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How are we taxed? | |
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The view from 35,000 feet | |
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Why is everyone always so worked up about taxation? | |
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What is a tax? | |
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What are the major kinds of taxes? | |
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How are taxes like ducks? | |
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Are there "hidden" taxes? | |
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Are there ways to raise revenue other than taxes? | |
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How can regulations be like taxes? | |
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How have taxes changed over time? | |
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How do they vary across states? | |
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How do tax burdens vary around the world? | |
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How does the composition of tax change between fed, state, and local? | |
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Federal taxes in the US have been at about 18 percent of GDP for 50 years. Does that mean that this is the natural rate of taxation? | |
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Why is the long-term fiscal outlook so dire? | |
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Personal Income Taxes | |
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What's the difference between a personal tax and a business tax? | |
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Why do economists say that it doesn't matter who actually pays a tax? | |
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Aren't there cases in practice where it does matter who writes the check? | |
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What is the personal income tax? | |
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What's the difference between a credit, deduction, and exemption? | |
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What's a refundable tax credit? | |
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What are the biggest refundable credits? | |
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Is it true that most people don't pay income taxes? | |
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Who are they? Why does it happen? | |
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Is that bad for democracy? | |
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Do we tax capital income as much as labor income? | |
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What's the effect of tax breaks for pensions and retirement accounts? | |
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How do we tax capital gains and dividends? Why do we do it that way? | |
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Would a Scandinavian style dual income tax make more sense? | |
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Are there other better options to lessen the tax burden on capital? | |
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What is "economic income" Why don't we tax that? | |
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You want to tax my imputed rent????? | |
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What is the AMT? | |
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Where the heck did it come from and why is it so hard to get rid of? | |
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Does Uncle Sam really want you to live in sin? | |
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How does inflation affect the income tax? | |
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What are payroll taxes, and how are they different from income taxes? | |
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Business Income Taxes | |
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How do we tax corporations' income? | |
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Why tax corporations? | |
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Corporations earn trillions of dollars every year. Why do they pay so little tax? | |
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Who pays the corporate income tax? | |
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Why is it hard to tell who ultimately bears the burden of the corporate income tax? | |
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Why do economist say that we "double tax" corporation income? | |
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What are the impacts of double-taxing corporate income? | |
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What would happen if we just eliminated the corporate income tax? | |
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How can some companies get away with paying no income tax despite billions in profits? | |
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Why is it troublesome that some companies view their tax departments as profit centers? | |
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What is depreciation? | |
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Why not let businesses write off their investments right away? | |
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What is "bonus depreciation?" | |
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What are investment tax credits? | |
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Are there implicit spending programs run through the corporate income tax too? | |
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Why do we have ethanol tax subsidies, oil and gas special tax breaks, etc.? | |
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What are tax havens? | |
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What is a foreign tax credit? Why are they allowed? | |
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Why do we try to tax corporations on their worldwide income? Why not follow the practice in most of Europe and simply exempt foreign income from tax? | |
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What is transfer pricing? Why is it important to multinationals (and taxpayers)? | |
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What is formulary apportionment? Would that be a better option? | |
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What are the others ways business income is taxed? | |
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What is an S-corporation, LLC, etc? | |
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How are partnerships and sole proprietorships taxed? | |
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Taxing Spending | |
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What is a consumption tax? | |
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What is a retail sales tax? | |
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What is a luxury tax? | |
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What is an excise tax? | |
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What is a sin tax? | |
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What is a VAT? | |
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Why doesn't the US have one? | |
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Would it be more complex in the US because of state sales taxes? | |
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Does a VAT promote exports? | |
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Is it self-enforcing? | |
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What is the flat tax? | |
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Wouldn't a flat tax be super simple and fair? | |
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Is the flat tax advocates call for in the US the same as has been introduced around the world? | |
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What is the X-tax? | |
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Do consumption taxes disproportionately burden the elderly, or the poor? | |
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What can be done about that? | |
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Other Kinds Of Taxes | |
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What is the difference between an estate and an inheritance tax? | |
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What are wealth taxes? | |
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What is the property tax? | |
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What is a gross receipts tax? | |
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What is a lump-sum tax? | |
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Why do economists like the idea of a poll tax or a tax on ability? | |
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Does this explain why people don't like economists? | |
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The costs and benefits of taxation | |
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Taxes And The Economy | |
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How do taxes affect the economy? | |
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Why do economists think that most taxes cost much more than their sticker price? | |
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Do some taxes help the economy? | |
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Some discussion of carbon taxes, cap and trade, and the relative advantages of each | |
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Is it ever a good idea to run deficits? | |
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What are built-in stabilizers? | |
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Which is a better economic stimulus during an economic downturn, tax cuts or spending? | |
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What kind of tax cuts are the best stimulus? | |
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When interest rates are low, why not run giant deficits? | |
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If people care about their children, won't they just save more to make up for any deficits? I.e., do deficits matter at all? | |
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What kind of tax system is most conducive to economic growth? | |
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Is there a trade-off between economic growth and other objectives, like fairness? | |
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Why do smart, serious people disagree about optimal tax policy? | |
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How do taxes affect international competitiveness (and what does that mean)? | |
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Are some taxes "job killers," and others "job creators"? | |
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Do taxes affect where companies locate their headquarters? | |
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Do they affect the balance of trade? | |
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What is "trickle-down" economics? | |
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What is the Laffer curve? Can tax cuts pay for themselves? | |
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How do taxes affect working and saving? | |
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How do they affect entrepreneurship? | |
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How do they affect research and innovation? | |
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Does it matter if our tax rates are higher than other countries'? | |
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The Hidden Welfare State | |
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Are a trillion dollars in middle class entitlement programs really hidden in the tax code? | |
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How should we decide whether to run a subsidy through the tax system? How do we do it in practice? | |
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Is the budget process biased in favor of tax expenditures compared with direct spending? | |
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Does the income tax subsidize housing? | |
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Does the income tax subsidize health spending? | |
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Why not subsidize everything? | |
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Isn't it a good idea to reward people (and businesses) for good behavior? | |
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Are there too many tax expenditures? | |
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The Burden Of Taxation | |
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What makes a tax system fair? | |
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Why is the there often a trade-off between fairness and efficiency? | |
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What is the burden of taxation? Why is it hard to measure? | |
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What is the burden of deficits? | |
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How is the tax burden distributed? | |
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Is a progressive tax system class warfare? | |
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Tax Adminstration And Enforcement | |
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How does tax remittance and collection work? | |
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How much does it cost the IRS to run the US tax system? | |
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Why does the IRS like e-filing? | |
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What is tax withholding? Can it be extended to other forms of income? | |
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What is information reporting? | |
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Why do people cheat on their taxes? Why do they comply? | |
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How much cheating is there? | |
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Why are some taxes easier to evade than others? | |
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Is the income tax constitutional? | |
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What's the DIF? (Who gets audited?) | |
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How much more tax could the IRS collect with better enforcement? | |
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Why not audit everyone? | |
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Would a VAT be self-enforcing? | |
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Are refundable tax credits especially prone to tax evasion? | |
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What are tax shelters? | |
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Should I get a tax refund? | |
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Do most people get tax refunds? | |
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How many people use tax preparers? | |
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Why is the tax system so complex? | |
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How should tax complexity be measured? | |
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How high are the costs of compliance? | |
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Who benefits from tax complexity? | |
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Do fewer tax brackets promote simplicity? | |
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What are phase-outs and phase-ins? | |
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Why is there a trade-off between simplicity and other goals? | |
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What are the consequences of the Internet for the tax system? | |
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Should states be able to tax internet and mail-order sales from other states? | |
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If almost everyone uses tax software or paid preparers, why should we care about complexity? | |
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A tour of the sausage factory | |
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Tax Politics | |
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What does the public know about taxes? | |
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What does the public think about taxes? | |
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How does do new taxes get enacted? | |
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How does the tax sausage get made? (House and Senate rules) | |
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What is the "two Santa Claus" theory? | |
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What is the "starve the beast" strategy? | |
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Is there evidence that it has worked? | |
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Is the system biased in favor of tax expenditures? | |
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What is dynamic scoring? | |
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Raise taxes, or cut spending? | |
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Tax Rhetoric | |
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How to recognize Fool's Gold tax reform plans? | |
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Fairtax | |
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Flat tax | |
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Ryan's optional alternative tax | |
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Financial transaction tax (securities transfer tax) | |
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What are would-be tax reformers favorite clich�s (and do they help advance the goal)? | |
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"level playing field" | |
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"neutral" | |
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"broad-based, low-rate" | |
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"competitive" | |
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"job creator" | |
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"pro-growth" | |
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"simpler" | |
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Tax Reform | |
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Is the broadest base always the best base? | |
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Which level of government should levy, and collect, taxes? | |
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How should federal and state taxes be coordinated? | |
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Does the framing of taxes affect behavior? | |
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What is a revenue-neutral tax change? | |
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Should tax reform and deficit reduction be separated? | |
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Could most taxpayers be spared any filing requirement (as in the UK)? | |
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Could the IRS fill out our tax returns for us? | |
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Would simplifying tax compliance be unfair to H&R Block and Intuit? | |
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The bizarre story of California's experiment with pre-filled returns | |
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Are there some sensible tax reform ideas? | |