The weight of the federal income tax has varied widely since it was introduced a century ago. It has generally played a progressive role in mitigating income inequality. But it is not powerful enough to overcome the widening gap of recent decades. Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at The Politics of Income … Continue reading
France’s Constitutional Council on Saturday rejected a 75 percent upper income tax rate to be introduced in 2013 in a setback to Socialist President Francois Hollande’s push to make the rich contribute more to cutting the public deficit. The Council ruled that the planned 75 percent tax on annual income above 1 million euros ($1.32 … Continue reading
Greece’s drive to crack down on flagrant tax evaders such as doctors and lawyers is flagging and must be reinvigorated, a report by the European Union and International Monetary Fund said on Monday. Athens has collected just half the tax debts and conducted less than half the audits it was supposed to under the targets … Continue reading
Rep. Pete Sessions, however, went further, and actually claimed hundreds of thousands of people would lose their jobs if Obama’s proposed tax increase went into effect. What’s the math behind his claim? The Facts According to an aide, Sessions obtained his figure from a study prepared last year by two economists at Ernst & Young for … Continue reading
Australia’s carbon tax is expected to have at most a moderate effect on employment within the country, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), predicts. According to the OECD’s Employment Outlook 2012, “environmental taxes” were predicted to have a “modest overall effect on employment and little impact on the demand for skills”. “Fossil-fuel industries … Continue reading
The growing public debt in many nations has brought fiscal rebalancing to the top of policy agendas. This means raising taxes, or cutting expenditure. Recent US experience in the US and other nations suggest the presence of structural factors accounting for resistance to tax reforms.
The economic framework that has recently defined our politics should be replaced by a new narrative writes William A. Galston, one that runs as follows: In recent decades, changes in the structure of our economy and politics have created a dramatic increase in income inequality; while changes in our tax code did not contribute materially … Continue reading
Tuesday is the last day to file state and federal income tax returns. The deadline comes near the release of a report by the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which says Georgia levies some of the nation’s highest income taxes on the working poor. The report says Georgia is one of only 15 … Continue reading
This short paper is the first in a new Caledon series, caledon social statistics. Using a combination of illustrative graphs and explanatory text, the series will explore social programs, tax benefits and trends in low income and other major social and economic indicators. In addition to income taxes, Canadians pay employment-related taxes, known as payroll … Continue reading
Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney of The Hamilton Project – Brookings Institute examine the progressivity of the U.S. tax code and highlight two facts: the current U.S. tax system is less progressive than the tax systems of other industrialized countries, and considerably less progressive today than it was just a few decades ago. The figure below shows how much … Continue reading
A tax credit? For small businesses? To create jobs? And raise wages? Wow! What a great idea! What’s not to like? Quite a bit, in fact. In his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, President Obama has suggested a temporary 10% tax credit designed to spur job creation and wage growth among small businesses. It’s a fine … Continue reading
The Obama administration is undertaking an athletic push to promote manufacturing employment in the United States: proposing giving manufacturers new tax breaks, closing loopholes that benefit companies that send manufacturing jobs offshore, expanding worker training programs and increasing trade enforcement, for instance. The administration underscored manufacturing’s first-among-equals status when announcing its proposed overhaul of the … Continue reading
These days a lot of Americans find themselves pounding the pavement in quest of a new job, whether they’ve gotten the pink slip or expect to get one soon. The good news: The search may help you cut your tax bill — under certain circumstances, job-hunting expenses are tax-deductible. New job, same field First, your … Continue reading
Standing too many months on the unemployment line is driving Americans crazy — literally — and it’s costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. With their unemployment-insurance checks running out, some of the country’s long-term jobless are scrambling to fill the gap by filing claims for mental illness and other disabilities with Social Security — … Continue reading