Posted on March 31, 2008
In this podcast, Jim Tisch, President and CEO of Loews Corporation, and Ed McClellan, Tax Counsel at PricewaterhouseCoopers, talk to Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge about the problem of the Untied States' high corporate capital gains rate.
Mr. Tisch and Mr. McClellan explain the difference between the individual capital gains rate and the corporate capital gains rate, the problem of "locked-in" assets and their detrimental impact on business decisions and job creation, the Untied States' decreasing global competitiveness in the face of European nations that are cutting or eliminating the corporate capital gains tax, and the proposal to cut the 35 percent rate to 15 percent. (18 minutes, 2 seconds.)
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Posted on January 31, 2008
In this podcast, Nina Olson, the nation's Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS and the recipient of the Tax Foundation's 2007 Public Sector Distinguished Service Award, discuses with Scott Hodge the role of the Taxpayer Advocate in protecting taxpayer rights, the independence of the office, and the annual report she submits to Congress identifying problems facing taxpayers.
Ms. Olson explains that her office handled over 240,000 cases last year, an increasing number of which involve middle-income taxpayers. She also discusses the problems that taxpayers and the IRS face when Congress enacts end-of-the-year tax law changes and explains her recent recommendation for payments to taxpayers who have suffered the consequences of IRS mistakes. (21minutes, 20 seconds)
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Posted on January 17, 2008
Dr. William Gentry joins Tax Foundation Vice President for Economic Policy Robert Carroll to discuss who bears the burden of the corporate income tax. Dr. Gentry is an economics professor at Williams College in Massachusetts and recently wrote a paper for the Treasury Department titled A Review of the Evidence on the Incidence of the Corporate Income Tax. Dr. Gentry discusses the growing academic evidence that suggests the burden of the corporate tax is increasingly falling on labor and impacting workers directly.
(14 minutes, 26 seconds)
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Posted on December 18, 2007
Economic author and syndicated columnist Bruce Bartlett, a former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), discusses his new study on the national retail sales tax known as the FairTax. He offers his criticisms of the proposal and details on other ideas for fundamental tax reform.
Bartlett's Tax Notes article, "Why the FairTax Won't Work," is attached below.
For a competing view on the FairTax, listen to Prof. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discuss the benefits of the plan with Scott Hodge in a podcast we recorded last year.
We have also compiled a FairTax reading list, and our short Special Brief on the issue, “Tax Reform: Flat Tax or FairTax?,” is available here.
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Posted on December 12, 2007
Peter Merrill, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers' National Economic Consulting group, discusses his study that shows the United States has the OECD's second-highest corporate tax rate but realizes the fourth-lowest revenue from the tax. He offers his thoughts on the causes of and solutions to this problem, and ways for the U.S. to become more competitive and efficient.
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Posted on October 2, 2007
Alex Brill of the American Enterprise Institute discusses a new study he has done on corporate tax rates across the world and shares his observations, findings and suggestions for the future. He points out that the U.S. rate is well above that of competing nations and that the U.S. should lower its rate dramatically to improve international competitiveness.
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Posted on September 21, 2007
In this podcast, Congressman Tom Reynolds of New York discusses the debate over private equity and carried interest, the future of the AMT, and the politics and possibilities of tax reform.
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Posted on May 1, 2007
Should the federal income tax be abolished, and if so, what type of tax should replace it? What is the best solution to the Social Security problem, and can the system be reformed without increasing payroll taxes? What is the purpose of taxes, and how has a misunderstanding of the real purpose of taxation contributed to the problems with the current tax code?
In this podcast, Senator Robert Bennett discusses tax compliance costs, the regressivity of payroll taxes, the benefits of consumption taxes, his plan for reforming Social Security, and his suggestions for overhauling the federal tax code. (15 minutes, 57 seconds)
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Posted on April 17, 2007
Why are distributional analysis studies that focus solely on taxes incomplete? What can be gained from examining the spending side of the fiscal equation, and how can a recognition of the importance of both sides help policymakers seeking to fundamentally reform the tax code?
In this in-depth podcast, Tax Foundation economist Andrew Chamberlain discusses the importance of taking into account the progressivity of federal spending, which income groups pay the most taxes and receive the most spending in return, and the overall progressivity of federal fiscal policy. (21 minutes, 24 seconds).
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Posted on April 5, 2007
Which types of taxes should state and local governments rely on most heavily? Should state sales taxes exempt food and services (such as heath care and legal services), and should stares provide tax "holidays"? At the national level, would a consumption-based tax such as a value-added tax (VAT) or national retail sales tax be a better choice than the income tax?
In this wide-ranging podcast, Dr. William Fox—economics professor and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, as well as former visiting scholar for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and past president of the National Tax Association—discusses the merits of state and local reliance on property and sales taxes, sales tax exemptions and holidays, and the possibility of replacing the federal individual income tax with a consumption-based tax. (22 minutes, 27 seconds)
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Posted on March 13, 2007
What are the benefits of the President's health care reform plan and health savings accounts, and are there any potential drawbacks? Would the President's plan dissuade companies from offering health insurance to employees? If health savings accounts did not cover routine care, would this dissuade individuals from seeking preventive care?
In this in-depth podcast, U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) explains why these criticisms of health care reform plans are unfounded and discusses the importance of equal tax treatment for those who purchase health insurance on their own and those who receive it through their employers. (7 minutes, 33 seconds)
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Posted on February 27, 2007
What are the most pressing tax policy problems facing the country today, and what steps must lawmakers take to resolve them? Can Republicans, Democrats and the President work together to address these issues?
In this wide-ranging discussion, Mark Weinberger, who is the Americas Vice Chairman for Tax Services at Ernst & Young and former Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury, explains the importance of bipartisanship and cooperation between the President and Congress, the difficulties of achieving tax simplification in the face of so many attempts to implement social policy through the tax code, the possibility of reform or repeal of the alternative minimum tax, Social Security reform, and the effect of our high corporate tax rate on corporate inversion. (15 minutes, 39 seconds)
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Posted on February 13, 2007
To what extent does the federal Commerce Clause limit a state's power to tax companies that do business within its borders? Should a state be able to tax a company that has no physical presence within the state?
In this in-depth podcast, Arthur Rosen, a partner in the New York City office of the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and former Deputy Counsel of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, discusses the issue of nexus, the Commerce Clause as it relates to state taxation of business, the difference between physical presence and economic presence, the West Virginia Supreme Court case Tax Commissioner vs. MBNA America Bank, and Congress' role in the nexus debate. (13 minutes, 57 seconds)
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Posted on January 30, 2007
What are the economic drawbacks of our current employer-provided health insurance system? How did World War II price and wage controls help create the current system, and what should be done now to reform it?
In this informative podcast, Katherine Baicker, a member of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, an associate professor of public policy at the School of Public Affairs at UCLA, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses the President's health care reform plan, the ways it would address the inequities of our current system, its effect on tax burdens, and its potential impact on Social Security benefits and the long-run solvency of the Social Security system. (13 minutes, 34 seconds)
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Posted on January 16, 2007
How do gross receipts taxes differ from sales taxes, and why are these differences important? What are the drawbacks to this type of tax? How do they damage certain businesses, and who ultimately ends up paying them?
In this podcast, John Mikesell, Professor of Public Finance and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, discuses these problematic taxes, their recent reemergence in state finance, the damage they inflict on businesses, and their lack of transparency. (12 minutes, 35 seconds)
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Posted on January 9, 2007
What are the prospects for tax reform in the new Congress? Will the Democrats’ talk of earmark reform translate into action? In the absence of fundamental tax reform, are there smaller improvements that can be made to the current system?
In this podcast, Wall Street Journal columnist and author John Fund discusses the “Appropriations Party”; the problem of earmarking; lobbying; the growing complexity of the tax code; and reform possibilities for the alternative minimum tax, Social Security, and taxes on savings. (13 minutes, 31 seconds)
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Posted on December 19, 2006
Which states and counties have the highest property taxes? How are property taxes assessed, and why do Americans dislike them so much?
In this podcast, Tax Foundation Economist Gerald Prante discusses Americans’ disdain for property taxes, the assessment procedure, the states and counties with the highest property taxes, the recent astronomical increase in property tax collections, and property tax limitation efforts. (13 minutes, 21 seconds)
See full report on property tax surge.
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Posted on December 5, 2006
To what extent does taxation affect business decisions? How important are tax issues to corporations’ location choices and foreign direct investment?
In this podcast, Mihir Desai, Associate Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses various aspects of corporate taxation, including the effects of taxation on business decisions, the damage caused by the tax treatment of corporate capital gains, territoriality, the advantages of reconciling book and tax accounting, and the complacency surrounding the United States’ high corporate tax rate. (15 minutes, 17 seconds)
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Posted on November 21, 2006
In the wake of the midterm election, do elected officials have a mandate for tax reform? How much of a priority were tax issues for voters?
In this podcast, Karlyn Bowman, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the Roll Call column "POLLitics," discusses recent opinion polls that shed some light on voters’ priorities during and after the election, and explains the public’s unenthusiastic reaction to the recent good news regarding the stock market and unemployment. (10 minutes, 31 seconds)
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Posted on November 7, 2006
How does tax policy affect the pricing and trading of stocks? Now that electronic commerce and intangibles such as information and technology have begun to replace the “bricks and mortar” economy, what role, if any, should the corporate income tax play in this new economy?
In this podcast, Douglas Shackelford, Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation and Director of the University of North Carolina Tax Center, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses the effect of cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes on the stock market; double taxation; the conformity of book and tax accounting; and the viability of the corporate income tax in an economy increasingly comprised of intangible goods. (18 minutes, 2 seconds)
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Posted on October 31, 2006
In recent years, there has been talk of levying high taxes on fast food, soda and other “junk food” to stem the tide on obesity. Is this an appropriate use of the tax code? Should the government use taxation as a way to promote healthy eating? Also, what are the differences between state corporate income taxes and gross receipts taxes, and is there room for either one in a 21st-century tax system?
In this podcast, David Brunori, Executive Vice President of Editorial Operations at Tax Analysts, discusses the drawbacks of state corporate income taxes and gross receipts taxes, as well as the economic case against using taxes to change consumers’ food choices (14 minutes, 2 seconds).
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Posted on October 24, 2006
State tax systems are complex, and their provisions vary widely. Which state tax systems represent sound tax policy? How can lawmakers judge the quality of their tax codes relative to neighboring states?
In this podcast, Tax Foundation researchers Curtis Dubay and Chris Atkins discuss the recent release of the 2007 State Business Tax Climate Index, which provides a comprehensive ranking of the "business friendliness" of the 50 state tax systems (11 minutes, 19 seconds).
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Posted on October 17, 2006
Has recent tax policy increased income inequality? Do federal budget rules really restrain spending? How do corporate income taxes affect the wages of U.S workers?
In this podcast, Kevin Hassett, Resident Scholar and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, discusses the effectiveness of federal budget rules, the worldwide impact of the corporate income tax on wages, and the relationship between budget deficits and recent tax policy (11 minutes, 10 seconds).
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Posted on October 10, 2006
The United States is increasingly linked to the world economy through trade and investment. But does the current tax system help or hinder this process of integration into the world economy?
In this podcast, Robert Carroll, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the U.S. Treasury, discusses principles of fundamental tax reform, the costs of federal tax compliance, and the impact of the current tax code on U.S. international competitiveness (12 minutes, 20 seconds).
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Posted on October 3, 2006
Reforming the federal tax code makes good economic sense. But does it make good political sense as well? What will it take to build bipartisan support for fundamental tax reform in the coming years?
In this podcast, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Member of the Senate Finance Committee and Budget Committee, discusses the need for fundamental tax reform, the "Fair Flat Tax Act of 2005," and the challenge of building bipartisan support for federal tax reform (10 minutes, 31 seconds).
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