We examine the measurement of tax expenditures, as well as review issues concerning the classification of tax … estimating tax expenditures. Unlike most previous work on the topic, we focus on how features of the current tax system including … the alternative minimum tax and sunset rules complicate and compromise the value of information provided by the tax …

Limiting tax expenditures can raise revenue without increasing marginal tax rates. Such a policy is equivalent to … reducing government spending now done as subsidies through the tax code for a wide range of household spending and income. This … paper explores one way of limiting tax expenditures: a cap on the total reduction in tax liabilities that each individual …

This paper presents estimates of the tax benefits generated by a sample of U.S. mergers and acquisitions involving two … another sample of "pseudomergers" that did not occur to determine the impact of these tax benefits on the probability of two … that the tax losses and credits of acquired firms likewise exerted no impact on merger activity. Though the use of such …

This paper describes the current estate and gift tax rules that apply to intergenerational transfers in the United … States. It summarizes the incentives for inter vivos giving as a strategy for reducing estate tax liability. It shows that ….5 million, roughly four times the net worth at which the estate tax takes effect, only about forty-five percent take advantage …

induced by the expansions. Putting this together with the estimated increase in tax payments discounted at a 3% rate, assuming … that tax impacts are persistent in percentage terms, the government will recoup 56 cents of each dollar spent on childhood … Medicaid by the time these children reach age 60. This return on investment does not take into account other benefits that …

Over three-quarters of US taxpayers receive income tax refunds, indicating tax prepayments above the level of tax … this behavior: precautionary behavior in light of tax uncertainty and/or a forced savings motive. I present evidence on a … third explanation: inertia. I find that tax filers only partially adjust tax prepayments in response to changes in default …

This paper examines the distributional and behavioral effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). We chart the … growth of the program over time, and argue several expansions show that real responses to taxes are important. We use tax … data to show the distribution of benefits by income and family size, and examine the impacts of hypothetical reforms …

provide the first comprehensive estimates of this central safety net policy on the full distribution of after-tax and transfer … income. We use a quasi-experiment approach, using variation in generosity due to policy expansions across tax years and … employment and a 9.4 percentage point reduction in the share of families with after-tax and transfer income below 100% poverty …

In a series of major expansions starting in 1987, the earned income tax credit (EITC) has become a central part of the … federal government's anti-poverty strategy. In this paper, we examine the impact of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86), which …