Posts Tagged ‘deductions’
Cheap Charity
By raising marginal tax rates for the upper 1% of the population from 35% to 39.6%, passage of the fiscal cliff avoidance bill will encourage increased charitable giving by the rich because it’s cheaper! To be precise, it’s 7.8% cheaper even after the phase-out of Schedule A deductions is considered. This unintended consequence will result…
Read MoreRegressive Deductions
While 30 million taxpayers benefit by taking the deduction for state and local taxes paid, half of all the benefits go to just three million taxpayers with AGIs over $200,000. Worse, the loophole encourages state and local governments to be profligate and provide more and fancier services than they otherwise would. Eliminating this deduction would…
Read MoreThe Supremes
Opponents of healthcare reform (PPACA) contend it’s unconstitutional, as it forces us to buy health insurance or pay a fine. But is it? Suppose the IRS raised our taxes by the penalty amount, then gave everyone with insurance a deduction equal to the penalty? This would be functionally equivalent to the PPACA tax provisions. It’s…
Read MoreBigger Than You Think!
How big is the US welfare state? Bigger than you think! In Europe, governments subsidize industry, and provide healthcare and day-care, through high taxes. Here we do the same thing, but with special (charitable, medical) deductions, (childcare) tax credits and exemptions. Adding back these items (totaling $600 billion) increases government spending by 20%! This puts…
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