Exploring the Impact of the 2024 Tax Relief Act
We’re exploring the intricacies of the latest congressional act stirring up Washington—The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024.
Welcome to The Deduction, a Tax Foundation podcast and your guide to the complicated world of tax and economics.
From the impacts of tariffs and trade wars to debates over who pays and how much, each episode, our experts untangle another aspect of the tax code.
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Tackling Financial Literacy with Jed Collins
Financial literacy is a problem that educators around the country are trying to tackle. Today, we’re speaking with Jed Collins, a former NFL player, who is leading the charge in the financial education arena by guiding high school and college students, as well as professional athletes, through the world of finance.
Saving Americans’ Dwindling Savings
Americans are saving less. While the U.S. saving rate has regularly lagged behind its peers, it has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Increasingly, people are turning to credit cards to fill the gaps in their budgets.
Economic Education Month and TaxEDU
Its economic education month and understanding how taxes affect the economy is important. We pull back the curtain to discuss why the Tax Foundation launched its tax literacy initiative, TaxEDU.
Prohibition by Price
Step into the shadows of illicit trade where taxation, incentives, and criminal networks intersect to fuel the lucrative cigarette smuggling market.
The Inflation Reduction Act One Year Later
One year after its enactment, there are concerns about the Inflation Reduction Acts overall fiscal impact, the additional complexity it introduces to the tax system, and the sustainability of its initiatives.
Interesting Interest Rates
Interest rates and tax policy, two vital components of our economic landscape, often interact in fascinating ways. They influence the behavior of individuals, businesses, and governments. But how exactly?
Who Will Pay for the Roads? The Future of Transportation Taxes
What can the U.S. do to raise the revenue needed for infrastructure upkeep and accurately internalize the costs associated with road usage?
The Wayfair Sales Tax Ruling, Five Years Later
It’s the 5th anniversary of the groundbreaking Wayfair Supreme Court decision–a ruling that marked a new era of sales tax collection and changed how we think about taxation in the digital age.
Rethinking Affordable Housing Tax Policy
Affordable housing is an issue that has had long-standing bipartisan interest in D.C. But the path to increase the supply of affordable housing, though often well-intentioned, has created a bureaucratic nightmare.
Unpacking the State and Local Tax Toolkit
Maine has blueberry taxes. Alabama has mosquito taxes. Each state and county has its tax quirks. But when state and local governments want to raise revenues, there are four key taxes they turn to.
The FairTax?
The FairTax, on paper, sounds simple. But when you pull back the curtains, this proposal leads to more questions than answers.
Recent Episodes
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States on the Move: Cutting Across Party Lines
After a whirlwind of cuts and reforms in 2021, it looks like 2022 might be an even bigger year for state tax codes. Republican and Democratic governors alike used their annual State of the State addresses to call for tax reform, and there is already serious momentum from state lawmakers nationwide to get the job done. We discuss why states are looking to make so many tax changes now and how these proposals might play out in statehouses.
Tax Season’s Greetings
The 2022 tax filing season is about to begin. With expected delays, pandemic-related troubles, and a backlog of over 8 million unprocessed returns from the 2021 tax filing season, Garrett Watson joins Jesse Solis to discuss what all these troubles will mean for taxpayers in what is shaping up to be a chaotic spring.
A Stimulating COVID-19 Discussion
New research shows that the United States had the second largest fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic globally. But did this magnitude of stimulus have the economic impact policymakers were hoping for?
Taxing Decisions, 2021: Minisode 4, Waiting on the Senate
Senior policy analyst Garrett Watson joins host Jesse Solis to discuss the Build Back Better Act’s prospects and what tax changes—ranging from the SALT deduction to the Child Tax Credit—could change in order to gain enough support for passage.
Taxing Decisions, 2021: Minisode 3 Revenge of the SALT
Infrastructure has made its way across the finish line, but the tax debate is far from over on Capitol Hill. Senior policy analyst Garrett Watson joins host Jesse Solis to walk us through the latest iteration of Democrats’ trillion-dollar reconciliation package and the myriad tax changes that are being proposed to finance this deal.
Taxing Decisions, 2021: Minisode 2
President Biden and Congressional Democrats introduced a scaled-back proposal of their reconciliation package, with House leadership saying they hope to vote on this new trillion-dollar package ASAP. We talk through what made it into the deal, what was cut, and what the impact of these tax changes would be.
Wireless with Strings Attached
As of 2020, there were 448 million active cell phone and wireless plans in the U.S. than there were Americans. The taxes on those plans brought in approximately $11.3 billion and constituted a record 24.96 percent of the cost of an average cell phone bill. Explore why cellphone taxes are climbing, the places they’re the highest, the consumers they impact the most, and how things can be improved.
Federal Policy is Hard
Federal policy is hard. Federal health care policy during reconciliation while governing with razor-thin margins is really, really hard. We break down the debate on Capitol Hill over drug pricing and what the tradeoffs would be of having the federal government set prescription drug prices.
Taxing Decisions, 2021: Minisode 1
We discuss where the reconciliation package on Capitol Hill stands and talk through recent Tax Foundation modeling, which found that the plan may not have the economic boost its proponents have claimed.
Wake Me Up when Reconciliation Ends
Reconciliation. One word that drives D.C. crazy, yet has been the way some of Congress’s most monumental bills have become law. We discuss why this complex budget process is back in the mix as Congress gears up to advance President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar tax agenda.
The One About Crypto
How should policymakers view crypto? How big is the issue of tax evasion in the cryptocurrency market and what can realistically be done to curb it? Is it possible to design a rational tax system around what, at times, can appear to be a less-than-rational market and, if so, what should it look like?
Tackling the Tax Gap: What Can Be Achieved?
Learn about the tax gap, what it is, how the U.S. compares to other countries, and recent proposals aimed at closing it. We also explore how much revenue could actually be raised through increased tax enforcement, the current challenges the IRS faces, and how stronger enforcement could impact taxpayers at large.
The State of State Income Taxes
On this episode of The Deduction, host Jesse Solis and Senior Policy Analyst Katherine Loughead explore how stronger-than-expected revenues and increased workplace flexibility have led to a wave of reforms aimed at enhancing tax competitiveness in states around the country.
Semiconducting Tax Policy
If you’ve read any headlines in the last few months, you’ve no doubt heard about the semiconductor shortage gripping global supply chain—and if you’ve tried to buy anything from a toaster to a car, you’ve witnessed it firsthand. But what’s really driving today’s crisis, can the U.S. manufacture its way out of it, and what role does tax and economic policy have to play in all this?
G7 Agrees to Global Minimum Tax
One of the hottest topics in the tax world today is the recent announcement by G7 finance ministers that they would support enacting a new, 15-percent global minimum tax. We dive into the economic and political implications and how such a tax would impact global economies, revenues, and real people.
States Consider Digital Taxes Amidst Conflicting Rationales
Across the U.S., policymakers of both parties have developed a strong interest in taxing large technology companies through digital advertising taxes, social media taxes, and data taxes. Join Tax Foundation’s Daniel Bunn and Jared Walczak as they untangle the complex and sometimes contradictory world of state digital taxes.
Pleading GILTI: A Guide to the Complicated World of Global Intangible Low Tax Income
On this episode of The Deduction, we speak with Pam Olson, Tax Foundation Board Member and Consultant on Tax Policy Services at PwC, about the tax on Global Intangible Low Tax Income, or “GILTI.” In 2017, GILTI was implemented as a minimum tax designed to disincentivize U.S. companies from shifting profits overseas, but it doesn’t work how drafters intended, and now President Biden has proposed doubling it.
Recreational Cannabis Taxes
The legalization and taxation of recreational marijuana remains one of the hottest trends in state taxation. New York recently became one of the latest states to legalize it. Join us as we dive into the complex world of marijuana taxation and explain how policymakers should approach designing such taxes.
The World of Excise Taxation
Marijuana, betting, soda, ride-sharing—over the last decade, the excise tax family has grown significantly and it’s more crucial than ever that lawmakers, businesses, and consumers understand the possibilities and, more importantly, limitations of excise tax application.
How Should R&D Be Taxed?
R&D is more important than ever as pharmaceutical companies and governments around the world invest in coronavirus research and supply chains. But are the policies currently on the books—the R&D credit and immediate deduction for R&D expenses—the best way to encourage innovation?