The Deduction

Sales taxes go beyond a few extra bucks at the register. It’s not just about what you pay, but who pays. What are the implications of state sales tax bases across the U.S.?  Katherine Loughead , Senior Policy Analyst & Research Manager at the Tax Foundation, joins Kyle Hulehan . Together, we'll uncover the core principles behind an efficient sales tax system and examine how taxing busines...

Today, we're exploring the intricacies of the latest congressional act stirring up Washington—The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024.  Erica York , Senior Economist and Research Director at the Tax Foundation, joins Kyle Hulehan to dissect its key features, including the restoration of crucial business investment provisions, an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, and chan...

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.  He’s passing down essential knowledge on understanding taxes, showing students tha...

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. Garrett Watson, Senior Policy Analyst and Modeling Manager at the Tax Foundation, joins Kyle Hulehan to discuss why the U.S. is struggling to save and what solutions exist within...

October is economic education month. An important part of economic education is understanding how taxes affect the economy. On this special episode of The Deduction , we discuss how Tax Foundation is doing just that through our tax literacy initiative, "TaxEDU."  Zoe Callaway, Manager of Education and Outreach, joins Kyle Hulehan to chat about why Tax Foundation launched TaxEDU and how T...

Step into the shadows of illicit trade where taxation, incentives, and criminal networks intersect to fuel the lucrative cigarette smuggling market. Adam Hoffer, the Director of Excise Tax Policy, joins Kyle Hulehan to shed light on how substantial price markups on legal cigarettes pave the way for tempting tax avoidance opportunities. They unravel the unintended consequences of cigarette taxation...

The Inflation Reduction Act is an ambitious law with worthy goals to reduce deficits, fight inflation, help the IRS, and combat climate change. However, one year after its enactment, there are concerns about its overall fiscal impact, the additional complexity it introduces to the tax system, and the sustainability of its initiatives.  Will McBride, Vice President of Federal Tax Policy at the Tax...

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?  Alan Cole, Senior Economist at the Tax Foundation, joins us to explore the complex effects of interest rate changes. We discuss how these shifts can impact everything, from budget deficits and t...

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. South Dakota v. Wayfair established a new precedent, allowing states to assert their authority in collecting sales tax from remote sellers based on economic presence. Jared Walczak, Vice President of State P...

On this “not-so-heavy-on-the-policy” episode, our much-beloved host, Jesse Solis, is joined by the Deduction's Senior Producer, Dan Carvajal, and Marketing Associate, Kyle Hulehan, to share some bittersweet news. If you follow us on social media, you've undoubtedly come across something Kyle created. He is no stranger to the Tax Foundation, having interned here in 2018 and rejoining full...

The past few years have brought a renewed push from countries across the globe to combat climate change. In the European Union, policymakers have put a timeline on their climate agenda. By 2050, the EU wants to achieve a net-zero economy. Sean Bray, director of European policy, breaks down how much it would cost to achieve this goal. He also discusses the similarities and differences between the E...

The FairTax, on paper, sounds simple: just replace all major sources of the federal government’s revenue—the individual income tax, corporate income tax, estate and gift taxes, and payroll tax—with a national sales tax. But when you pull back the curtains, this proposal leads to more questions than answers. Alan Cole, senior economist, makes his Deduction debut to talk us through why this old idea...

The tax base around the world is shrinking for traditional excise taxes, including taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and motor fuel. But newer excise taxes on things like carbon, cannabis, and ride-sharing are on the rise. This trend has the potential to significantly affect the global economy. Adam Hoffer, Director of Excise Tax Policy, joins Jesse to discuss how excise taxes have been used by policymak...

When we discuss tax policy, the conversation inevitably turns to who pays, who should pay, and how much they should pay. Unfortunately, the tax burdens debate is often missing a key point: how income transfer programs—like Social Security or Medicaid—affect households’ tax burdens. When looking at the whole picture, just how progressive is our tax code? Timothy Vermeer, senior policy analyst, join...

President Biden recently released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2024. As he has with previous budgets, the president is continuing to call for higher taxes on businesses and wealthy taxpayers. This may be the last budget President Biden releases before he announces a run for a second term. The White House says this budget will reduce the deficit, strengthen Medicare, and will only target the...

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. Large programs like the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and other initiatives like rehabilitation tax credits and grants, have created a web of complexity that makes these policies less h...

Filing season is ramping up, as most of us are getting ready to file our state and federal income taxes. But in nearly a third of U.S. states, taxpayers pay some sort of local income tax too. Levied in thousands of cities, counties, school districts, and other localities, local income taxes are often used to either lower other taxes (like property taxes) or raise more revenue for local services. W...

On Tuesday, President Biden shared his policy aspirations during the State of the Union address. The commander in chief outlined three tax proposals in his remarks: quadrupling the brand-new excise tax on stock buybacks, instituting a “billionaire minimum tax,” and extending the now-lapsed expanded Child Tax Credit. Erica York and Alex Muresianu from the federal tax policy team joined Jesse to giv...

Since 2021, 43 states have provided substantial tax relief for taxpayers and businesses. But this year, a new trend has emerged in the opposite direction: a push for states to tax investment. From coordinated wealth tax proposals to higher capital gains income taxes, some state legislatures are going after high earners. Jared Walczak, V.P. of State Projects at the Tax Foundation, joins Jesse to di...

It’s a new year. And if one thing is certain, it’s that businesses are facing a lot of uncertainty. Key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 are kicking into effect, including the new book minimum tax. Erica York, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, joins Jesse to discuss why this policy came into the fold. They discuss if this tax will really stop companies from paying zero in taxes,...

When it comes to international economic competition, people often frame the argument as the U.S. versus China. But across the Atlantic, nation-states in the European Union have been working hard to show the world that they deserve to be considered an economic force. Rising up to this challenge for the EU is easier said than done. Sean Bray, EU policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, joins Jesse to t...

Tax Foundation recently announced that Daniel Bunn is our new president and CEO. In this special episode of The Deduction ¸ Daniel chats with Jesse about how he got into tax policy. They discuss his time in the Senate, his plans for Tax Foundation’s future, and even his obsession with smoking meats. Links: https://taxfoundation.org/staff/daniel-bunn/ https://twitter.com/danieldbunn https://www.lin...

The 2022 midterm elections are wrapping up, and taxpayers are looking at a divided Congress for the next two years. Senior Policy Analyst Garrett Watson sits down with Jesse at Tax Foundation's headquarters to give a quick analysis of what these elections mean for tax policy. They talk through what we can expect from the approaching "lame-duck" session, what a Republican House and D...

If you’ve been following taxes closely these past few months, you know that the UK is currently undergoing a drastic change. This episode of The Deduction is part one in our ongoing coverage of the UK’s tax battles. Jesse chats with Tom Clougherty, research director and head of tax at the Centre for Policy Studies in London. Tom talks us through what all went down in the UK this fall: from the lea...

From the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 to the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law just this summer, lawmakers across the political spectrum are often tempted to implement temporary tax reforms. But is this how tax policy should be done? Garrett Watson joins Jesse to discuss the pros and cons of writing tax laws that have an end date and why we find ourselves having a debate at the end of each...