Budget and Taxation
On Measuring The Extraction Costs Of Taxation
By Lawrence A. Hunter
September 7, 2007
This study proposes a more complete measurement of the costs of extracting reveune under the existing Internal Revenue Code and for alternative tax systems, including a national retail sales tax. Read complete study here. . .
Developing consistent Tax Bases for Broad-Based Reform
By Fiscal Associates, Inc.
Draft, September 2011
Interest in far-reaching tax reform will begin again as the nation confronts financing entitlement growth. There will be a need to simplify the tax system and to promote increased saving, investment, and growth. Tax reform fever will intensify during the 2012 Presidential election cycle because many contenders and others will be proposing some combination of spending cuts and tax changes to close future deficits. Simply cutting spending and raising taxes is unlikely to succeed. As taxes are raised, growth will necessarily slow as the economy adjusts to a lower level of output. Lower output will mean lower tax revenues, setting off yet another round of spending cuts and tax increases. This vicious cycle will only end if the tax system becomes more efficient and growth-oriented.
This paper computes the tax bases for the following three tax reform proposals: a business transactions tax; a comprehensive factor income tax (flat personal income tax); an expanded retail sales tax (Fair Tax). In this paper, we find the revenue neutral tax rate, assuming no growth effects, and assuming no exemptions, deductions or credits. Recognizing that relief for low income taxpayers will inevitably be part of any tax reform, we also estimate tax rates assuming that each plan will provide a refundable credit equal to the tax rate times the poverty level. (This amounts to subtracting the identical amount from each tentative tax base.) Finally, we will combine the three bases to examine four hybrid proposals that split the rate between each of the combined bases. Specifically we will examine a variant of the Laffer/Moore Tax that combines the business transactions tax and a flat personal income tax and a plan that combines all three bases.
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The Minimum Wage Increase And Unemployment
Originally Posted At Republican Study Committee
July, 2009
On January 4, 2007, when the Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the minimum wage stood at $5.15 per hour and the unemployment rate was 4.6%. On May 25, 2007, the Democrats enacted a plan to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over three increments. As evidenced by the above chart, rising unemployment since 2007 has coincided with minimum wage increases. So Chairman Miller was right: life has dramatically changed for millions of people.
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A New Small Business Surtax = New Small Business Job Killer
By The J.E.C.
July 15, 2009
Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, recently opined: “I don’t think the worst is over... It’s very likely that more jobs will be lost. It would not be surprising if GDP has not yet reached its low.”i This is cause for concern at a time when unemployment, at 9.5%, stands at its highest level in 26 years. An additional 2.6 million American workers have lost their jobs since President Obama took the oath of office. More jobs were lost in June than in May. Against this backdrop, congressional Democrats want to increase taxes on the engines of job growth and innovation for our economy – small businesses.
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Taxpayers in 39 States Could Pay a Top Tax Rate Over 50%
Originally Posted At Tax Foundation
By TF Staff
July 15, 2009
Fiscal Fact No. 178
New taxes to fund the federal government's plan for higher health insurance spending continue to be debated in Washington. According to a new Bloomberg report, the top surtax rate will be 5.4 percent in the House plan.[i] That will be the top rate in a three-tiered surtax aimed at high-income tax returns...
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