In January 1969, Treasury Secretary Joseph W. Barr informed Congress that 155 individual taxpayers with incomes exceeding $200,000 had paid no federal income tax in 1966. The news created a political restorm. In 1969, members of Congress received more constituent letters about the 155 taxpayers...

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a complex, unfair, and inefficient shadow tax system that threatens to affect 32 million taxpayers by 2010, many of them solidly middle class. Under current law, repealing the AMT without offsets would cost more than $850 billion through 2017. This paper...

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a complex, unfair, and inefficient shadow tax system that threatens to affect 32 million taxpayers by 2010, many of them solidly middle class. Under current law, repealing the AMT without offsets would cost more than $850 billion through 2017. This paper...

We examine the evolution of marginal federal income tax rates from 1980 to 1995 using panel and crosssectional data. Marginal rates fell dramatically for most taxpayers. Whereas in 1980 three-quarters of taxpayers faced statutory tax rates above 15 percent, less than one-quarter of taxpayers...