established the federal Highway Trust Fund for the direct purpose of funding the construction of an interstate highway system and aiding in the finance of primary, secondary, and urban routes. This act increased the tax on gasoline from two to three cents per gallon. President Bush recently signed a piece of legislation that calls for the extension of the Highway Trust Fund excise tax and an eventual expiration after September 30, 2011.
The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
Firms That Incorporate Abroad for Tax Purposes: Corporate “Inversions” and “Expatriation”
This report provides information about the Corporate "Inversions" and "Expatriation" on Firms That Incorporate Abroad for Tax Purposes where increasing number of U.S firms have altered their structure by substituting a foreign parent corporation for a domestic one.
Tax-Exempt Organizations: Political Activity Restrictions and Disclosure Requirements
No Description Available.
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