It is clear that unless Congress acts, Social Security benefits will be reduced after the exhaustion of the trust fund in 2032. Projections highlighted in this blog illustrate the magnitude of the problem and the difficulty of measuring the economic effects of various policy reforms.
Twenty-five years ago this week, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the last major effort to update the U.S. income tax system.
The legislation, also known as TRA86, lowered individual taxpayer rates by closing corporate loopholes and reflected more than two years of negotiations by Reagan, a Republican, with a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
“When I sign this bill into law, America will have the lowest marginal tax rates and the most modern tax code among major industrialized nations, one that encourages risk-taking, innovation and that old American spirit of enterprise,” Reagan said at the time. Continue Reading
Two distinguished economists at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy have issued a report calling for the most comprehensive reform of the nation’s corporate and personal income tax system since Ronald Reagan was president. The report… Continue Reading
A European-style value added tax (VAT) proposed by lawmakers to reduce the federal deficit would cause the loss of 850,000 jobs and dramatically reduce retail spending, according to a new study prepared for the National Retail Federation by John Diamond,… Continue Reading
Baker Institute Rice scholars George Zodrow and Peter Mieszkowski have won top honors from the National Tax Association (NTA). The NTA is the premier U.S. organization of specialists in government tax and expenditure policies and includes economists in academia, government… Continue Reading