Politicians often stress that marriage is a key institution that promotes family values. However, many aspects of the federal tax code do not promote marriage and may in fact provide disincentives and penalize marriage. As an alternative to marriage, cohabitation is a common choice for...

Lawmakers have long used the tax code for purposes far beyond simply collecting revenue to fund the federal government. Through the insertion of specialized tax provisions, the tax code is used to achieve policy and political aims as well. But these special provisions come at a price: economic...

The report examines tax policy uncertainty, noting that academic literature on tax uncertainty has failed to address so-called rent seeking. The authors build on the work of Baumol (1990), who contends that it is not just the degree of entrepreneurship that is central to economic growth but also...

The U.S. faces tremendous short-term policy uncertainty, including about $5.4 trillion in tax increases over the next decade. These changes are set to take effect on January 1, 2013. It is unlikely that these changes will fully materialize, but what will happen is anyone's guess. Over the long...

The $69 billion mortgage interest deduction (MID) is often viewed as an element of the tax code that promotes middle-class prosperity. However, 64 percent of the benefits, as measured by effective tax reduction, goes to households earning more than $100,000 per year. The large variation in...

During the Russian Aliyah of the 1990s, 800,000 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union arrived in Israel increasing the local population within ten years by 18%. Within only three years, there was a negligible effect on unemployment and native wages despite the significant influx of immigrants....

The 1986 Tax Reform Act (TRA86) was designed to improve three aspects of the tax code: efficiency, equity, and simplicity. TRA86 accomplished all three goals in some measure by reducing the standard rates, increasing the standard deduction, and ending various tax expenditures that distributed...