The Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means has reviewed the implementation of the tax and tax-related revenue provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Affordable Care Act has made broad-based changes to the law with respect to health insurance coverage in the individual and group markets and the law with respect to group health plans as well as laws that apply to Medicare and Medicaid. The ACA also includes a significant number of changes to the Code, including the addition of new Code sections and the amendment of previously existing Code sections. The ACA also includes off-Code revenue provisions that impose certain industry fees. This book provides a summary of health insurance changes made by the ACA and a description of the present law rules with respect to ACA revenue provisions and their implementation.

Many economists and policy-makers believe that the U.S. corporate tax system is in need of reform. There is, however, disagreement over why the corporate tax system needs to be reformed, and what specific policy measures should be included in a reform. To assist policy-makers in designing and evaluating corporate tax proposals, this book reviews the current U.S. corporate tax system; discusses economic factors that may be considered in the corporate tax reform debate; and presents corporate tax reform policy options, including a brief discussion of current corporate tax reform proposals. The current U.S. corporate income tax system generally taxes corporate income at a rate of 35%. This tax is applied to income earned domestically and abroad, although taxes on certain income earned abroad can be deferred indefinitely if that income remains overseas. The U.S. corporate tax system also contains a number of deductions, exemptions, deferrals, and tax credits, often referred to as "tax expenditures". Collectively, these provisions reduce the effective tax rate paid by many U.S. corporations below the 35% statutory rate. In 2011, the sum of all corporate tax expenditures was $158.8 billion.

On 31 December 2012, a variety of temporary tax provisions that were part of the "fiscal cliff" expired. Two days later, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) retroactively extended, and in certain cases modified, many of these provisions. The short period between the expiration of these provisions and the enactment on January 2 of ATRA retroactively meant that from the perspective of all but upper-income taxpayers, income taxes remained unchanged between 2012 and 2013. This book provides an overview of the tax provisions included in the "fiscal cliff deal", including: the permanent extension and modification of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts ("Bush-era tax cuts"); the temporary extension of certain tax provisions originally included as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA); the permanent extension of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch; the temporary extension of a variety of other temporary expiring provisions for individuals, businesses, and energy often referred to as "tax extenders"; and the expansion of in-plan conversions of traditional employer-sponsored retirement accounts (like 401(k) plans) to employer-sponsored Roth Accounts.

Since 1992, new issues have arisen in international taxation - for example, taxation of electronic commerce, novel means of shielding passive income, the World Trade Organization (WTO) debate over the foreign sales corporation and subsequent passage of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, the problem of corporate inversions, and alleged earnings stripping by foreign-based multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in the United States. In the meantime, US-based MNEs operating abroad have used a variety of methods to cut the effective US tax rate on repatriated foreign source income to around 2 percent. This revised study analyzes the impact of taxes on industry location and profit shifting using new panel econometric studies. It also discusses and evaluates new paradigms that have been suggested for the international tax system.

Attempts at introducing land value taxation in the United Kingdom demonstrate a long and varied history. This book considers this history and how the tax is particularly relevant today. It explores past debates over different forms of the tax, its role in generating government revenue, its practical operation, and its future prospects in Britain and elsewhere.

In the face of the rising cost of higher education, families may consider a variety of ways to finance their children's college expenses. In order to make higher education more affordable, Congress enacted legislation that provides favourable tax treatment for college savings. Among the options families may choose to save for college, they may consider using tax-advantaged qualified tuition programs (QTPs), also known as 529 plans. This book provides an overview of the mechanics of 529 plans and examines the specific tax advantages that these plans offer.

This book examines a key element of current federal support for manufacturing: tax benefits. More specifically, it identifies and describes current federal tax preferences that offer significant benefits for small and large manufacturing firms. Additionally, technological innovation is a major driving force in long-term economic growth, and research and development (R&D) serves as the lifeblood of innovation. The federal government encourages business R&D in a variety of ways, including a tax credit for a company's increases in spending on qualified research above a base amount. The current status of the tax credit is described, as is its legislative history, the policy issues it raises and legislation in the 112th Congress to modify or extend it.

Income tax rates have been at the centre of recent policy debates over taxes. Some policy-makers have argued that raising tax rates, especially on higher income taxpayers, to increase tax revenues is part of the solution for long-term debt reduction. For example, the Senate recently passed the Middle Class Tax Cut, which would allow the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts to expire for taxpayers with income over $250,000. The Senate recently considered legislation, the Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012, that would implement the "Buffett rule" by raising the tax rate on millionaires. Other recent budget and deficit reduction proposals would reduce tax rates. This book examines individual income tax rates since 1945 in relation to these arguments and seeks to establish what, if any, relationship exists between the top tax rates and economic growth, using statistical analysis.

The President and leading Members of Congress have stated that fundamental tax reform is a major policy objective for the 112th Congress. Some Members have said that fundamental tax reform is needed in order to raise a large amount of additional revenue, which is necessary to reduce high forecast budget deficits and the sharply rising national debt. Congressional interest has been expressed in both a major overhaul of the U.S. tax system and the feasibility of levying a consumption tax. Some proponents of reform argue that the tax base should be broadened by reducing or eliminating many tax expenditures. An alternative to increasing tax revenues is cutting spending. Thus, Members are faced with considering the best mix of tax increases and spending cuts in order to reduce deficits and slow the growth of the national debt. This book examines major fiscal reform proposals for tax reform with a focus on business tax reform and the extension of the "Bust Tax Cuts".

The federal government spends roughly $1 trillion on health care programs each year, so it is easy to imagine that policies that promote a healthier population could have a significant impact on the federal budget. Such policies might include initiatives that discourage smoking or excessive alcohol consumption, that promote better eating habits and physical activity to reduce obesity, or that encourage compliance with medical and dietary regimens for chronic conditions such as diabetes. In this book, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyses a policy involving smoking, a hypothetical increase of 50 cents per pack in the federal excise tax on cigarettes and small cigars, to demonstrate the complex links between policies that aim to improve health and effects on the federal budget. The emphasis is on estimating the budgetary effects that would result from improvements in the health of the population stemming from the policy.

Durch die Schaffung gemeinsamer Wirtschaftsraume kommt es sowohl auf unternehmerischer als auch auf persoenlicher Ebene zu internationalen wirtschaftlichen Verflechtungen. Vermoegen wird in verschiedenen Formen in unterschiedlichen Landern investiert, Wohnsitze und Ansassigkeiten werden verlagert. Es kommt zu grenzuberschreitenden Vermoegensbesitzverhaltnissen. Dadurch entstehen in mehreren Landern gleichzeitig steuerliche Anknupfungsmerkmale, die eine Erbschaft- bzw. Schenkungsteuer ausloesen koennen. Nationale deutsche Regelungen reichen in der Regel nicht aus, um eine drohende Doppelbesteuerung ganzlich aufzuheben. Anders als im Bereich der Ertragsteuern ist das Netz der Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen im Bereich der Erbschaft- bzw. Schenkungsteuern in Deutschland und international nicht stark ausgepragt. Dadurch gibt es selbst innerhalb der EU ein hohes Mass an Doppelbesteuerungsrisiken. Die Relevanz und steuerliche Brisanz dieser Thematik werden oft erst erkannt, wenn tatsachlich eine Doppelbesteuerung eintritt. Die Untersuchung zeigt auf, auf welcher Ebene von der Entstehung der Steuer bis zur Ermittlung der finalen Steuerschuld angesetzt werden kann, um im Verhaltnis von Deutschland zu Frankreich, zu Grossbritannien und zu den Niederlanden das Risiko der Doppelbesteuerung zu minimieren.

Taxing America provides the first historical study of Wilbur Daigh Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from 1958 to 1974. The work of Mills, an extremely influential politician between 1945 and 1975, offers considerable insights into the evolution of income taxation, Social Security and Medicare--three policies at the center of today's political debates. Unlike the existing historical scholarship, Zelizer's book focuses on the role of Congress, rather than the executive branch, in the evolution of the welfare state during this seminal period.

Concern has increased over the size and sustainability of the United States' recent budget deficits and the country's long-run budget outlook. This concern has brought the issues of the government's revenue needs and fundamental tax reform to the forefront of congressional debates. Congress may choose to address these issues by reforming the set of tax benefits for homeowners. Reducing, modifying, or eliminating all or some of the current tax benefits for homeowners could raise a substantial amount of revenue, while simultaneously simplifying the tax code, increasing equity among taxpayers, and promoting economic efficiency. This book focuses on the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for state and local property taxes and the residential energy tax credit.

This volume summarizes the substantial literature on consumption tax policy and the taxation of capital, presents the main theoretical and empirical results of the technical literature on taxation, and extends that literature in a variety of directions with new results. Chapters are self-contained as far as possible, and each uses a variety of models rather than just one to study the issue at hand.

Why were Federalists at the 1787 Philadelphia convention--ostensibly called to revise the Articles of Confederation--so intent on scrapping the old system and drawing up a completely new frame of government?

In "Redeeming the Republic," Roger Brown focuses on state public-policy issues to show how recurrent outbreaks of popular resistance to tax crackdowns forced state governments to retreat from taxation, propelling elites into support for the constitutional revolution of 1787. The Constitution, Brown contends, resulted from upper-class dismay over the state governments' inability to tax effectively for state and federal purposes. The Framers concluded that, without a rebuilt, energized central government, the confederation would experience continued monetary and fiscal turmoil until republicanism itself became endangered.

A fresh and searching study of the hard questions that divided Americans in these critical years and still do today, "Redeeming the Republic" shows how local failures led to federalist resolve and ultimately to a totally new frame of central government.

This volume collects articles from the Symposium series of the National Tax Journal from 1993 to 1998. Leading economists and other scholars discuss and debate current tax policy issues in nontechnical language and illustrate how the principles of tax analysis can be applied to real-world issues. Among the topics addressed are the practical feasibility of consumption tax alternatives to the current income tax, the rationale and implications of devolution of fiscal responsibilities to state and local governments, the effect of tax policy on economic growth, and the value of local tax incentives designed to attract and retain business.

All legally enforceable rights cost money. A practical, commonsense notion? Yes, but one ignored by almost everyone, from libertarian ideologues to Supreme Court justices to human rights advocates. The simple insight that rights are expensive reminds us that freedom is not violated by a government that taxes and spends, but requires it - and requires a citizenry vigilant about how money is allocated. Laying bare the folly of some of our most cherished myths about rights, this groundbreaking tract will permanently change the terms of our most critical and contentious political debates.

The United States tax system includes a tax on assets held at death, the estate tax and the gift tax. Among key components of the estate and gift tax are the definition of its taxable base, tax rate and exemption level. A related argument is that the tax reduces the concentration of wealth and its perceived adverse consequences for society. Critics of the estate and gift tax make two major arguments: the estate and gift tax discourages savings and investments, and the tax imposes an undue burden on closely held family businesses. Critics also suggest that the estate and gift tax is flawed as a method of introducing progressivity because there are many methods of avoiding the tax, methods that are more available to very wealthy families. This book provides an explanation of how the tax operates, analyses the arguments for and against the tax and discusses alternative policy options.

This work examines tax policies and tax systems as they arise from democratic choices, set against the background of a market economy. Professors Hettich and Winer find that democratic institutions yield complex tax systems with features that follow a varied but predictable pattern. In developing their analysis, the authors use formal modelling of voting behavior, emphasizing recent advances in the theory of probabilistic voting. This book differs from the available tax literature by relating fiscal choices directly to voting and by examining tax systems in democratic countries from a variety of perspectives. While the authors primarily focus on explaining observed features of tax systems, they also devote considerable space to the discussion of the welfare and efficiency effects of taxation in the presence of collective choice, and to a review of other models and of the related literature. In addition, they use computational general equilibrium analysis and statistical research on national and state governments in the US and Canada to link theory to empirical data.

The President and leading members of Congress have stated that fundamental tax reform is a major policy objective for the 112th Congress. These policymakers have said that fundamental tax reform is needed in order to raise a large amount of additional revenue, which is necessary to reduce high forecast budget deficits and the sharply rising national debt. Congressional interest has been expressed in both a major overhaul of the U.S. tax system and the feasibility of levying a consumption tax. This book examines the federal tax structure, provides some statistics on the tax system as a whole, tax reform, and presents analysis of selected tax concepts.

In this timely and urgent book, Rohatyn re-creates some of the most dramatic events in our history to show how strong and imaginative political leadership built America and demonstrates that such leadership is essential today to reverse the catastrophic degeneration of America's infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, roads and rails, flood levees and gates. Readers of David McCullough and Stephen Ambrose will revel in his narrative. Although the private sector has been the mainstay of America's economy, Felix Rohatyn argues the country could not have grown into its full destiny without the vision and determination of political leaders who imagined the future and acted to achieve it.

He begins with the Louisiana Purchase by Thomas Jefferson in 1805, which doubled the size of the country, and the construction of the Erie Canal in 1817-1825, which opened a water route to the West. The chartering of the Trans-Continental railroad, the Land Grant Colleges, and the Homestead Act in 1863, led by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, together opened the continent. The Panama Canal, which joined the east and West coasts by sea, was driven by Theodore Roosevelt. FDR's Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Eisenhower's Interstate Highway program modernized America, and the GI Bill of rights, which came after World War II, remains the greatest investment in intellectual capital and housing in our history.

Rohatyn describes these enterprises as examples of the imagination and decisive leadership that the country is in desperate need of, and, in a final chapter, he predicts the multiple benefits of similarly bold undertakings to secure our nation's future and offers a blueprint for setting priorities and financing them.

This study addresses two interrelated issues in international taxation. The first objective is to assess the nature and extent of the international mobility of foreign direct investment. This empirical work is based on the operations of US multinational corporations abroad (production, employment and capital stock), not simply on financial flows of foreign affilitates. It considers whether distinctions between horizontal versus vertical integration can be applied to opertions in developed versus developing countries, and whether either form of integration is very sensitive to tax and cost conditions, not only in the host country but in the US. Growing sensitivity of foreign direct investment to taxes is one reason for governments to be concerned about tax competition among jurisdictions to attract economic activity. Tax competition, however, also arises from an attempt to shift the real activity. The second objective is to assess how tax competition is affecting the structure of national tax systems and whether efforts at international coordination of tax policy are likely to affect the progression of such changes in the future.

This study addresses a fundamentally new feature of the contemporary world economy: the simultaneous buildup of very large public deficits and debt positions in virtually all of the advanced high-income countries. The recent global financial crisis sharply accelerated this fiscal deterioration, but it was already well underway in some countries, including the United States, where demographic prospects had posed extremely worrisome trajectories for a number of years.The book has three basic objectives. First, it projects the global fiscal outlook to 2035. Second, it asks whether the combination of deficits and debt in a large number of countries at the same time produces an impact on the world economy that is qualitatively different from the more traditional emergence of such problems in one or a few countries in any given period. Third, it analyzes the effects of the fiscal prospects on key economic variables including global interest rates and growth rates.The analysis finds that the current public debt profiles in most advanced economies will grow to dangerous and unsustainable levels over the next couple of decades unless major changes are made in projected spending and revenue levels. The authors conclude that the United States and Japan, in particular, need to start planning now for significant future budget cuts to minimize the risk of a crisis. Acting soon enables the adjustment to be phased in over an extended period, which cushions the inevitable adjustment costs, while avoiding the potentially enormous pressures that could be levied by markets if correction is delayed too long.