If Congress considers broad tax reform later in the year, its legislation may include provisions to eliminate the individual and corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT).[1] That would be welcome news for the more than 30 million taxpayers who are likely to face the individual AMT by 2010.…

Previous attempts to solve Social Security's problems have relied on a mix of benefit cuts and tax increases, but this approach is not a long-term solution. A more lasting solution to Social Security's problems involves a two-pronged approach that allows workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in their own accounts while also…

Groups such as AARP propose to "fix" Social Security by raising the $90,000 cap on the amount of salaries and wages that are subject to Social Security's payroll tax. Even if the 12.4 percent payroll tax rate remains untouched, raising the payroll tax cap would impact millions of small business owners, slow economic activity,…

If exit polls can be believed, issues of moral values were among the most important factors in last week's presidential elections. Pundits are still weighing the meaning of that vote and what it means for public policy. Yet buried beneath the election news, the values issue was also raised last week in a much…

Two recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) papers begin the formal study of whether the 2003 dividend tax cuts affected corporate dividend policy. Economists have debated for years whether lowering individuals' taxes on dividends would lead to increased corporate payouts, and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA) provides a…

The nonprofit group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) recently blasted U.S. corporations for increasing their "tax avoidance" behavior during the presidency of George W. Bush. The CTJ report "Corporate Income Taxes in the Bush Years"[1] examines the annual financial reports of a group of large U.S. corporations and purports to…