Tax Foundation's Tax Policy Podcast

What are the benefits of the President's health care reform plan and health savings accounts, and are there any potential drawbacks? Would the President's plan dissuade companies from offering health insurance to employees? If health savings accounts did not cover routine care, would this dissuade individuals from seeking preventive care? In this in-depth podcast, U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) explains why these criticisms of health care reform plans are unfounded and...

What are the most pressing tax policy problems facing the country today, and what steps must lawmakers take to resolve them? Can Republicans, Democrats and the President work together to address these issues? In this wide-ranging discussion, Mark Weinberger, who is the Americas Vice Chairman for Tax Services at Ernst & Young and former Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury, explains the importance of bipartisanship and cooperation between the President and...

To what extent does the federal Commerce Clause limit a state's power to tax companies that do business within its borders? Should a state be able to tax a company that has no physical presence within the state? In this in-depth podcast, Arthur Rosen, a partner in the New York City office of the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and former Deputy Counsel of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, discusses the issue of nexus, the Commerce Clause as it relates to...

What are the economic drawbacks of our current employer-provided health insurance system? How did World War II price and wage controls help create the current system, and what should be done now to reform it? In this informative podcast, Katherine Baicker, a member of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, an associate professor of public policy at the School of Public Affairs at UCLA, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses the...

How do gross receipts taxes differ from sales taxes, and why are these differences important? What are the drawbacks to this type of tax? How do they damage certain businesses, and who ultimately ends up paying them? In this podcast, John Mikesell, Professor of Public Finance and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, discuses these problematic taxes, their recent reemergence in state finance, the damage they inflict on businesses, and their lack of transparency. (12 minutes, 35...

What are the prospects for tax reform in the new Congress? Will the Democrats’ talk of earmark reform translate into action? In the absence of fundamental tax reform, are there smaller improvements that can be made to the current system? In this podcast, Wall Street Journal columnist and author John Fund discusses the “Appropriations Party”; the problem of earmarking; lobbying; the growing complexity of the tax code; and reform possibilities for the alternative minimum tax,...

Which states and counties have the highest property taxes? How are property taxes assessed, and why do Americans dislike them so much? In this podcast, Tax Foundation Economist Gerald Prante discusses Americans’ disdain for property taxes, the assessment procedure, the states and counties with the highest property taxes, the recent astronomical increase in property tax collections, and property tax limitation efforts. (13 minutes, 21 seconds) ...

To what extent does taxation affect business decisions? How important are tax issues to corporations’ location choices and foreign direct investment? In this podcast, Mihir Desai, Associate Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses various aspects of corporate taxation, including the effects of taxation on business...

In the wake of the midterm election, do elected officials have a mandate for tax reform? How much of a priority were tax issues for voters? In this podcast, Karlyn Bowman, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the Roll Call column "POLLitics," discusses recent opinion polls that shed some light on voters’ priorities during and after the election, and explains the public’s unenthusiastic reaction to the recent...

How does tax policy affect the pricing and trading of stocks? Now that electronic commerce and intangibles such as information and technology have begun to replace the “bricks and mortar” economy, what role, if any, should the corporate income tax play in this new economy? In this podcast, Douglas Shackelford, Meade H. Willis Distinguished Professor of Taxation and Director of the University of North Carolina Tax Center, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic...

In recent years, there has been talk of levying high taxes on fast food, soda and other “junk food” to stem the tide on obesity. Is this an appropriate use of the tax code? Should the government use taxation as a way to promote healthy eating? Also, what are the differences between state corporate income taxes and gross receipts taxes, and is there room for either one in a 21st-century tax system? In this podcast, David Brunori, Executive Vice President of Editorial Operations at Tax...

State tax systems are complex, and their provisions vary widely. Which state tax systems represent sound tax policy? How can lawmakers judge the quality of their tax codes relative to neighboring states? In this podcast, Tax Foundation researchers Curtis Dubay and Chris Atkins discuss the recent release of the 2007 State Business Tax Climate Index, which provides a comprehensive ranking of the "business friendliness" of the 50 state tax systems (11 minutes, 19 seconds)....

Has recent tax policy increased income inequality? Do federal budget rules really restrain spending? How do corporate income taxes affect the wages of U.S workers? In this podcast, Kevin Hassett, Resident Scholar and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, discusses the effectiveness of federal budget rules, the worldwide impact of the corporate income tax on wages, and the relationship between budget deficits and recent...

The United States is increasingly linked to the world economy through trade and investment. But does the current tax system help or hinder this process of integration into the world economy?  In this podcast, Robert Carroll, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the U.S. Treasury, discusses principles of fundamental tax reform, the costs of federal tax compliance, and the impact of the current tax code on U.S. international competitiveness (12 minutes, 20 seconds). ...

Reforming the federal tax code makes good economic sense. But does it make good political sense as well? What will it take to build bipartisan support for fundamental tax reform in the coming years? In this podcast, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Member of the Senate Finance Committee and Budget Committee, discusses the need for fundamental tax reform, the "Fair Flat Tax Act of 2005," and the challenge of building bipartisan support for federal tax reform (10 minutes, 31 seconds). ...

With dramatic increases in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security looming on the budget horizon, is the solvency of the United States at risk? And what can be done to avoid a fiscal crisis? In this podcast, Prof. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics at Boston University and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, discusses the threat of growing U.S. entitlement spending, options for spending reform, and the economics of the "FairTax" tax reform plan (...

The complexity of the federal income tax is legendary, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has long been feared by U.S. taxpayers. What can Congress and the IRS do to make the annual tax filing process less burdensome for taxpayers? In this podcast, Nina Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate at the Internal Revenue Service, discusses tax complexity, the federal income "tax gap," and the use of private debt collection services by the Internal Revenue Service (17 minutes, 3 seconds)....

There is broad agreement among experts that the federal tax code is in need of reform. But lawmakers seem wary of the political obstacles. What will it take to prompt Congress into action on fundamental tax reform? In this podcast, Stephen Moore, editorial board member of the Wall Street Journal, discusses the politics of fundamental tax reform, the impact of corporate income taxes on workers' wages, and options for reforming the alternative minimum tax (9 minutes, 57...

(Note: The "Tax Policy Podcast" will be on summer hiatus until Tuesday, September 12. Please call (202) 464-6200 for more information.) In recent decades, many developed countries have sharply reduced corporate tax rates, while the U.S. rate has remained unchanged. Is the U.S. corporate tax system falling behind worldwide trends? And what should Congress do about it? In this podcast, economist Martin A. Sullivan, contributing editor at Tax Analysts, discusses...

Despite spending $265 billion per year to comply with the complex federal tax code, some $350 billion in taxes go uncollected each year due to mistakes and underreporting—the so-called "tax gap." Can tax simplification help close the "tax gap"? And what is Congress doing to ease taxpayer compliance burdens? In this podcast, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Ranking Democratic Member of the Senate Finance Committee, discusses proposals to reduce tax compliance burdens through electronic filing...