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Talking Taxes in a Truck Episode 19: BBB Still “Too Big to Succeed”?

On this special Detroit edition of the Talking Taxes in a Truck podcast, we’re joined by Chris Smith, President of Summit Global Strategies and Executive Director of the Main Street Employers Coalition. Chris and Brian kick off the episode by debating what effect the leaked Supreme Court draft decision will have on the tax policy outlook, and the odds of an overhauled Build Back Better Act being passed in the coming months. They also break down the reconciliation bill’s various tax hikes, and explain how they specifically target family businesses. Finally, Chris shares his favorite DC activity, the origins of

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2022-05-06T11:20:46+00:00May 6, 2022|

More Evidence Tax Hikes Boost Prices

Still more evidence the tax hikes included in the Build Back Better Act would make inflation worse.  As noted by Bruce Thompson in the Washington Examiner, a “Working Paper” from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows how tax hikes on businesses result in higher prices for consumers.

The study found that increases in corporate tax rates are passed on to consumers, in part, in the form of higher prices.  Here’s the key conclusion from the write-up:

This paper provides evidence that corporate taxes impact retail product prices, and that a significant portion of corporate tax incidence falls on consumers….

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2022-05-02T17:11:57+00:00May 2, 2022|

Small Business “Boom” is Anything But

At a roundtable event on Thursday, President Biden unveiled a new White House report that touts a “small business boom,” and attributes this success to his administration’s economic strategy.

The timing of the event was a bit odd – the Commerce Department had just released its first quarter GDP estimates, showing the economy shrank by 1.4 percent, and businesses continue to face rampant inflation, job shortages, and supply chain disruptions. So what’s this “boom” the President is bragging about?

In framing its success, the White House report leans heavily on 2021 job figures:

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, small businesses are

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2022-04-29T17:20:54+00:00April 29, 2022|

Collections Undermine Tax Hike Narrative

The progressive case for raising taxes is premised upon two arguments – 1) income shares are increasingly concentrated at the top and 2) the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced taxes for the wealthy and corporations at the expense of everybody else.

The first premise is simply wrong, as demonstrated most recently by new research by Phillip Magness and Vincent Geloso.  This paper lands on top of a growing pile of analyses (see here, here, here, and here) showing that the work of French economists Piketty and Saez is deeply flawed and should not be

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2022-04-25T19:52:36+00:00April 25, 2022|

Virginia Unlocks Millions in SALT Parity Relief

With Tax Day just around the corner, we have some good news that should help ease the pain. Yesterday, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed HB 1121 into law, making Virginia the 25th state to adopt our SALT Parity reform. As a result, more than 200,000 Virginia S corporations and partnerships will have access to about $160 million in annual tax relief, starting with their 2021 returns.

As S-CORP readers know, the new cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions does not apply evenly to all businesses.  C corporations may continue to deduct the full value of their SALT as a

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2022-04-12T17:11:09+00:00April 12, 2022|