This article reviews the tax side of Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal, which was released to much fanfare on April 5, 2011. It finds that the plan has insufficient detail to allow a thorough analysis and has many unsupported assumptions that are unlikely to be true. This may explain why Ryan...

This article discusses the prospects for long-term deficit reduction given the strenuous opposition to higher taxes by influential Republican adviser Grover Norquist, who has gotten virtually every Republican in Congress to sign his no-new-taxes pledge

Henry Simons was a University of Chicago economist who had enormous influence on tax policy, being a coauthor of the Haig-Simons definition of income. Although Simons was very conservative, indeed a libertarian, he has been heavily criticized by conservatives for facilitating liberal tax...

This articles examines newly published OECD data on taxes as a share of GDP. It argues that the percentage for the U.S. understates the true burden of government because it excludes tax expenditures. The data overstate the percentage for European countries because those countries provide health...

This article criticizes a proposal recently put forward by the co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to abolish all tax expenditures and sharply reduce statutory tax rates. The author believes that abolishing all tax expenditures without regard to merit or a...

This article reviews various options for tax reform, emphasizing that the choice of tax rates and tax base are separate issues for achieving different things. Liberals generally support progressive rates and an income base, while conservatives generally support a flat rate on a consumption base....

This article discusses the tax treatment of capital gains at death. In 2001, Congress enacted carryover basis beginning this year, meaning that heirs inherit the original basis for tax purposes along with the assets. When they are sold, they are supposed to pay taxes on all the gains accrued...

In this article, the author reviews the history of taxing sin in the United States, showing that revenue needs usually triumph over sumptuary considerations. He suggests that this may lead to legalization of at least some illegal drugs so that they can be taxed, as recently proposed in...

There have been a number of proposals lately to impose a new tax on securities or financial transactions, both as a revenue measure and a way of disciplining Wall Street speculation. This article argues that such a tax would be a bad idea and that it makes more sense to tax financial activities...