Washington Wire
Talking Taxes in a Truck Episode 48: What Are They Thinking Out There?
On our latest episode we’re joined by Jack Salmon, Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and contributor to The Unseen and Unsaid. Jack helps us walk through how the aggressive tax policies being considered in California and Washington State will likely shrink the tax base in those states as high earners relocate, investment shifts elsewhere, and revenue projections miss the mark. We also touch on the federal tax outlook and some of the massive …
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California Wealth Tax Misses the Target
A new paper out of the Tax Policy Network on the “one-time” California wealth tax initiative highlights just how untethered the proponents’ revenue estimates are from reality. The assumptions driving the initiative are so thin, they call into question whether this initiative is designed to raise revenue, or simply punish rich people.
Here’s the key graph:
Where do the estimates come from? The group of economists who …
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SALT Parity State of Play
SALT Parity State of Play
Adoption of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act last July was a huge win for Main Street – a win that included locking in $20 billion of annual savings through our SALT Parity efforts. With the SALT cap now permanent, those parity laws enacted in 36 states are more important than ever.
Just as important – making sure the benefits are broad and stay in place. That means making certain …
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Washington Post vs. Washington State
Over the weekend, the Washington Post offered a welcome dose of clarity in the debate over who really bears the burden of higher taxes. As the Board put it:
Taxing ‘the rich’ would affect most private-sector workers, who are employed by pass-throughs but are not rich themselves. Jacking up taxes on small employers isn’t going to help make the American economy fairer or more competitive.
This is a big issue that we touched on just …
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The Economy Beyond Wall Street
If you follow financial news, you could be forgiven for thinking the American economy begins and ends with Nvidia, Apple, and a handful of other S&P 500 giants.
But a recent analysis from Apollo’s Torsten Slok offers a useful reminder that those companies represent a much smaller slice of the actual economy than their coverage suggests. The numbers, instead, point straight to Main Street.
Slok’s data shows that S&P 500 companies employ roughly 18 percent of …
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Supporting Main Street Startups
Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) has reintroduced the American Innovation Act (H.R. 1778), which seeks to modernize and expand the tax treatment of start-up costs for new businesses.
Under current law, entrepreneurs can deduct just $5,000 in start-up expenses in their first year of operation, with the benefit phasing out once expenses exceed $50,000. The Buchanan bill would increase that deduction to $20,000 and raise the phase-out threshold to $120,000. It also clarifies eligibility for …
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The More Tariffs Change, the More They Stay the Same
Tariffs are a little outside our wheelhouse, but last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down the IEEPA tariffs has broader implications for the tax policy landscape. Here are some thoughts.
First, as we noted the last time tariffs were on the front page, striking down the IEEPA tariffs doesn’t really change the landscape for the next few years. As Bruce Mehlman posted over the weekend, the President has many options when it comes to …
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Main Street Backs Regulatory Relief Bill
This week, S-Corp joined more than 70 trade associations in urging House leadership to advance meaningful regulatory relief for Main Street employers.
The effort was led by the National Federation of Independent Business. It backs the Prove It Act (HR 1163), legislation that would strengthen the Regulatory Flexibility Act, a 1980 law that requires federal agencies to analyze the impact of proposed regulations on small businesses and consider less burdensome alternatives. Despite being on the books …
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