scholarly journals Think Tank Soldiers in the Battle for Tax Reform

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renee Irvin ◽  
Jes Sokolowski
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Tax Cuts

AbstractContemporary scholars argue that high wealth donors in the U.S. influence political decision making through generous funding of nonprofit organizations like think tanks. In response to that potential influence, some endorse curbs on implicit subsidies that favor higher-income donors more than lower-income donors. To highlight the debate, this study selects a particular topic – tax policy – that generates highly partisan viewpoints and political agendas. The article first models predicted partisan operational differences, based on donors’ ideological differences. The study then explores the financial, staffing, and board resources of think tanks and associated advocacy organizations. The data were collected in the year immediately prior to the passage of the 2017 U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, providing a snapshot view of contrasting operations of left-, centrist, and right-leaning tax policy think tanks. Given the notably more generous resources utilized by right-leaning tax policy organizations, it is possible that donor wealth differences enabled right-leaning nonprofits to contribute their influence to get the historic tax reform package passed. However, the successful passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could have resulted as well from the more targeted messaging and narrative framing employed by right-leaning think tanks and advocacy organizations.

scholarly journals Is This Tax Reform, or Just Confusion?

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Slemrod
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

Based on the experience of recent decades, the United States apparently musters the political will to change its tax system comprehensively about every 30 years, so it seems especially important to get it right when the chance arises. Based on the strong public statements of economists opposing and supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a causal observer might wonder whether this law was tax reform or mere confusion. In this paper, I address that question and, more importantly, offer an assessment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law is clearly not “tax reform” as economists usually use that term: that is, it does not seek to broaden the tax base and reduce marginal rates in a roughly revenue-neutral manner. However, the law is not just a muddle. It seeks to address some widely acknowledged issues with corporate taxation, and takes some steps toward broadening the tax base, in part by reducing the incentive to itemize deductions.

scholarly journals Viewing Tax Policy Through Party-Colored Glasses: What German Politicians Believe

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Heinemann ◽  
Eckhard Janeba
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Capital Taxation ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Ideological Bias ◽  
National Tax ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
A Company ◽  
Political Decision Making

Abstract The process of globalization has an important impact on national tax policies. Most of the literature does not focus directly on the political decision-making process and assumes that the desired tax policy is responding to objective underlying tradeoffs. Based on an original survey of members of the German national parliament (Bundestag) in 2006/07, we document a strong ideological bias among policy-makers with respect to the perceived mobility of international tax bases (real capital and paper profits). Ideology also influences, directly and indirectly, the perceived national autonomy in tax setting and preferences for a European Union minimum tax for companies. There seems little consensus as to what the efficiency costs of capital taxation in open economies are, even though our survey falls in a period of extensive debate about, and actual adoption of, a company tax reform bill in Germany.

Trying not to Lose Ground: State and Local Government Advocacy during Passage of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Wesley Leckrone
Keyword(s):  
Partisan Politics ◽  
Municipal Bond ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Tax Expenditures ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Tax Exempt ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

Abstract The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) was the first major federal tax reform in a generation. This article examines the priority issues of fifty-seven intergovernmental advocacy organizations during the legislation’s passage. These groups played defense from the start, in response to efforts by President Trump and congressional Republicans to streamline the tax code by eliminating tax expenditures. Blocking the potential elimination of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and preserving the tax exempt status of municipal bond interest represented priorities for most organizations. Ultimately, the TCJA preserved many tax expenditures important to intergovernmental advocacy organizations. However, the SALT deduction was capped at $10,000, representing a big loss. This case study evaluates when and under what conditions the intergovernmental lobby influences federal policy-making. It finds that while state and local groups use a variety of tactics, their ability to navigate partisan politics and harness the self-interest of members of Congress is necessary to success.

scholarly journals The New Tax Legislative and Regulatory Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135-1162
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Kysar
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Regulatory Process ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
The Future ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Reconciliation Process ◽  
Implementation Challenge ◽  
Tax Cuts

This paper compares the enactment and implementation process for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) to prior tax reform acts, as well as situates it within other developments in the legislative process more generally. It details how the 2017 enactment process solidifies reconciliation as the primary vehicle for the enactment of major tax measures, a trend nearly two decades in the making. The ambitious scope of the TCJA, as well as the rushed and partisan reconciliation process by which it was enacted, has led to ambiguities and instability in the legislation. These features have, in turn, posed an enormous implementation challenge for Treasury, which has led to some troubling results. Finally, reconciliation has set up the opportunity for Congress to engage in budget gimmicks in the future. This paper discusses these trends and proposes solutions to them.

Why Republicans Went Hard Right in North Carolina

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-78
Author(s):  
Caroline Tervo
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Medicaid Expansion ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Party Organizations

North Carolina Republicans used to be pro-business social moderates but moved hard right as they rose to supermajority power after 2010. As this chapter explains, this change was enabled by newly formed links between grassroots networks in the Tea Party and Christian right and free-market-oriented think tanks and elite advocacy organizations. Intertwined organizational networks operating outside of traditional party organizations boosted GOP electoral prospects and pulled the party’s agendas further right on issues such as voting rights, Medicaid expansion, environmental protection, and tax reform. Conservative organizational gains have exacerbated geographical partisan divides in North Carolina, as they have in other states and nationally.

Tax Policy and Organizational Form: Assessing the Effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 635-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Henry ◽  
George A. Plesko ◽  
Steven Utke
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Organizational Form ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

scholarly journals Nonprofit Practitioners Chat Back: An Exploratory Content Analysis of Participant Responses to the National Council of Nonprofit’s Webinar on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rikki Abzug
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Council ◽  
Individual Mandate ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

AbstractAs the first major overhaul of the United States’ tax code in a generation, the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has particular significance for the operation of US nonprofit organizations. Provisions of the Tax Act, including raising the ceiling on individual standard deductions, imposing excise taxes on highly compensated nonprofit employees, repealing the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, etc., are causing great uncertainty and consternation within organizations of, and bridging, the nonprofit sector. In response to some of the initial confusion, the National Council of Nonprofits offered a webinar, entitled, “Now What: How the New Federal Tax Law Impacts Charitable Nonprofits” on January 11, 2018. A one-hour slide-show with voice-overs was complemented by a running “chat” of nonprofit listeners/participants. This exploratory study undertakes a content analysis of the one-hour nonprofit participant chat that accompanied the webinar in order to take a pulse of the concerns of the practitioners as the potential impact of the law was explicated.

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