Congressional Research Service Reports - 21 Matching Results

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The Corporate Income Tax System: Overview and Options for Reform

Description: This report (1) briefly reviews the current U.S. corporate tax system; (2) discusses economic factors that may be considered in the corporate tax reform debate; and (3) presents corporate tax reform policy options, including a brief discussion of current corporate tax reform proposals.
Date: September 13, 2012
Creator: Keightley, Mark P. & Sherlock, Molly F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945

Description: This report attempts to clarify whether or not there is an association between the tax rates of the highest income taxpayers and economic growth. Data is analyzed to illustrate the association between the tax rates of the highest income taxpayers and measures of economic growth.
Date: September 14, 2012
Creator: Hungerford, Thomas L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation Expensing Allowances: Current Law, Legislative Proposals in the 112th Congress, and Economic Effects

Description: This report examines the current status, legislative history, and economic effects of the two expensing allowances (Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation Allowance) and also discusses initiatives in the 112th Congress to modify them. Expensing is the most accelerated form of depreciation for tax purposes. Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) allows a taxpayer to expense up to $125,000 of the total cost of new and used qualified depreciable assets it buys and places in service in 2012, wi… more
Date: September 10, 2012
Creator: Guenther, Gary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Higher Education Tax Benefits: Brief Overview and Budgetary Effects

Description: This report provides a brief overview of the higher education tax benefits that are currently available to students and their families. The report contrasts higher education tax benefits with traditional student aid, presents a brief history of higher education tax policy over the past 60 years, summarizes key features of the available tax benefits, and provides JCT estimates of revenue losses resulting from individual tax provisions.
Date: September 25, 2012
Creator: Crandall-Hollick, Margot L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Residential Energy Tax Credits: Overview and Analysis

Description: This report explores one policy option for promoting residential energy efficiency: tax credits. It begins by providing an overview of the current residential energy-efficiency tax credits. The report then goes on to provide an economic rationale for residential energy-efficiency tax incentives, introducing the concept of "market failures" and "market barriers" which may lead to suboptimal or "economically inefficient" investment in energy-efficiency technologies. The final sections of this re… more
Date: September 25, 2012
Creator: Crandall-Hollick, Margot L. & Sherlock, Molly F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Corporate Expatriation, Inversions, and Mergers: Tax Issues

Description: This report begins with a brief discussion of relevant portions of the U.S. corporate income tax system before examining how inversions were commonly structured. The report then looks at how Congress and Department of the Treasury have reduced the benefits of inversions. The report concludes with an examination of methods that remain to invert and policy options available to prevent or limit these inversions.
Date: September 3, 2014
Creator: Marples, Donald J. & Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Business Investment and Employment Tax Incentives to Stimulate the Economy

Description: This report discusses the merit of various business tax incentives and their effectiveness in providing fiscal stimulus during the recession. The two most common measures to provide business tax incentives for new investment are investment tax credits and accelerated deductions for depreciation.
Date: September 16, 2010
Creator: Hungerford, Thomas L. & Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Description: The first section of this report reviews what countries might be considered tax havens, including a discussion of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) initiatives and lists. The next two sections discuss, in turn, the corporate profit-shifting mechanisms and evidence on the existence and magnitude of profit shifting activity. The following two sections provide the same analysis for individual tax evasion. The report concludes with overviews of alternative policy opti… more
Date: September 3, 2010
Creator: Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Bush Tax Cuts and the Economy

Description: This report examines the Bush tax cuts within the context of the current and long-term economic and budgetary environment.
Date: September 3, 2010
Creator: Hungerford, Thomas L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Tax Provisions that Expired in 2014 ("Tax Extenders")

Description: This report provides a broad overview of tax extenders -- a collective of temporary tax provisions for which measures have regularly extended the provisions when expired or expiring. Fifty-two temporary tax provisions expired at the end of 2014.
Date: September 4, 2015
Creator: Sherlock, Molly F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Energy Tax Policy: Issues in the 112th Congress

Description: The economic rationale for interventions in energy markets helps inform the debate surrounding energy tax policy. This report begins by providing background on the economic rationale for energy market interventions, highlighting various market failures. After identifying possible market failures in the production and consumption of energy, possible interventions are discussed. The report concludes with an analysis of energy tax policy as it stands at the start of the 112th Congress.
Date: September 24, 2012
Creator: Sherlock, Molly F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Certain Temporary Tax Provisions Scheduled to Expire in 2009 (“Extenders”)

Description: This report discusses numerous temporary tax provisions exist in the tax code. Often referred to as “extenders,” these provisions were originally enacted with an expiration date that has then been temporarily extended, in some cases numerous times.
Date: September 8, 2010
Creator: Bickley, James M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

An Overview of Tax Provisions Expiring in 2012

Description: A number of tax provisions have either expired at the end of 2011 or are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. This report provides an overview of these expiring provisions.
Date: September 24, 2012
Creator: Crandall-Hollick, Margot L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Taxation of Unemployment Benefits

Description: Unemployment compensation (UC) benefits have been fully subject to the federal income tax since the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-514). Individuals who receive UC benefits during a year may elect to have the federal (and in some cases state) income tax withheld from their benefits. This report provides an overview of the taxation of UC benefits and legislation related to taxing UC benefits.
Date: September 13, 2012
Creator: Whittaker, Julie M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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EU State Aid and Apple's Taxes

Description: This report discusses the recent investigations by the European Union (EU) regarding claims that certain countries had provided illegal state aid via favorable tax rulings.
Date: September 2, 2016
Creator: Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Itemized Tax Deductions for Individuals: Data Analysis

Description: This report analyzes the most recently available public data from the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Statistics of Income (SOI) to provide an overview of who claims itemized deductions, what they claim them for, and the amount in deductions claimed. In addition, the revenue loss associated with several of the larger deductions is presented using data from the Joint Committee on Taxation's (JCT's) tax expenditure estimates. This report concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of v… more
Date: September 21, 2017
Creator: Lowry, Sean
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Corporate Tax Reform: Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides an overview of corporate tax issues and discusses potential reforms in the context of these issues, with particular attention to some of the research concerning large behavioral responses and their implications for revenue and distribution. The first section reviews the size and history of the corporate income tax, and discusses an important issue that has been given little attention by those who propose deep cuts in the corporate tax: its role in preventing the use of the … more
Date: September 22, 2017
Creator: Gravelle, Jane G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

FATCA Reporting on U.S. Accounts: Recent Legal Developments

Description: This report discusses the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) intended to curb tax evasion through the use of offshore accounts and its requirement to for foreign banks to report information on their U.S. citizen account holders to the IRS. It starts with an overview of the foreign financial instituition (FFI) reporting requirements and examines the role of the intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) in implementing them. The report then discusses the confidentiality protections provided to … more
Date: September 7, 2016
Creator: Lunder, Erika K. & Pettit, Carol A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Tax Policy and Disaster Recovery

Description: This report discusses, in broad terms, disaster-related tax policy. Challenges associated with using the tax code to deliver federal financial assistance following natural disasters are also discussed.
Date: September 11, 2018
Creator: Sherlock, Molly F.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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