archive

Your taxes aren’t high

From the Congressional Research Service, a report on “Statutory, Average, and Effective Marginal Tax Rates in the Federal Individual Income Tax: Background and Analysis”. Alexia Fernandez Campbell interviews Jeffrey Birnbaum, an expert on the 1986 tax reform, on why this time it’s going to be harder. A tax overhaul would be great in theory — here’s why it’s so hard in practice. Republicans are floating a tax reform plan that could threaten Social Security. Susan C. Morse (Texas): Taxing the $2.5 Trillion. This loophole will let hedge fund managers dodge $18 billion in taxes this year. Nick Buffie on how the U.S. tax code actually doesn’t “soak the rich”. Democrats have a new strategy to keep up the pressure on Trump — it might work.

Growing up with the war tax resisters: In an era of extremist government, there may be something to be learned from an extreme devotion to political beliefs. The introduction to Read My Lips: Why Americans Are Proud to Pay Taxes by Vanessa S. Williamson. These 4 questions could change your views on tax fairness — here’s how pliable our tax attitudes are. Sorry America, your taxes aren’t high. Dylan Matthews on the myth of the 70,000-page federal tax code. Filing taxes could be free and simple — but H&R Block and Intuit are still lobbying against it.