We use panel data from W-2 records for households in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the responsiveness of 401(k) saving to taxation, employer matching, and lifecycle factors. The limit on the tax deductibility of IRA contributions enacted in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 appears...

Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) are designed to promote employee stock ownership broadly within the firm and provide another tax–deferred vehicle for individual capital accumulation in addition to traditional pensions, 401(k)s, and stock options. We outline the individual and corporate...

Attempts to see whether anything can be learned from a comparative analysis of the techniques used in eleven industrialized countries to allow for family responsibilities in income taxes. Highlights patterns among these countries in the tax treatment of the family and illustrates the mix and...

This paper uses the Health and Retirement Study to examine the extent of retirement wealth erosion from pre-retirement lump-sum pension distributions. There is little evidence that spent distributions have resulted in significant pension leakage. If spent distributions had been rolled over into...

Includes a description of tax-subsidized savings accounts for first-time home buyers sponsored by the Canadian government between 1974 and 1985. Tax savings, institutional features, participation patterns, and effects on the Canadian housing market are examined.

The continued rise in the number of non-elderly Americans without health insurance has led to considerable interest in tax-based policies to raise the level of insurance coverage. This paper describes a detailed microsimulation model that has been developed to evaluate such tax-based policies,...

This paper reviews the issues raised by and the impacts of the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance. After reviewing the arguments for and against this policy, I present evidence from a micro-simulation model on the impacts on federal revenue, insurance coverage, and income...

The Social Security earnings test reduces payments to beneficiaries whose labor income exceeds a given threshold. We investigate the impact of this rule by studying the significant changes in its structure over the past 25 years. We find that the earnings test exerts no robust influence on the...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most comprehensive reform of the U.S. medical system in at least 45 years. The ACA transforms the non-group insurance market in the United States, mandates that most residents have health insurance, significantly expands public...