Congressional Research Service Reports - 44 Matching Results
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- State Revenue from Estate, Inheritance, and Gift Taxes
- No Description Available.
- Super-Majority Voting Requirement for Tax Increases: An Overview of Proposals for a Constitutional Amendment
- No Description Available.
- Internet Tax Bills in the 107th Congress: A Brief Comparison
- No Description Available.
- Internet Tax Legislation: Distinguishing Issues
- No Description Available.
- A History of Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Taxes
- In this report, the history of the federal transfer taxes, has been divided into four parts: (1) the federal death and gift taxes utilized in the period 1789 to 1915; (2) the development of the modern estate and gift taxes from 1916 through 1975; (3) the creation and refinement of a unified estate and gift tax system, supplemented by a generation-skipping transfer tax; and (4) the phase out and repeal of the estate and generation-skipping taxes, with the gift tax being retained as a device to protect the integrity of the income tax.
- State Sales Taxation of Internet Transactions
- No Description Available.
- Major Tax Issues in the 107th Congress
- Tax cuts have been one of the principal issues Congress has addressed in the first part of 2001. In part, this issue continues a debate that occurred through 1999 and 2000, as the federal budget began to register surpluses for the first time in nearly 30 years.
- Across-the-Board Tax Cuts: Economic Issues
- This report examines economic issues relating to across-the-board tax cuts, focusing primarily on distributional issues. The report is divided into four sections. The first section provides a general overview of the tax system. The next discusses recent proposals relating to across-the-board tax cuts. The third section discusses methods of evaluating alternative types of across-the-board tax cuts. The final section briefly discusses issues of efficiency, simplicity, and stabilization policy.
- The Marriage Tax Penalty: An Overview of the Issues
- No Description Available.
- Major Tax Issues in the 107th Congress
- No Description Available.
- Across-the-Board Tax Cuts: Economic Issues
- This report examines economic issues relating to across-the-board tax cuts, focusing primarily on distributional issues. The report is divided into four sections. The first section provides a general overview of the tax system. The next discusses recent proposals relating to across-the-board tax cuts. The third section discusses methods of evaluating alternative types of across-the-board tax cuts. The final section briefly discusses issues of efficiency, simplicity, and stabilization policy.
- H.R. 8: The Death Tax Elimination Act of 2001
- No Description Available.
- Characteristics of and Reporting Requirements for Selected Tax-Exempt Organizations
- This report addresses in summary fashion the differences among several kinds of tax-exempt organizations described in Internal Revenue Code [IRC] subsections 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), 501(c)(6), and section 527. Each of these types of organization has a unique statutory definition, is subject to certain statutory limitations on its activities, enjoys certain benefits from obtaining tax-exempt status, and must share certain information with the general public. Following the report is a table which summarizes this information.
- Frequently Asked Questions Concerning the Federal Income Tax
- This report addresses some of the frequently asked historical, constitutional, procedural, and legal questions concerning the federal income tax.
- Tax Benefits for Health Insurance: Current Legislation
- A number of new or expanded tax benefits for health insurance are being discussed in the first months of the 107th Congress. Several were included in the President's FY2002 budget, including a new refundable tax credit. Proponents generally argue that changes are needed to extend coverage to the uninsured and to address efficiency and equity problems; opponents generally doubt that the changes under consideration would make much difference. One issue is whether new or expanded benefits would limit the reductions in general tax rates.
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Issues and Proposed Expansion
- No Description Available.
- Consumption Taxes and the Level and Composition of Saving
- This report examines how the composition of saving might change with the introduction of a consumption tax. Specifically, the report analyzes the possible impact of a consumption based tax system on various forms and levels of saving.
- The Federal Excise Tax on Telephone Service: A History
- This report traces the history of the federal excise tax on telephone service from 1898.
- The Child Tax Credit and the President's Tax Cut Plan
- The child tax credit was enacted as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The current credit is $500 per qualifying child. President Bush has proposed increasing the child tax credit to $1,000 per qualifying child. The President has also proposed making permanent the temporary rule in current law that allows the child tax credit to offset a taxpayer’s alternative minimum tax.
- Energy Tax Policy
- President Bush has issued a comprehensive energy policy initiative, which includes limited energy tax measures; the Administration has criticized such measures as being inconsistent with its free market philosophy. Several of the issues that drove energy policy and energy tax policy during the 106th Congress are extant: 1) tax incentives to increase the supply of oil and gas; 2) energy tax issues relating to energy conservation and energy efficiency; 3) energy tax issues relating to alternative fuels; 4) energy taxes/subsidies and residential energy costs; and 5) issues relating to electricity restructuring. In addition, there are certain energy tax provisions that are either expiring or are time-sensitive that the 107th Congress may choose to take action on.
- The Federal Income Tax and the Treatment of Married Couples: Background and Analysis
- Defining the married couple as a single tax unit under the federal individual income tax means that some married couples pay more income tax than they would as two unmarried singles (a marriage tax penalty) while other married couples pay less income tax than they would as two unmarried singles (a marriage tax bonus).
- Social Security Taxes: Where Do Surplus Taxes Go and How Are They Used?
- No Description Available.
- The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Interaction with Marriage Penalty Relief and Other Tax Cuts
- No Description Available.
- The Federal Income Tax and the Treatment of Married Couples: Background and Analysis
- This report provides background and analysis of the Federal Income Tax and the treatment of married couples.
- Tax Cuts, the Business Cycle, and Economic Growth: A Macroeconomic Analysis
- No Description Available.
- The Level of Taxes in the United States, 1940-2000
- No Description Available.
- President Bush's Tax Proposal: A Brief Overview
- No Description Available.
- Tax-Cut Legislation: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001 (H.R. 3)
- No Description Available.
- Individual Retirement Accounts: A Fact Sheet
- This report discusses general information about individual retirement accounts (IRAs), established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-406) to promote retirement saving; the accounts were limited at first to workers (and spouses) who lacked employer pension coverage.
- Tax Benefits for Health Insurance: Current Legislation
- No Description Available.
- Tax Subsidies for Health Insurance for the Uninsured: An Economic Analysis of Selected Policy Issues for Congress
- No Description Available.
- Economic and Revenue Effects of Permanent and Temporary Capital Gains Tax Cuts
- Recent proposals have been made to enact either a temporary or a permanent capital gains tax cut. The former would probably gain revenue in the first 2 years but lose that revenue and more, most likely within the following 3 years. H.R. 3090, passed by the House, would lower the top tax rate from 20% to 18% for assets held at least a year. The Senate Finance Committee version of H.R. 3090, does not reduce capital gains taxes. A capital gains tax cut appears the least likely of any permanent tax cut to stimulate the economy in the short run; a temporary capital gains tax cut is unlikely to provide any stimulus. Permanently lower capital gains taxes can contribute to economic efficiency in some ways and detract from it in others. Capital gains tax cuts would favor high income individuals, with about 80% of the benefit going to the top 2% of taxpayers.
- Step-Up vs. Carryover Basis for Capital Gains: Implications for Estate Tax Repeal
- No Description Available.
- Marriage Penalty Legislation: A Comparison of Alternate Proposals
- No Description Available.
- The Telephone Excise Tax: Revenues, Effects, and Repeal Proposals
- No Description Available.
- Export Tax Benefits and the WTO: Foreign Sales Corporations (FSCs) and the Extraterritorial (ETI) Replacement Provisions
- The U.S. tax code’s Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) provisions provided a tax benefit for U.S. exporters. However, the European Union (EU) in 1997 charged that the provision was an export subsidy and thus contravened the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. A WTO ruling upheld the EU complaint, and to avoid WTO sanctioned retaliatory tariffs, U.S. legislation in November 2000 replaced FSC with the “extraterritorial income” (ETI) provisions, consisting of a redesigned export tax benefit of the same magnitude as FSC. The EU maintained that the new provisions are also not WTO-compliant and asked the WTO to rule on the matter.
- 527 Organizations: Reporting Requirements Imposed on Political Organizations after the Enactment of P.L. 106-230
- On July 1, 2000, President Clinton signed H.R. 4762, P.L. 106-230. The law amended the Internal Revenue Code [IRC] to require political organizations described in IRC § 527 to disclose their political activities, if they were not already required to do so by the Federal Election Campaign Act [FECA]. This report summarizes the three major changes made by the law and some of the major responses to the legislation. First, all 527 organizations which expect to have over $25,000 in gross receipts during a taxable year and which are not required to report to the Federal Election Commission [FEC] are required to register with the IRS within 24 hours of their formation, whether they are involved in state, local, or federal elections. Second, 527 issue advocacy organizations, which previously reported neither to the IRS nor the FEC, are required to file regular disclosure statements with the IRS. Third, all 527 organizations with gross receipts in excess of $25,000 per year are required to file annual reports with the IRS. The registration statements, disclosure forms, and annual reports will be made public. H.R. 527 and S. 527 in the 107th Congress would exempt most state and local 527 organizations from the requirements of P.L. 106-230.
- Pensions: Major Provisions of the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2000
- No Description Available.
- Flat Tax Proposals and Fundamental Tax Reform: An Overview
- This report discusses the idea of replacing our current income tax system with a flat-rate tax, including background and analysis and various Congressional proposals.
- Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Legislative Issues in the 106th Congress
- Bills introduced in the 106th Congress would have raised the limit on contributions to individualretirement accounts(IRAs) and eased other federal IRA rules. The House passed H.R. 5203, incorporating the higher IRA contribution limits of H.R.1102, on September 19, 2000. The IRA provisions of the bill would have cost $21.7 billion in foregone revenue over 10 years. The Senate Finance Committee ordered H.R. 1102 reported (with amendments) on September 7, 2000, but the bill did not reach the Senate floor before the 106th Congress adjourned in December 2000. The Finance Committee’s bill, in addition to raising contribution limits, would have allowed tax credits in lieu of deductions for a portion of IRA contributions.
- Tax Benefits for Education in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997: New Legislative Developments
- No Description Available.
- Economic Issues Surrounding the Estate and Gift Tax: A Brief Summary
- Supporters of the estate and gift tax argue that it provides progressivity in the federal tax system, provides a backstop to the individual income tax and appropriately targets assets that are bestowed on heirs rather than assets earned through their hard work and effort. However, progressivity can be obtained through the income tax and the estate and gift tax is an imperfect backstop to the income tax. Critics argue that the tax discourages savings, harms small businesses and farms, taxes resources already subject to income taxes, and adds to the complexity of the tax system.
- Charitable Choice Provisions of H.R. 7
- H.R. 7, the Community Solutions Act, on July 19 won House passage without amendment by a vote of 233-198. The bill includes basic elements of President Bush’s faith-based initiatives: tax incentives for private giving–scaled back from original proposals (Title I)–and expansion of charitable choice (Title II). (Title III deals with individual development accounts.)
- Funding School Renovation: Qualified Zone Academy Bonds vs. Traditional Tax-Exempt Bonds
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about Qualified Zone Academy Bonds vs. traditional tax-exempt bonds in regards to funding school renovations. The report goes over the side effects of the $1.6 billion Qualified Zone Academy Bond (QZAB), like revenue loss. Tables begin on page 4, and the report ends with a summary concluding that the QZAB program is more beneficial to tax payers and borrowers than traditional tax-exempt municipal bonds.