The environmental effects of cap and trade with free allocation are similar to those of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade program with auction of allowances. Unfortunately, the economic consequences are much less benign.
The United States faces a long-run fiscal imbalance because of rapid projected growth in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid spending. The policy response will be shaped by four long-term fiscal realities.
Institutional Foundations of Public Finance is not only a fitting tribute to David Bradford, but it is also a book that should be of interest to economists studying any of the topics that it covers.
A cap-and-trade system with freely allocated permits is equivalent to a carbon tax in which the tax revenue is given to stockholders.
Political rhetoric--and policy--favor small business, but, in reality, big businesses play a critical role in economic growth and job creation.
Any policy to control carbon dioxide emissions should take the form of a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system with all permits sold at auction.
A common fallacy holds that imposing taxes on imports and rebating taxes on exports would stimulate the economy.
Leonard E. Burman's tax and health care reform proposal would be a considerable improvement over the policies that are likely to prevail in the absence of reform.
Congress faces critical decisions about middle-class tax relief in the next two years.
The compelling case for replacing income taxation with consumption taxation has nothing to do with border adjustments.
There is still much that we do not know about the proper design of fiscal stimulus.
Most of the appropriated spending included in the stimulus package moving through Congress will occur too slowly to provide an effective stimulus to aggregate demand.
Congress should establish a bipartisan commission to address our long-term fiscal imbalance.
Tax Notes
January 12, 2009
Fiscal stimulus does not create output and jobs from thin air, but simply "borrows" them from the future.
What is a conservative infrastructure strategy, and how could it work under the Obama administration?
The Bradford X tax offers an attractive, if little-known, form of progressive consumption taxation.
House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health
November 13, 2008
Alan D. Viard argues that monetary policy and automatic fiscal stabilizers provide the best response to the current downturn.
How should an honest fiscal conservative view Obama's tax plan?
House Ways and Means Committee
October 29, 2008
Increases in infrastructure spending are not an effective way to provide short-run stimulus to the economy.
Tax Notes
October 20, 2008
Different types of tax provisions shape effective marginal tax rates on income, and some basic principles should govern the roles of these provisions in setting effective marginal tax rates.
The proper treatment of carried interest depends upon a number of unresolved economic issues.
Tax Notes
September 8, 2008
Different types of tax provisions shape effective marginal tax rates on income, andsome basic principles should govern the roles of these provisions in setting effective marginal tax rates.
Barack Obama's proposed "tax cuts for the middle class" are actually marginal rate hikes in disguise.
The federal tax system is highly progressive, with the highest-income 1 percent of the population paying one-quarter of all federal taxes.
Alan D. Viard explains that the federal tax system is highly progressive.
Viard critiques the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kentucky Dept. of Revenue v. Davis, which upheld state income tax exemptions for residents' holdings of home-state municipal bonds.
The new president and Congress will face many new tax policy choices.
In Kentucky Department of Revenue vs. Davis, the Supreme Court chose not to resolve the validity of the current state treatment of private activity bonds.
Rather than colluding to maintain the corporate income tax, countries should switch to better-designed revenue sources.
Social Security is financially unsustainable in its current form, but by keeping benefits on an even keel, we can put it on a sound financial footing.
Asthe number of workers earning wages steadily falls, we cannot afford to link retirement benefits to the average worker's wages.
Switching from the current income tax to a consumption tax would cause only modest declines in the prices of stocks and owner-occupied homes.
Taxes need to be increased over a wide range of incomes, not just on the wealthy.
There are a number of misconceptions about the future of Social Security.
Over the years, therehas been arise in economic inequality, growth in the middle class, low incomes are growing, and the progressive taxes keep thewealthy payinga large share of the tax burden.
The discussion of border adjustments and other fallacies threatens to obscure the important issues at stake in the debate over fundamental tax reform.
Individuals and firms sometimes receive money that they are required to partially or fully repay in a later year.
Ending the little-known adjustment of starting benefits to wages will wipe out Social Security's long-term imbalances without tax increases.
The selective income taxexemption for home-state municipal bonds at issue in Davis v. Kentucky Department of Revenue is a barrier to interstate commerce.
AEI Online
October 22, 2007
The selective income tax exemption for home-state municipal bonds at issue in Davis v. Kentucky Department of Revenue is a barrier to interstate commerce.
Consumption taxation offers a better combination of efficiency and equity than alternative tax systems.
Shifting the tax burden to older workers would allow the young to save more, invest more, pay down debts, and put the United States on a firmer fiscal footing.
Amicus brief on the Writ of Certiorari to the Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Bills moving through Congress indicate the Democrats' propensity to tax certain industries more than others for political reasons.
Taxpayers can take some steps to protect themselves from the comingjolt of the alternative minimum tax.
Raising tax rates for the top 1-2 percent of taxpayers is an inefficient way of generating revenue.
This report examines the taxation of corporate gains on depreciable business property, an important topic that has received little attention in the economic literature.
Corporate capital gains deserve a closer look.
Should interstate trade be restricted?
A new bookfeatures the influential economists at the University of Chicago.
Alan D. Viard on tax and revenue estimates.
We can learn a thing or two about tax policyfrom Reaganomics.
The fundamental reason for the spread of the alternative minimum tax is that the exemption amount has never been indexed to inflation
How can the administration make tax policy as fair as possible?
Although the pay-go rule will probably be manageable this year, how will it fare in 2008?
Is raising the minimum wage a bad idea?
How will Democratic leadership in both chambers of Congress affect economic policy?
Some people have hailed the alternative minimum tax as a flat, low-rate, broad-based tax that would be a good replacement for the regular income tax. A closer look dispels this rosy view.
We should strive to keep our imperfect tax system as neutral as possible, allowing the allocation of capital to be determined by market forces.
Working paper on thepolicy implicationsof pay-as-you-go retirement plansin regard totax and benefit timing.
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