Issue Areas

Trump’s trade war with Canada grows increasingly costly as Section 338 tariffs harm both economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 22, 2026

President Donald Trump continues to escalate his administration’s perplexing trade spat with Canada through the expanded use of novel tariff powers in Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.…

New research shows how U.S. homeownership and the accumulation of housing wealth are linked to political participation (opens in a new tab)

Essays Aug 14, 2026

Persistent affordability pressures have driven up housing costs for millions of U.S. families in recent years. Home prices remain near record highs relative to incomes, mortgage rates and associated costs…

Housing Wealth Accumulation and Electoral Representation (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Aug 14, 2026

We document that housing wealth accumulation systematically differs among homeowners by their political participation. Using a nationwide voter-property dataset, we find that realized housing appreciation increases monotonically the more a…

Defining extreme wealth is more complicated than it looks (opens in a new tab)

Videos Aug 13, 2026

Facing high levels of income and wealth inequality and shrinking tax revenues, U.S. policymakers are showing increased interest in proposals to tax the richest households. Yet determining which households fall into that category is complex and changes based…

The debt-to-wealth ratio: A missing lens on the U.S. government’s fiscal capacity (opens in a new tab)

Reports Jul 30, 2026

Few statistics shape the fiscal debate in the United States as powerfully as the ratio of federal debt-to-Gross Domestic Product. Debt held by the public recently surpassed 100 percent of…

Whether data from the Fed or from WID.world are used, U.S. debt-to-wealth measures show similar trends (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

The United States sits in the middle of the pack on debt relative to wealth (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Explosion in post-1980 inequality largely explains low debt-to-top U.S. wealth ratios (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Measured against the wealth of the very top, U.S. debt is historically modest (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

Private wealth has grown far faster than the overall U.S. economy in recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

U.S. debt looks alarming against GDP but far less so against wealth (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 22, 2026

The costs of the Trump administration’s tariffs diverge for countries and industries so far in 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 14, 2026

The first 4 months of 2026 saw continued seismic changes in U.S. trade policy. In late February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s use of the International…

Certain U.S. manufacturing subsectors have experienced more tariff relief since the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 13, 2026

The U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling reduced tariffs unevenly across key U.S. economic sectors (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 13, 2026

U.S. trade with China has largely been supplanted by trade with other countries suspected of transshipment (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 13, 2026

U.S. imports are up and tariff rates are down since the U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA ruling (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 13, 2026

U.S. workers will be hurt by immigration enforcement overreach (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 17, 2026

President Donald Trump last week signed the $70 billion Secure America Act, a budget reconciliation package that boosts funding for immigration and border enforcement agencies while imposing no limits on their authority.…

Factsheet: Defining top U.S. income and wealth thresholds for tax policy (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets May 27, 2026

Federal and state policymakers in the United States, responding to high levels of income and wealth inequality and shrinking tax revenues, are increasingly interested in proposals to tax households with…

Defining top wealth and income thresholds for U.S. tax policy design and analysis (opens in a new tab)

Reports May 27, 2026

Wealth and income inequality are an ongoing area of interest for policymakers. In particular, the rise of the richest of the rich—not just the top 1 percent, but also the…

Realized capital gains are highly volatile, leading to large swings in the top 0.1% U.S. income thresholds (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 26, 2026

Is Taxing Wealth Possible? Practical? Desirable? Yes, if we’re smart about it (opens in a new tab)

Essays May 7, 2026

While the American economy has outperformed much of the industrialized world in recent years, there are good reasons to be deeply concerned about its long-term prospects. It is dogged by…

Taxed capital gains are a tiny fraction of total capital gains, which have grown larger in recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Top tax rates have been cut dramatically (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Unrealized gains have grown substantially for richer, older Americans (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

The wealthiest 0.1 percent of households own one-in-seven dollars (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Recent tax cuts have reduced revenue while economic growth has slowed (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

The United States is a relatively low-tax and low-spend country (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Tax cuts are primarily responsible for the growing U.S. debt (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Taxes have become less progressive over time in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

Income trend for the top 1% diverges from most Americans after 1980 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 6, 2026

The other two-tiered U.S. tax system: How pass-through businesses let the ultra-wealthy dodge federal taxes (opens in a new tab)

Essays Apr 15, 2026

Many Americans likely remember when the legendary value investor Warren Buffett drew attention to a glaring unfairness in the tax code by pointing out that he paid a lower effective…

Pass-through business owners account for a much larger share of people and income in the top 1 percent than public company executives (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 14, 2026

Pass-through business income is highly concentrated among the very rich (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 14, 2026

Equitable Growth event covers tariffs, tariff uncertainties, and the limits of U.S. trade policy (opens in a new tab)

Videos Apr 1, 2026

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted a webinar examining the economic, fiscal, and labor‑market effects of evolving U.S. tariff laws and regulations, particularly in the wake of the…

Tariff policies in 2025 increased input costs for key U.S. industries, threatening growth and investment (opens in a new tab)

Essays Mar 24, 2026

All tariffs are not created equal. Throughout U.S. history, policymakers have imposed import taxes for a variety of economic and ideological reasons, with varying impacts. Targeted tariffs have been effective…

Midwest and Southern workers are more concentrated in tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Industries within the U.S. machinery manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Industries within the U.S. metals manufacturing subsector faced different tariff costs in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Certain subsectors of the U.S. economy were more exposed to tariff costs than others in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Construction faced the highest tariff rate of any U.S. sector in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 17, 2026

Factsheet: Using asset limits in public benefit programs (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Mar 10, 2026

A household’s assets, or its overall wealth, are the resources required to ensure its family members can weather the financial disruption when unexpected expenses emerge. Yet many U.S. households do…

U.S. businesses report that tariff policies will likely lead to price increases and labor market impacts in 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jan 15, 2026

As 2026 begins, U.S. manufacturers are contending with a varied and uncertain economic environment. Many are weighing growth driven by domestic investments in data centers and artificial intelligence against the…

ASSA 2026 Round-up: Day 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 6, 2026

Yesterday was the third and final day of the 2026 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held…

ASSA 2026 Round-up: Day 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 5, 2026

Yesterday was the second day of the 2026 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in Philadelphia…

Uncertainty created by ever-changing tariff policies harms U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Essays Nov 20, 2025

The approaches to international trade taken by the first and now second Trump administrations have been an endless jumble of tariff negotiations and ever-changing policies. Since 2018, duties have been…

Tariff costs impact industries with mostly White, male, and noncitizen workers (opens in a new tab)

Essays Nov 4, 2025

The U.S. economy is flying blind, with most economic-data publications paused indefinitely due to the shutdown of the federal government amid a general U.S. labor market slowdown and just as…

Workers in the Midwest and South tend to work in more tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

Workers with less than a college education are overrepresented in the most tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

White, Hispanic, and noncitizen men are overrepresented in the most tariff-exposed industries (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

U.S. manufacturing is particularly vulnerable to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 3, 2025

Equitable Growth supports scholars studying the economics of the energy transition (opens in a new tab)

Essays Oct 22, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced a new cohort of grantees. These nine scholars will study how the design and implementation of federal policy influences how businesses and…

How U.S. tax policies have fueled right-wing populism (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Among the many factors fueling support for right-wing populism in the United States is federal tax policies. The nation’s tax system confuses, frustrates, and angers many citizens in ways that…

To restore democracy, end shareholder primacy at U.S. corporations and on Wall Street (opens in a new tab)

Essays Sep 11, 2025

Workers in the United States have no say over business decisions made in their workplaces by corporate America. Unions, of course, are important for workers’ ability to exercise power over…

The overall U.S. tax system today is only mildly progressive (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 10, 2025

Racially resentful White Americans are more opposed to progressive taxation (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 9, 2025

Tariffs impact U.S. industries differently, with manufacturing the most exposed (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jul 29, 2025

Estimates in this brief were generated July 21, before the announcement of trade deals with Japan and the European Union. All data and code used in the Equitable Growth tariff…

Workers in many midwestern U.S. states are more exposed to tariffs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

U.S. manufacturing industries are particularly exposed to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

U.S. employment is dropping in industries with high tariff exposure (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

Manufacturing and other key U.S. sectors are particularly exposed to tariffs on inputs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

U.S. manufacturing is particularly vulnerable to tariff costs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2025

Equity Prices, Market Power, and Optimal Corporate Tax Policy (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 22, 2025

We study the optimal design of corporate tax policy in a textbook life-cycle model featuring two key deviations: (i) firms are imperfectly competitive and (ii) households save by purchasing equity…

Accounting for capital gains in income significantly increases U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 15, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s recently launched U.S. Inequality Tracker uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to show how income and wealth inequality have evolved in…

With capital gains, the share of income earned by the wealthiest households went up 5 percentage points since 2002 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 14, 2025

Pure capital gains are highly volatile and can turn negative in recessions (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 14, 2025

The 10 worst policies for equitable economic growth in the 2025 budget reconciliation law (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 14, 2025

The 2025 budget reconciliation law that was enacted earlier this month is a sprawling piece of legislation, touching almost every corner of the federal budget and the U.S. economy. It…

Equitable Growth responds to passage of the federal budget bill (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 7, 2025

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed the 2025 federal budget bill, cementing into law the most regressive piece of tax and budget legislation to be passed in the United States…

Americans informed about the distributional effects of Republicans’ tax and budget bill overwhelmingly oppose it (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jul 3, 2025

Republicans in the U.S. Senate recently passed a version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, championed by President Donald Trump. The House of Representatives passed an earlier version of…

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act disproportionately harms lower-income Americans (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 3, 2025

Americans Informed About the Distributional Effects of Republicans’ Budget Bill Overwhelmingly Oppose It (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jun 25, 2025

Republicans in the Senate are currently considering the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which, if enacted, would be the most regressive U.S. tax and budget law in at least the…

Congressional Republicans’ budget bill is the most regressive in at least 40 years (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 25, 2025

The U.S. Congress is in the midst of debating a budget bill that would make massive changes to U.S. tax and spending policy over the course of the next decade…

Millions of Americans, including children, will lose nutrition assistance due to proposed SNAP cuts – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 24, 2025

Medicaid and SNAP cuts in congressional Republicans’ budget bill will negatively impact local economies (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 24, 2025

The budget reconciliation bill recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives proposes to make large cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other social programs to pay…

Financial and Transfer Income as Components of the Regional Economic Base (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jun 24, 2025

Economists and geographers have long divided industries into “basic” and “nonbasic” sectors depending on whether they bring money into a region from outside or serve local demand. Traditionally, the regional…

Reducing IRS funding by half could cost the same amount of the Republican budget bill in noncompliance increases (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 23, 2025

No tax on tips or overtime provisions cost less than the more regressive proposals in the Republican tax bill (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 23, 2025

Americans have heard more about the no tax on tips and overtime provisions of the Republican bill than its more regressive provisions (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 23, 2025

Many of the wealthiest U.S. individuals do not pay any estate taxes (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 23, 2025

16 million Americans will lose health care coverage if the House-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act becomes law (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 23, 2025

Testimony by Michael Linden on “The Big Beautiful Betrayal—Working Folks Pay While The Mega Rich Profit” (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 17, 2025

Senator Kaine, Senator Murphy, and members of the Forum, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I’m going to make three key points. First, the Republican budget bill…

Factsheet: U.S. economic mobility and policies to increase upward mobility (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Jun 17, 2025

The United States often has been touted as a land of opportunity, where hard work leads to success and children do better than their parents. But increasingly, these notions of…

The ‘funny math’ of top U.S. tax rates (opens in a new tab)

Essays Jun 11, 2025

The current reconciliation bill now before Congress won’t correct for the low tax rates paid by the richest Americans Overview Calculating the effective tax rate of the richest Americans can…

Studies find overall tax rates among the highest-income Americans skew regressive (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 10, 2025

Studies find U.S. individual income tax is primary driver of top-end regressivity (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 10, 2025

Tax-deductible business expenses spike around owner-operators’ and their spouses’ birthdays – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 5, 2025

Business owners often use their firms as tax shelters, reducing government revenue and reported income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog May 22, 2025

Picture this scene: After sharing a meal with friends, someone in the group grabs the check and says, “I’ll take this so I can expense it through my company.” It…

The Firm as Tax Shelter (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers May 22, 2025

I present evidence that firms serve as tax-free consumption vehicles. Drawing on a unique combination of data from an electronic invoicing program in Portugal (e-Fatura), I show that individuals who…

Mischaracterization of personal expenses as tax-deductible business expenses erroneously reduces reported income inequality (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 22, 2025

Business owners and operators reduce their personal household consumption upon taking stakes in firms (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 21, 2025

Tax-deductible business expenses spike around owner-operators’ and their spouses’ birthdays (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 21, 2025

Advancing economic research on the Inflation Reduction Act: Q&A with Heather Boushey (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Apr 23, 2025

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is the most significant economic and clean energy jobs program the United States has ever initiated. To improve overall understanding of whether the new…

Factsheet: What we know about the federal employer-provided child care credit and how can it be better used by businesses (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Apr 22, 2025

The employer-provided child care credit, also referred to as Section 45F in the Internal Revenue Code, provides a limited subsidy to businesses in the United States that provide child care…

“Econ 101” briefing on taxing multinationals brings Hill staffers up to speed on U.S. role in coordinating global crack-down on tax avoidance (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 3, 2025

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth last week hosted a briefing for Capitol Hill staffers on multinational corporate tax trends and policies—another in our “Econ 101” series for Hill staffers.…

Request for Proposals: The economic effects of the Inflation Reduction Act (opens in a new tab)

RFPs Apr 2, 2025

The qualified small business stock exclusion overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy and should be reformed in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Apr 1, 2025

This year’s debate over the expiring personal income and estate tax provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provides an opportunity for reforming the qualified small business stock…

Equitable Growth hosts Hill briefing on proliferation and taxation of U.S. pass-through businesses (opens in a new tab)

Blog Mar 13, 2025

On March 7, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth hosted a briefing—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—for Hill staffers curious about the proliferation of pass-through businesses and how…

New research finds capital gains are highly concentrated and hardly taxed, underscoring widespread U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog Feb 26, 2025

For two decades, booming stock, housing, and private business markets have driven large capital gains in the United States. Real capital gains, which are the inflation-adjusted appreciation of a financial…

The distribution of capital gains in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Feb 26, 2025

Booming stock, housing, and private business markets have driven large capital gains in the United States, averaging 20% of national income over the past two decades. Using internal IRS tax…

Capital gains are highly concentrated among the wealthy in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Feb 26, 2025

Tax avoidance among large, complex partnerships in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Reports Feb 12, 2025

Decades-old conventional wisdom held that businesses organized as partnerships in the United States were mostly small enterprises with a handful of active individuals sharing personal liability for the businesses they…

The Spiderweb of Partnership Tax Structures (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Feb 12, 2025

U.S. partnerships control more than $40 trillion in assets, vastly outnumber U.S. public firms, and contribute significantly to the U.S. tax non-compliance of pass-through entities, which is larger than the…

Pro-growth tax reform in 2025 would boost the U.S. economy for years to come (opens in a new tab)

Videos Jan 15, 2025

In the aftermath of the presidential election in 2024, it’s clear that many Americans feel like the U.S. economy is not working for them. Even though policymakers on both sides…

ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 6, 2025

Yesterday was the third and final day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held…

ASSA 2025 Round-up: Day 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 5, 2025

Yesterday was the second day of the 2025 annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, which is organized by the American Economic Association. The 3-day conference, held in San…

New U.S. Treasury Department research shows that it pays to be an S corporation (opens in a new tab)

Blog Dec 16, 2024

Businesses that are organized as so-called pass-through entities for tax purposes—meaning their profits show up on the owners’ personal tax returns rather than on an entity-based tax return—pay a lower…

At all income levels, S corporations get a tax benefit from being S corporations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Dec 16, 2024

Who Gains from Corporate Tax Cuts? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Nov 27, 2024

Goods producers increase their capital expenditure and employment in response to a cut in marginal corporate income tax rates or an increase in investment tax credits. In contrast, companies in…

Addressing pervasive tax evasion by cryptocurrency users (opens in a new tab)

Blog Nov 21, 2024

The price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reached record highs last week, buoyed by the U.S. election of Donald Trump, who is seen as friendly to this novel asset class,…

Crypto Tax Evasion (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Nov 21, 2024

We quantify the extent of crypto tax noncompliance and evasion, and assess the efficacy of alternative tax enforcement interventions. The context of the study is Norway. This context allows us…

Cryptocurrency tax noncompliers tend to be young, male, and urban residents-similar to crypto investors more broadly (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 20, 2024

Request for Proposals: Promoting competition and supporting workers in an era of AI innovation (opens in a new tab)

RFPs Nov 20, 2024

Request for proposals: Research grants for early career scholars (opens in a new tab)

RFPs Oct 30, 2024

Equitable Growth virtual event details how tax policies affect U.S. economic growth and could combat income and wealth inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog Oct 23, 2024

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently held the second in a two-part event series on tax policies for congressional staffers interested in learning more about using persuasive, evidence-backed arguments…

The promise of equitable and pro-growth tax reform (opens in a new tab)

Reports Oct 16, 2024

The impending expiration of large portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2025 presents federal policymakers with a significant opportunity to reform the federal…

Growth in the United States fell as taxes fell – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

There is no obvious relationship between top tax rate and growth rate (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

IRS audits of higher-income taxpayers deliver larger revenue returns to the government (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Tax cuts are to blame for increasing U.S. debt ratio (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Recent U.S. tax cuts have reduced revenue (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

The United States is a low-tax country (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

U.S. corporate tax cuts largely benefit the rich and foreign investors (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Payroll taxes exceed income taxes for most U.S. families (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

The Tax burden of the ultra-rich in the United States has declined in recent decades, driven by reduced estate and corporate taxes (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Taxes have become less progressive over time in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Income trend for the top 1% diverges from most Americans after 1980 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 15, 2024

Allowing the 2017 estate tax changes to expire will reduce U.S. inequality and promote economic growth and opportunity (opens in a new tab)

Reports Oct 9, 2024

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made deep cuts to the personal income, estate, and corporate income taxes that were costly and heavily skewed toward the very wealthy. The…

The number of U.S. taxable estates has declined due to the larger estate tax exemption (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 8, 2024

Under current U.S. law, high-income earners pay most of the federal estate tax (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 8, 2024

U.S. wealth disparities have widened substantially over the past 35 years (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 8, 2024

Wealth is more concentrated in the United States than in other economically advanced nations (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 8, 2024

A majority of assets are owned by the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Oct 8, 2024

End Ineffective Business Tax Breaks Before Creating New Ones (opens in a new tab)

Blog Oct 7, 2024

(This opinion piece first appeared in Tax Notes Federal on September 23, 2024.) Vice President Kamala Harris recently proposed an expanded tax benefit for start-up businesses, aimed at helping fledgling…

Equitable Growth’s ‘Econ 101’ offered congressional staffers a rundown of the contours of U.S. tax policy (opens in a new tab)

Blog Oct 2, 2024

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently hosted a congressional briefing—part of a series we call “Econ 101”—for Hill staffers interested in learning more about the ins and outs of…

The unequal impact of the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening and easing on firms in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog Sep 16, 2024

The easing of inflation in the U.S. economy beginning in 2022 and recent signs of weakness in the U.S. labor market over the past several quarters have led households and…

Asymmetric Effects of Monetary Policy on Firms (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 16, 2024

This paper documents firm-level evidence on the asymmetric effects of monetary policy in the US. Focusing on the 1980q3-2019q4 period, I find that monetary tightenings show larger effects on firms’…

Firms’ rate of investment rose and fell less markedly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 15, 2024

Firms’ sales fell and remained down but recovered only slowly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 15, 2024

The number of firms’ employees dropped sharply but rose modestly due to changing U.S. monetary policies enacted by the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 15, 2024

The upcoming U.S. election’s most important policy effects are under the radar (opens in a new tab)

Blog Sep 3, 2024

Although the old maxim that Labor Day marks the true beginning of U.S. presidential campaigns may no longer hold, the end of summer and beginning of fall remain a period…

New economic analyses of the 2017 Trump tax cuts find mixed effects that policymakers should consider when those tax cuts expire in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 22, 2024

Former President Donald Trump’s hallmark economic policy was a swathe of tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations in 2017. His Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, supercharged…

Bonus Question: How Does Flexible Incentive Pay Affect Wage Rigidity? (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 17, 2024

We introduce dynamic incentive contracts into a model of inflation and unemployment dynamics. Our main result is that wage cyclicality from incentives neither affects the slope of the Phillips curve…

Equitable Growth hosts event featuring Sen. Elizabeth Warren on pro-growth tax reform in 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Videos Jun 20, 2024

Several provisions of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts are set to expire next year, providing an opportunity to reimagine how federal taxes can both raise additional revenue for…

A researcher’s guide to identifying policy-relevant research questions for the federal government (opens in a new tab)

Essays May 30, 2024

Social science researchers play an important role in the policymaking process. Researchers help policymakers at all levels of government to understand key trends and issues in the U.S. economy and…

Behavioral Responses to Wealth Taxation: Evidence from Colombia (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers May 14, 2024

We study behavioral responses to personal wealth taxes in Colombia. We utilize tax microdata from 1993 to 2016 linked with the leaked Panama Papers to investigate offshoring to the country’s…

2017 tax cut for pass-through business owners exacerbated inequality and failed to deliver economic benefits (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs May 1, 2024

Among the many regressive and ineffective elements of the Trump administration’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, one provision stands out as the most convoluted, unfair, and ripe for…

Shareholders of U.S. S-corporations artificially modified their wages to maximize their qualified business income deduction (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

U.S. partners artificially reduced their salaries in order to maximize their pass-through deduction (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Trump tax bill’s pass-through deduction overwhelmingly benefits the top 1% of U.S. income earners (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Trump tax bill’s pass-through deduction overwhelmingly benefits White taxpayers in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Underreporting of pass-through income is the major driver of the U.S. tax gap (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Large partnerships mostly escape IRS scrutiny (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Factsheet: What the research says about taxing pass-through businesses (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Apr 30, 2024

In recent years, so-called pass-through businesses have taken center stage in a number of crucial tax policy debates. This large and growing category of U.S. business—which includes sole proprietorships, partnerships…

Pass-throughs are the preferred vehicle through which the top 1 percent hold wealth in tax havens (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

Rise of pass-throughs contributed to a large increase in U.S. inequality (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 30, 2024

The top 1 percent of U.S. income earners captures a disproportionate share of pas-through income (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 29, 2024

Not all pass-through businesses are small businesses (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 29, 2024

Growth in income of pass-through businesses has outpaced traditional C-corporations over recent decades (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 29, 2024

Pass-through businesses are increasingly common in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 29, 2024

Combating market power through a graduated U.S. corporate income tax (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Apr 15, 2024

Editor’s note: This version has been updated from the original publication on April 15, 2024. The update corrects a prior underestimate of the revenue potential from graduated corporate tax rates…

Enhanced Child Tax Credit helped U.S. families afford life-enhancing necessities and cope with inflation (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 2, 2024

Amid ongoing congressional debate over expanding the Child Tax Credit for U.S. families, it’s important to understand why the fears about the expansion of that tax credit in 2021 were…

Spending Responses to the Child Tax Credit Expansions (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Apr 2, 2024

This article summarizes the literature that studied how people used the 2021 advance Child Tax Credit. Four primary findings emerged. Families more frequently reporting paying down debt during the first…

Request for Proposals: How effective was the fiscal response to the COVID-19 recession for workers? (opens in a new tab)

RFPs Mar 18, 2024

Closing the billionaire borrowing loophole would strengthen the progressivity of the U.S. tax code (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Feb 5, 2024

The vast majority of Americans are concerned that some wealthy people don’t pay their “fair share” of federal taxes. They’re right to be bothered: Loopholes in the U.S. tax code…

Doubling down on cuts to the IRS is bad for the federal budget and for tax fairness in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 9, 2024

The U.S. Congress recently announced a bipartisan budget deal for fiscal year 2024 appropriations for the U.S. federal government. The budget is largely consistent with the framework agreed to in…

IRS audits of higher-income taxpayers deliver larger revenue returns to the government (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jan 9, 2024

Six years later, more evidence shows the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act benefits U.S. business owners and executives, not average workers (opens in a new tab)

Blog Dec 20, 2023

When policymakers were debating the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, many proponents claimed that average U.S. workers would benefit via wage increases. These adherents of trickle-down economic theory…

Request for proposals: Research grants for early career scholars (opens in a new tab)

RFPs Nov 30, 2023

New evidence shows that limiting a tax break for highly leveraged firms doesn’t hurt the U.S. economy (opens in a new tab)

Blog Nov 21, 2023

Does increasing taxes on businesses reduce private-sector investment? Most economists agree that investment in new projects and technologies is a key driver of economic growth. While the tax code plays…

Investment Rate EG Graph 04 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 20, 2023

The Rise of Pass-Throughs: an Empirical Investigation (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 26, 2023

Pass-through entities have emerged as the leading U.S. business organization form in recent decades. Using comprehensive confidential administrative data, this paper highlights five core findings: (1) the rise in pass-throughs…

The New Economics of Industrial Policy (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 19, 2023

We discuss the considerable literature that has developed in recent years providing rigorous evidence on how industrial policies work. This literature is a significant improvement over the earlier generation of…

The role of private equity in the U.S. economy, and whether and how favorable tax policies for the sector need to be reformed (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Sep 14, 2023

The increasing impact of private equity firms upon large swaths of the U.S. economy in recent decades is drawing more attention to the tax treatment of these firms as they…

The effects of the expanded Child Tax Credit on low-income families in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 2, 2023

Childhood poverty is a stubborn problem in the United States. About 11 million U.S. children lived in poverty prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for nearly one-third of the impoverished…

Short-term effects of the expanded Child Tax Credit on U.S. labor force participation amid the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 26, 2023

There is a common politicized thread to arguments against expanding the federal antipoverty Child Tax Credit program permanently and to the justifications that a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court…

The Short-Term Labor Supply Response to the Expanded Child Tax Credit (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 26, 2023

We estimate the extensive and intensive margin labor supply response to the monthly Child Tax Credit disbursed in 2021 as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act. Using Current…

The historical lessons from the U.S. General Property Tax (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 5, 2023

In the early 19th century, a new type of property tax system emerged in the United States, distinguishing itself from its European counterparts by encompassing all forms of property. This…

Wealth and Property Taxation in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 5, 2023

We study the history and geography of wealth accumulation in the US, using newly collected historical property tax records since the early 1800s. The US General Property Tax was a…

Money for nothing: The Qualified Small Business Stock capital gains exclusion is a giveaway to wealthy investors, startup founders, and their employees (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jun 8, 2023

The Qualified Small Business Stock exclusion, enshrined in Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code, permits early-stage venture capital firms and angel investors in high-tech startups, those startups’ founders, and…

New IRS report examines free tax filing option to reduce the cost and complexity for U.S. taxpayers (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jun 1, 2023

Filing a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service is one of the most common interactions Americans have with the federal government. Unfortunately, this process is often time-consuming and complex.…

Equitable Growth grantee Gabriel Zucman awarded the 2023 John Bates Clark Medal (opens in a new tab)

Blog May 9, 2023

Earlier this month, associate professor of public policy and economics Gabriel Zucman at the University of California, Berkeley—and a Washington Center for Equitable Growth 2018 grantee—won the 2023 John Bates…

A missed opportunity to expand the Child Tax Credit will affect U.S. families and the broader economy now and for years to come (opens in a new tab)

Blog Dec 21, 2022

Earlier this week, the U.S. Congress released its proposed omnibus bill that funds the federal government through September 2023 and makes various other reforms to the nation’s retirement system, antitrust…

Fighting tax evasion by the wealthy can raise revenue and restore the integrity of the U.S. tax system (opens in a new tab)

Blog Dec 20, 2022

Recent estimates suggest that as much as $36 billion a year in taxes are unpaid by Americans hiding wealth abroad, and more than $50 billion more is lost due to…

A review of federal lending to small business owners of color during the COVID-19 pandemic (opens in a new tab)

Reports Dec 13, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 hammered small businesses across the globe. The number of active businesses declined precipitously, supply chain interruptions reduced business operations, and global trade…

Factsheet: What the research says about the economics of the 2021 enhanced Child Tax Credit (opens in a new tab)

Factsheets Nov 29, 2022

The Child Tax Credit has historically provided income support to middle- and high-income taxpayers with children. In 2021, however, the U.S. Congress enacted a temporary enhanced Child Tax Credit with…

The lowest-income U.S. households with children were the least likely to receive the enhanced monthly Child Tax Credit in October 2021 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 28, 2022

The enhanced Child Tax Credit reduced hardship among low-income households with children (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 28, 2022

How the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is promoting sustainable U.S. economic growth and mitigating climate change (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Nov 18, 2022

In an issue brief earlier this year, Equitable Growth discussed how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 rests on sound economic principles and analyzed the ways that its…

What are the distributional effects of monetary policy? (opens in a new tab)

Blog Nov 17, 2022

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth recently announced our 2023 Request for Proposals to support research investigating the various channels through which economic inequality, in all its forms, may or…

Monetary Policy, Labor Income Redistribution and the Credit Channel: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee and Credit Registers (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Nov 17, 2022

We document the redistributive effects of monetary policy on labor market outcomes via the credit channel. For identification, we exploit matched administrative datasets in Portugal – employee-employer and credit registers…

Consumers initially spend less than a third of their stimulus checks, on average, amid recessions (opens in a new tab)

Blog Sep 12, 2022

Economists and policymakers alike generally agree on the effectiveness of sending out direct stimulus checks to individuals to help reverse an economic downturn by encouraging more consumer spending. But they…

Marginal Propensity to Consume in Recessions: a Meta-analysis (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 12, 2022

This paper assembles a dataset of 1244 estimates of marginal propensities to consume (MPC) out of stimulus checks and other small transitory or predictable payments—as reported by 40 studies. I…

When the unemployment rate increases, the marginal propensity to consume rises (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 8, 2022

The marginal propensity to consume falls with the size of the stimulus payment (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 8, 2022

The inequitable consequences of ‘heat islands’ within the metropolitan areas of the United States and what to do about it (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 3, 2022

Environmental science finds that so-called heat islands occur when urbanized areas experience much higher temperatures than neighboring outlying areas within major metropolitan areas. In and around U.S. cities, more affluent…

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 3 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 1, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including environmental…

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, migration away from high-tax states increased significantly – updated (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2022

Migration rates for U.S. millionaires were unchanged after the 2017 tax law passed (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 28, 2022

Taxing the rich: The effect of tax reform and the COVID-19 pandemic on tax flight among U.S. millionaires (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 28, 2022

Taxing the rich is one of the central policy debates in this time of rising inequality. Elite taxation can change the distribution of income in society, support equitable growth, and…

Taxing the Rich: How Incentives and Embeddedness Shape Millionaire Tax Flight (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jul 28, 2022

Taxing the rich is one of the central debates in this era of rising inequality. Elite taxation can alleviate income disparities and fund public investments. Yet, if top earners engage…

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 26, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including disaggregating…

In Conversation with R. Jisung Park (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation Jul 25, 2022

Equitable Growth in Conversation is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and…

NBER Summer Institute 2022 Round-up: Week 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 18, 2022

On July 11, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on various topics in economics, including monopsony…

Recent working paper explores connection between capital investment and labor demand in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog May 20, 2022

The increasing visibility of artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies in the workplace is drawing new attention to how employers integrate technology into work processes and what effects these decisions…

Mitigating the impact of wildfires on homes is critical to improving U.S. economic outcomes (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs May 10, 2022

The harmful consequences of climate change are broad, from extreme weather events making locations uninhabitable to increased temperatures delivering larger and more frequent downstream damages, such as drought and increased…

Modeling future economic damages from climate change is an important and underdeveloped area of research (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 22, 2022

This year’s Earth Day celebrations come on the heels of yet another devastating UN report detailing the consequences of climate change—and the global lack of action to mitigate its effects—for…

Understanding Climate Damages: Consumption versus Investment (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Apr 22, 2022

Existing climate-economy models use aggregate damage functions to model the effects of climate change. This approach assumes climate change has equal impacts on the productivity of firms that produce consumption…

Retirement tax incentives supercharge the fortunes of wealthy Americans (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Mar 17, 2022

The conventional wisdom is that the nation’s system of retirement tax incentives, built around 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts, is geared at helping the middle class build a small nest…

Fostering academic research on U.S. economic impact payments that goes beyond the marginal propensity to consume (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 18, 2022

Direct government payments to individuals are now a standard part of U.S. fiscal policymakers’ recession-fighting toolkit. Three rounds of so-called economic impact payments from the federal government have been paid…

Capital Investment and Labor Demand (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jan 11, 2022

We study how tax policies that lower the cost of capital impact investment and labor demand. Difference-in-differences estimates using confidential US Census Data on manufacturing establishments show that tax policies…

Closing the Innovation Gap in Pink and Black (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jan 10, 2022

Recent research shows the negative impact of discrimination not only on the targets of discrimination but also on the economy as a whole. Racial and gender inequality can limit the…

Billionaires Income Tax proposal seeks to ensure that U.S. ultra-wealthy pay their fair share in taxes (opens in a new tab)

Blog Dec 17, 2021

There is a growing recognition among policymakers in Washington that something must be done to address the ever-widening U.S. wealth divide, which is especially dramatic when broken out by race.…

The economic evidence behind 10 policies in the Build Back Better Act (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Nov 24, 2021

The U.S. House of Representatives late last week passed a key plank of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, the Build Back Better Act. Coming on the heels of the president…

The Build Back Better Act leads to greater GDP growth than the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act alone (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Nov 24, 2021

In Conversation with Carlos Fernando Avenancio-León (opens in a new tab)

In Conversation Sep 20, 2021

Equitable Growth in Conversation is a recurring series where we talk with economists and other academics to help us better understand whether and how economic inequality affects economic growth and…

The value of racial and gender diversity at the Federal Reserve (opens in a new tab)

Blog Sep 16, 2021

The Federal Reserve’s so-called dual mandate to maintain overall price stability and maximum sustainable growth in U.S. employment is always on the minds of the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open…

Diverse Policy Committees Can Reach Underrepresented Groups (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Sep 16, 2021

In a randomized control trial that varies the salience of female and minority representation on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee, the FOMC, we test whether diversity affects how Fed…

Completing the unfinished New Deal to overcome 21st century U.S. economic inequality (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 31, 2021

President Joe Biden wants Congress to enact his two signature legislative packages—the $1 trillion bipartisan physical infrastructure plan passed by the U.S. Senate earlier in August and a $3.5 trillion…

Congress needs distribution analyses to make informed, equitable policy choices, and the CBO FAIR Scoring Act would deliver it (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 11, 2021

Before voting on legislation, members of Congress usually receive a cost estimate, or score, for that legislation from the Congressional Budget Office. This score provides nonpartisan CBO analysts’ best estimate…

NBER Summer Institute 2021 Round-up: Week 2 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 26, 2021

On July 12, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on specific subfields of economics, including wealth…

NBER Summer Institute 2021 Round-up: Week 1 (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 19, 2021

On July 12, the National Bureau of Economic Research kicked off its summer institute, an annual 3-week conference featuring discussions and paper presentations on specific subfields of economics, including inequality…

Climate change among many issues discussed at annual Western Economic Association International conference (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jul 15, 2021

The Western Economic Association International at the end of June held its 96th annual conference, bringing audiences together for more than 280 concurrent sessions to collaborate, share, and learn from…

In an equal-opportunity America, GDP would be 33.5% higher (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 2, 2021

In an equal-opportunity America, poverty would be substantially lower (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 2, 2021

In an equal-opportunity America, women and people of color would earn significantly more, and earnings gaps would disappear (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jul 2, 2021

The relationship between taxation and U.S. economic growth (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jun 30, 2021

The relationship between taxation and economic growth is hotly debated in economics. Free market economic ideology is based on the premise that constraining “the market” through policies such as increased…

The economic benefits of equal opportunity in the United States by ending racial, ethnic, and gender disparities (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Jun 29, 2021

Racial, ethnic, and gender disparities across the U.S. economy are a personal tragedy for the millions of individuals who suffer from the emotional, psychological, and social consequences. These disparities also…

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act decreased tax revenue, but corporate investment trends were unchanged in 2018 and slowed in 2019 (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 28, 2021

There is no obvious relationship between top tax rate and economic growth in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 28, 2021

In an equal opportunity America, women and people of color would earn significantly more, and earnings gaps would disappear (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 7, 2021

In an equal opportunity America, poverty would be substantially lower (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Jun 7, 2021

COVID-19 lockdown policy in the United States: Past, present, and future trends (opens in a new tab)

Blog May 27, 2021

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the rising death toll from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, initiated an unprecedented decline in consumer spending in the United States,…

Covid-19 Businesses Reopenings and Consumer Spending (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers May 27, 2021

This paper studies if Covid-19 retail and restaurant shutdowns and reopenings were responsible for tin the United States. We find reopening policies substantially increased he dramatic ‘V’ shaped pattern of…

The coronavirus recession led to a previously unheard-of drop in consumer spending (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 27, 2021

Fear of the coronavirus recession reduced consumption initially, but states without lockdowns recovered consumption levels much earlier than those with lockdowns (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 27, 2021

Capital income is concentrated among U.S. high-income families (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 14, 2021

The sources and size of tax evasion in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs May 14, 2021

Tens of millions of Americans will duly pay the taxes they owe and file for their refunds by Tax Day in 2021, which was delayed until May 17. Meanwhile, some…

Business income underreporting is the majority of tax evasion found by IRS audits (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations May 14, 2021

How inequities in U.S. taxation can perpetuate systemic racism (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 20, 2021

The history of discriminatory taxation in the United States is long and storied. Writing on county governments in his in 1901 study, “The Negro Landholder of Georgia,” scholar W.E.B. Du…

White families have substantially more wealth than Black and Hispanic families (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 19, 2021

Policy workshop addressed promises and challenges of using carbon pricing to combat climate change (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 15, 2021

Climate change might be the world’s most complex public policy problem. It is more global, more long-term, more irreversible, and more uncertain than most other policy challenges and probably unique…

The estimated costs of refund uncertainty are substantial, especially for EITC recipients (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Apr 13, 2021

Uncertainty about the size of annual tax refunds hinders the effectiveness of tax-based U.S. redistribution (opens in a new tab)

Blog Apr 8, 2021

Each tax season, many families in the United States receive additional income through refundable tax credits, among them the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. These two tax…

Tax Refund Uncertainty: Evidence and Welfare Implications (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Apr 8, 2021

Transfers paid through annual tax refunds are a large but uncertain source of income for poor households. We document that low-income tax-filers have substantial subjective uncertainty about these refunds. We…

Tax evasion at the top of the U.S. income distribution and how to fight it (opens in a new tab)

Blog Mar 22, 2021

How much taxes do high-income Americans evade? And what kinds of evasion tactics do they use? These questions are important for tax enforcement policies and the measurement of income inequality…

Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory and Evidence (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Mar 22, 2021

This paper studies tax evasion at the top of the U.S. income distribution using IRS micro-data from (i) random audits, (ii) targeted enforcement activities, and (iii) operational audits. Drawing on…

Offshore tax evasion is rarely detected in random audits (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Mar 22, 2021

Executive actions to reform the cost-benefit analysis of U.S. tax regulations (opens in a new tab)

Blog Feb 24, 2021

Relevant federal offices and agencies: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs U.S. Department of the Treasury Relevant laws and guidance: Executive Order 12866 Memorandum of Agreement, Review of Tax Regulations…

Understanding the macroeconomic consequences of rising income and wealth inequality in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 15, 2021

One of the big questions in economics today is to understand how rising inequality matters for the U.S. economy as a whole. There has been a sharp increase in income…

Collective bargaining as a path to more equitable wage growth in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 14, 2021

This essay is part of Boosting Wages for U.S. Workers in the New Economy, a compilation of 10 essays from leading economic thinkers who explore alternative policies for boosting wages…

Targeting business tax incentives to realize U.S. wage growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jan 14, 2021

This essay is part of Boosting Wages for U.S. Workers in the New Economy, a compilation of 10 essays from leading economic thinkers who explore alternative policies for boosting wages…

A Price-Based Approach to Distributing Taxes on Business Income (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Dec 21, 2020

This paper proposes a new approach to distributing taxes on business income based on modeling prices. Current approaches to distributing these taxes rely on explicit incidence assumptions, which amount to…

Public investments in education can spur equitable growth, pay for themselves, and create jobs for a stronger economic recovery (opens in a new tab)

Reports Oct 27, 2020

Public investments in education, in both physical structures and in services, are key to long-run economic growth and human well-being. Some of these investments are especially effective in promoting more…

Why cost-benefit analysis of tax regulations has failed, and how to fix it (opens in a new tab)

Blog Sep 30, 2020

When President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law in December 2017, he kicked off an incredible period of regulatory activity at the U.S. Department of…

Cost-benefit analysis of U.S. tax regulations has failed. What should come next? (opens in a new tab)

Reports Sep 30, 2020

In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the most significant tax legislation in 30 years. The rushed passage of the law meant…

Public investment in U.S. education would create nearly 1.7 million jobs (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 22, 2020

Public investment in U.S. education result in economic growth greater than the amount invested (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 22, 2020

Public investment in U.S. education would result in more tax revenue, sometimes exceeding the investment (opens in a new tab)

Visualizations Sep 22, 2020

Equitable Growth announces record $1.07 million in research grants on inequality and broadly shared growth (opens in a new tab)

Blog Aug 31, 2020

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth today announced research grants totaling $1,074,060—our largest year to date—to seek evidence on important issues related to the intersections between economic inequality and growth.…

Taxing wealth and investment income in the United States (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Aug 25, 2020

The federal income tax does a poor job of taxing income derived from wealth. The root cause of this problem is that the tax code allows taxpayers to defer (without…

Restoring the federal estate tax is a proven way to raise revenue and address wealth inequality (opens in a new tab)

Issue Briefs Aug 14, 2020

Wealth inequality in the United States is rising more steeply to the already very rich, even more than the well-known rise in income inequality. The wealthiest 1 percent of families…

Experts discuss transformative ideas for 2020 U.S. economic policy debate at Vision 2020 event (opens in a new tab)

Videos Jul 2, 2020

Eliminate banks as the “middleman” for federal anti-recession aid. Cancel all student loan debt. Give workers a say in how their workplaces reopen and empower them to form unions. Provide…

Equitable Growth and The Hamilton Project bring together policymakers and academics to discuss how to fight the coronavirus recession (opens in a new tab)

Videos Jun 11, 2020

At a June 8 online event sponsored by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and The Brookings Institution’s The Hamilton Project, key policymakers and academics discussed how the coronavirus recession…

Misvaluations in local property tax assessments cause the tax burden to fall more heavily on Black, Latinx homeowners (opens in a new tab)

Blog Jun 10, 2020

Authors’ note: We stand in solidarity with all who speak up, all who are hurting, and all who are combating racism and fighting to advance justice. Violence against Black bodies…

The Assessment Gap: Racial Inequalities in Property Taxation (opens in a new tab)

Working Papers Jun 10, 2020

We use panel data covering 118 million homes in the United States, merged with geolocation detail for 75,000 taxing entities, to document a nationwide “assessment gap” which leads local governments…