The Tax Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Income Tax, Corporate Tax, and Fiscal Conversations

Episode 30 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into the real-world impact of carbon pricing on corporate decision-making. Lucas and Luna examine how Canada's federal carbon pricing system—currently at C$80 per tonne and rising to C$170 by 2030—has influenced investment patterns in heavy industry. They explore the concept of 'carbon leakage' and discuss the new Border Carbon Adjustment mechanism propos...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how the multi-billion-dollar football (soccer) transfer market is structured to minimize tax liabilities. They explain the mechanics of transfer fees, agent commissions, image rights payments, and player loan arrangements that allow clubs and players to legally reduce tax burdens across jurisdictions. Using real-world examples like the transfer of Neymar fro...

Episode 28 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into corporate tax inversions—the practice where U.S. companies reincorporate abroad to lower their tax bill. Lucas and Luna examine the 2016 Obama-era rules that effectively killed the Pfizer-Allergan $160 billion merger, and how subsequent Treasury regulations have reshaped cross-border M&A. They break down the key metric: the 80% continuity-of-ownershi...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle one of the most emotionally charged tax policies: the federal estate tax, commonly called the death tax. They drill into how the tax actually works for family farms and small businesses, using the 2026 exemption amount of $13.61 million per person as a concrete anchor. They explain the portability election, the marital deduction, and...

Property taxes are the single biggest source of local government revenue in the United States, yet most homeowners never challenge their assessment. In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through a real case from Cook County, Illinois, where a homeowner saved $4,700 per year by successfully appealing a tax assessment that was 38% higher than comparable homes. They explain the three-legged stool of p...

Episode 25 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into the real-world impact of sin taxes—levies on alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks designed to discourage consumption. Lucas and Luna examine a 2023 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research that found a 10% increase in soda taxes reduced consumption by 11% in Philadelphia, but also led to a 5% increase in cross-border shopping to avoid the t...

Lucas and Luna dive into the regressive nature of tax compliance costs, revealing that small businesses spend 8 times more per dollar of revenue on tax preparation than large corporations. They discuss a 2024 study from the National Taxpayer Advocate showing small firms spend an average of $1,200 per employee on compliance versus $150 for Fortune 500 companies. Lucas explains how complexity from t...

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act introduced a 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services to help fund health care expansion. Fifteen years later, the tanning tax is still on the books — raising far less revenue than expected, hitting small salons disproportionately, and offering a fascinating case study in how obscure taxes survive political change. Lucas and Luna walk through the tax's traj...

Episode 22 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into the Section 199A Qualified Business Income deduction, created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Lucas and Luna break down how this complex provision was intended to help small businesses but has largely benefited high-income owners of pass-through entities. They examine specific data from the Joint Committee on Taxation showing that over 60% of the...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna unpack Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, the provision that lets small businesses immediately deduct the full cost of qualifying equipment up to $1.16 million in 2026. They trace its origin to a 1958 law aimed at helping Main Street compete with large corporations, walk through how a bakery in Ohio used it to buy a $90,000 oven and...

The Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) was introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and took effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022. It's a 15% minimum tax on adjusted financial statement income for corporations with average annual adjusted financial statement income exceeding $1 billion. Lucas and Luna break down how CAMT differs from the old corporate AMT, which co...

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act capped the state and local tax deduction at $10,000 — and the political battle over that cap has only intensified. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how the SALT cap has created a fiscal tug-of-war between high-tax blue states like New York and California and low-tax red states like Texas and Florida. They look at the real-dollar impact on homeowners in Westche...

This episode of The Tax Policy Podcast breaks down the most common misconception in personal finance: the idea that moving into a higher tax bracket can leave you with less take-home pay. Lucas and Luna explain how marginal tax brackets actually function, using a concrete example of a single filer earning $60,000 a year. They trace the history of the term 'tax bracket' back to the Revenue Act of 1...

Lucas and Luna dive into the obscure world of the luxury tax on private aircraft, a provision from the Inflation Reduction Act that even many tax professionals overlook. They unpack how a 10% excise tax applies to the portion of a private jet sale price exceeding $250,000, why it only affects brand-new planes, and how it has reshaped the business aviation market since 2023. The hosts examine the t...

Lucas and Luna unpack the digital services tax (DST) — a levy targeting revenue from user data and advertising. They trace its origins to the EU's 2018 proposal, current adoption in over 40 countries, and the OECD's stalled global framework. The episode focuses on France's 3% DST, which raised 600 million euros in 2025, and the US retaliation via tariff threats. They discuss how DSTs affect Big Te...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the Research and Development tax credit—a policy that has quietly shaped corporate innovation since 1981. They break down how the credit works, why it was designed to encourage domestic R&D spending, and how companies like pharmaceutical giant Pfizer rely on it to offset the massive costs of drug development. The hosts also discuss...

Episode 14 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into transfer pricing — the accounting rules that let multinationals shift profits across borders. Lucas and Luna break down how companies like Apple and Starbucks have used these rules to pay single-digit tax rates, why the OECD's 2021 global minimum tax deal is reshaping the game in 2026, and what the 'arm's length principle' actually means. They walk t...

Episode 13 of The Tax Policy Podcast dives into the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) — a 3.8% surtax that affects high-income investors but often catches people off guard. Lucas and Luna break down its origin in the Affordable Care Act, the income thresholds ($200,000 single/$250,000 married), and what counts as 'investment income' versus earned income. They discuss a common scenario: a retired co...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a tool used by cities to subsidize development using future property tax gains. They break down how a TIF district works with a concrete example—a $50 million mixed-use project in a Midwestern city—and examine the trade-offs: Does TIF spur growth or simply shift tax burdens? They discuss a 2025 study s...

Lucas and Luna break down the complex world of international tax treaties, focusing on how the U.S. uses them to prevent double taxation. They explore a key example: a U.S.-based tech consultant working remotely from Portugal, and how the treaty between the two countries decides which government gets the tax. The hosts explain the 'tiebreaker' rules for residency, the concept of permanent establis...

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction, which had an unexpected effect on charitable giving in America. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the number of households itemizing deductions dropped from roughly 30 percent to about 10 percent, and what that meant for donations to nonprofits. They look at the specific data from the American Enterprise Institute and...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle the carbon tax debate from a fiscal perspective, zeroing in on Canada's federal backstop program as a case study. They explain how a carbon tax works mechanically—who pays, who gets rebated—and why economists across the political spectrum often prefer it to regulations or subsidies. Lucas points to the Canadian example, where househo...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna examine the explosive growth of tax-loss harvesting — a strategy that lets investors offset capital gains by selling losing positions, and how it has ballooned into a massive industry worth over $30 billion in tax benefits annually. They trace its origins from a niche 1970s loophole to its current status as a core feature of robo-advisors l...

In this episode of The Tax Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the lasting impact of the 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act on today's tax code. They focus on the specific case of capital gains tax rates — how a 28-year-old law created the preference for long-term gains over short-term, and how that structure has shaped investor behavior, housing markets, and even corporate payout policies. Lucas breaks...

Episode 6 of The Tax Policy Podcast drills into the 14 percent effective state tax rate gap between the highest- and lowest-tax US states. Lucas and Luna unpack why a tech worker in California pays roughly twice the state income tax of a peer in Texas, how the 2017 SALT cap reshaped migration patterns, and what a 2025 study from the Tax Foundation reveals about taxpayer mobility. They also discuss...