Tax Chats

Send us a textScott and Jeff are joined by Rita de la Feria @delaFeriaR to discuss her new paper (co-authored with Maria Amparo Grau Ruiz) called "Taxing Robots".  The abstract of her paper reads in part: "In recent years, the idea of taxing robots has been progressively gaining momentum. The potential impact of automation on employment, and consequently on income tax revenues, has led many to defend the introduction of a tax on robots, or on the use of robots, to either compensate for the potential revenue loss, or to slow down the process of automation. This paper argues that whilst automation presents significant challenges to tax systems, the introduction of a new tax on robots –or on their use– is not an effective mechanism through which to address these challenges." We discuss the idea of taxing robots, whether the tax is different from a tax on other types of capital investment, the behavioral motivations for a desire to tax robots, and other issues.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss whether the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was effective. Often referred to as the Trump tax cuts, or the Trump Tax Reform, recent commentators have argued that it was highly effective. For example, Tyler Goodspeed and Kevin Hassett argued in the Wall Street Journal the TCJA "delivered as promised" by increasing investment, wages, and government revenues. Academic research, however, paints a more nuanced picture. Jeff keeps a list of academic studies that evaluate different aspects of the TCJA on the UNC Tax Center website called The TCJA Effects Tracker. We discuss why articles in the popular press that claim victory or defeat are almost always oversimplified.

Send us a textScott, Jeff, and Paul Kiel discuss the series of articles published by ProPublica based on a massive leak of private tax return data on the wealthiest individuals in the United States. The series of articles can be found here: https://www.propublica.org/series/the-secret-irs-files.We ask about privacy, transparency, tone, influence, leaked data, and more.

Send us a textJeff explains why quarters have ridges, and what it has to do with taxes and inflation.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss the idea of carryover basis with Kathleen Thomas. Currently, when someone dies with appreciated capital gains, they get a step-up in basis, meaning their estate pays no taxes on their accumulated gains. The downside is they have to die. An alternative would be to carryover the basis the the person who died had, which would make many tax planning strategies more difficult.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss Biden's proposed Mega Millionaire Minimum Tax with David Gamage, one of the thought-leaders behind the proposal and its variations. We discuss the basics of what the minimum tax might look like. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this type of tax. The tax is intended to force very wealthy individuals like Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg to pay more tax, even if they do not have much income as currently the tax code currently defines income. We also discuss the idea of "notional equity" as a way for the government to strengthen its taxing authority. 

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss progressive taxation. While most agree progressive taxation is desirable, there is less agreement about how much progressivity is desirable, what it even is, and if our current tax system is progressive.  Scott and Jeff tackle these issues by asking each other questions about taxes on income, property taxes, taxes on cigarettes, and other scenarios. They conclude that progressivity is a slippery subject, and, claims about progressivity should be carefully considered.

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss the reasons a corporate tax makes sense. The answers might surprise you. Among the least compelling arguments: corporations have a lot of income, corporations use infrastructure, corporations have special legal status. Among the most compelling arguments: corporations make efficient collection agents, corporations have cash, and taxing corporations allows the government to see what they are up to. 

Send us a textScott and Jeff discuss Crypto taxes with Tyler Menzer, PhD student at the University of Iowa studying the tax implications of Crypto currency in the marketplace. We briefly discuss some of the basics, but, also discuss slightly more complicated crypto issues like airdrops and staking.

Send us a textScott and Jeff talk with Rich Prisinzano of the Penn Wharton Budget Model about revenue scoring. Scott, Jeff and Rich discuss topics such as how precise revenue scores are, how private revenue scores are different from those provided by the government, how politicians might use private revenue scorers to get the best "price" for a piece of tax legislation, etc. They end with how Rich would think through scoring a hypothetical (and fictional!) tax proposal, the "Dividend Cut Tax".