Federal Tax

In response to high oil prices, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has proposed raising taxes on oil and gas companies in three ways. His “Taxing Big Oil Profiteers Act” would create an additional 21 percent tax on so-called excess profits earned over 10 percent of revenues of oil companies with annual revenues over $1 billion; levy

When thinking about tax policy, economists typically distinguish between the short run and long run. While there might be temporary boosts to the economy in the short term from a tax cut due to increased incomes, changes in tax policy alter the incentives to work, save, and invest, which can produce benefits to economic growth

With inflation continuing to skyrocket, especially for food, which reached 10.4 percent in June, it is worth examining how the ongoing U.S. trade war with China and U.S. tariff policy overall has impacted U.S. agriculture and food prices. The economic literature shows that the U.S. import tariffs and subsequent retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and

The Senate has begun debate on the so-called Chips bill, which would provide $52 billion in grants and $24 billion in tax credits to supposedly strengthen the production of semiconductors in the U.S. If this measure passes, U.S. semiconductors will join wool, mohair, helium, soybeans, ethanol, steel, credit unions, and Amtrak as industries thought to

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 made several changes to the U.S. tax system to enhance competitiveness and discourage profit shifting to low-tax jurisdictions by U.S. multinationals. Among them were a new 10 percent minimum tax on companies with significant cross-border transactions (BEAT) and new tax rates on deemed intangible income (GILTI

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee approved the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act, moving closer to a potential agreement to reform retirement savings this year. That is one of several proposals recently introduced—including the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg Act (RISE & SHINE)—that would improve the

The COVID-19 pandemic brought increased attention to U.S. global supply chains, as the pandemic impacted critical components within U.S. manufacturing. The attention has led to calls to structure U.S. tax policy to encourage firms to expand their manufacturing capacity in the U.S., under the belief domestic supply chains are inherently less risky than global ones.

After an unpredictable legislative journey, the European Union has entered the final stage of negotiations on the world’s first carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). It would appear that some in the United States Congress are paying attention. On June 8th, the European Parliament rejected a proposal to reform the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) which

The Biden administration has put forward significant plans for changing tax policy, including tax changes that would impact workers. While the administration is trying to narrowly target tax hikes to individuals who earn more than $400,000 and provide tax relief to families, it is helpful to understand what the tax burden looks like for workers outside of

Key Findings By driving changes to the climate, carbon emissions will impose major long-term economic costs, both here in the U.S. and around the world. Carbon taxes are an option to make the market reflect future costs of carbon emissions, discouraging emissions and incentivizing development and implementation of clean technology. Carbon taxes also come with

The Biden administration has offered several proposals to reform the taxation of U.S. multinationals, addressing profit shifting as well as a broader view that offshoring is bad for the U.S. economy and firms should be encouraged to “reshore” as much activity to the United Sates as possible. Contrary to the Biden administration’s claims, raising taxes

Noted economist Dale W. Jorgenson, the Samuel W. Morris University Professor at Harvard University, passed away on June 8. He was 89. Dr. Jorgenson’s insights and analytical approach have enormously improved the understanding by the economics community of the effect of taxation on capital formation. He developed the concept of the cost of capital, the

The Republican Study Committee (RSC) released its FY 2023 budget today, led by Budget and Spending Task Force Chair Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and RSC Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN), and prescribes several pro-growth tax reforms that would simplify the tax code and encourage business investment. Among the most impactful reforms are permanence for the Tax

This week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will testify before the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Proposals. Combined with the tax increases in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which the budget assumes becomes law, President Biden would raise revenues by $4 trillion on

Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its long overdue report on the nation’s budget and economic outlook for the years 2022 through 2032. Normally published at the beginning of the year, the delayed report reflects higher-than-anticipated inflation, tax revenues, deficits, and debt since the previous update CBO published nearly a year ago in

Starting this year, firms must amortize their research and development (R&D) expenses over five years rather than immediately deduct them from taxable income, a policy change designed to raise federal tax revenue in the short term. As policymakers consider the future of the R&D tax change, one option on the table is to delay the

The Tax Foundation respectfully submits comment on the state tax and revenue implications of the proposed tobacco product standard for menthol in cigarettes. Alongside the intended consequence of limiting sales of menthol cigarettes, menthol cigarette prohibition will have a significant impact on state revenue collections, in excess of the losses associated with individuals who respond

Congress is hammering out the details of legislation designed to make the U.S. more competitive with China. Any package to incentivize further R&D should begin by ending the current tax penalty against it.   While the House and Senate-passed versions of the competitiveness legislation differ, they would support American semiconductor manufacturing, increase public funding for

In light of high inflation and rising prices, the Biden administration announced it’s considering dropping its current tariffs on Chinese imports to ease inflationary pressures. The tariffs have indeed hurt both U.S. industry and workers. Another consequence of the U.S. imposed tariffs is that they invited retaliatory tariffs, primarily from China, on U.S. exports. Retaliatory

Key Findings Federal policymakers are debating a legislative package focused on boosting U.S. competitiveness vis-a-vis China; however, it currently contains little to no improvements to the U.S. tax code. The existing U.S. tax code is biased against capital investment and it is scheduled to worsen over the next decade. The tax bias against domestic investment