We examine preretirement lump sum distributions (LSDs) from pension plans, which have grown significantly in recent years. Most LSD recipients do not roll over the funds into qualified accounts, but the likelihood of rollover rises for larger distributions. We find evidence suggesting that tax...

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...

Originally targeted at high-income households, the individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) is now on the verge of switching from a “class tax” to a “mass tax.” Under current law, the AMT will encroach dramatically on the middle-class over the next decade and will become the de facto tax...

We examine retirement savers' choices between front- and back-loaded tax incentives, such as traditional and Roth IRAs, respectively. With equal dollar contribution limits, back-loaded plans shelter more funds than front-loaded plans. This implies that Roth IRAs can be the preferred choice even...

Previous theoretical analyses of the capital gains tax have suggested that investors have considerable opportunity to avoid the tax. Yet, past empirical work has found relatively little evidence of such activity. Using a previously unavailable panel data set with a very large sample of...

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...