Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation PDF Author: William G. Gale
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815719861
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation PDF Author: William G. Gale
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815719861
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

Rethinking the Estate and Gift Tax

Rethinking the Estate and Gift Tax PDF Author: William G. Gale
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
This paper surveys, integrates, and extends research on estate and gift taxes. The paper begins with information on features of U.S. transfer taxes, characteristics of recent estate tax returns, the evolution of transfer taxes, the role of such taxes in other countries, and theory and evidence concerning why people give intergenerational transfers. The next sections examine the incidence, equity, and efficiency of transfer taxes. Subsequent sections cover administrative issues and the effects on saving, labor supply, entrepreneurship, inter vivos gifts, charitable contributions, and capital gains realizations. The paper closes with a discussion of policy options and a short conclusion

Handbook of Public Economics

Handbook of Public Economics PDF Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780080544199
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 674

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Book Description
The Field of Public Economics has been changing rapidly in recent years, and the sixteen chapters contained in this Handbook survey many of the new developments. As a field, Public Economics is defined by its objectives rather than its techniques and much of what is new is the application of modern methods of economic theory and econometrics to problems that have been addressed by economists for over two hundred years. More generally, the discussion of public finance issues also involves elements of political science, finance and philosophy. These connections are evidence in several of the chapters that follow. Public Economics is the positive and normative study of government's effect on the economy. We attempt to explain why government behaves as it does, how its behavior influences the behavior of private firms and households, and what the welfare effects of such changes in behavior are. Following Musgrave (1959) one may imagine three purposes for government intervention in the economy: allocation, when market failure causes the private outcome to be Pareto inefficient, distribution, when the private market outcome leaves some individuals with unacceptably low shares in the fruits of the economy, and stabilization, when the private market outcome leaves some of the economy's resources underutilized. The recent trend in economic research has tended to emphasize the character of stabilization problems as problems of allocation in the labor market. The effects that government intervention can have on the allocation and distribution of an economy's resources are described in terms of efficiency and incidence effects. These are the primary measures used to evaluate the welfare effects of government policy.

Estate and Gift Taxation

Estate and Gift Taxation PDF Author: Brant J. Hellwig
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781422426449
Category : Gifts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The Federal Estate Tax

The Federal Estate Tax PDF Author: David Joulfaian
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026255111X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
A comprehensive and accessible account of the U.S. estate tax, examining its history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Governments have been levying some form of inheritance tax since the ancient Egyptians did so in the seventh century BC. In the United States, the federal government experimented with various forms of inheritance taxes, settling on an estate tax in 1916 and a gift tax in 1932. Despite this long history, there are few empirical studies of the federal estate tax. This book offers the first comprehensive look at U.S. estate and inheritance taxes, examining their history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Written by David Joulfaian, a veteran economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the book provides accessible accounts of such topics as changes in tax laws, issues of equity, the fiscal contribution of the estate tax, and its behavioral effects. Joulfaian traces the evolution of U.S. inheritance taxes from 1797 to the present, noting that the estate tax rate and base expanded through 1976, then began to decline. He describes the tax itself, explaining that it currently applies to estates and gifts in excess of $11.18 million, and outlines applicable deductions and credits. He sketches a profile of taxpayers and their beneficiaries; surveys the revenues from estate and gift taxes; and discusses the effect of estate taxation on labor decisions, saving and wealth accumulation, charitable giving, life insurance ownership, and other economic activities. Finally, he addresses criticisms of the estate tax and analyzes its shortcomings. Accompanying tables present a wealth of data gathered by Joulfaian in his research and not available elsewhere.

The Joint Economic Report

The Joint Economic Report PDF Author: United States. Congress. Joint Economic Committee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description


Path to Prosperity

Path to Prosperity PDF Author: Jason Furman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815701543
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
Since its launch in 2006, the Hamilton Project at Brookings has produced extensive research on how to create a growing economy that benefits all Americans. Its pragmatic work aims to increase opportunities for broad-based wealth, economic security, and enduring growth. Path to Prosperity, the first book to emerge from the Hamilton Project, presents important and original work to that end. P ath to Prosperity focuses on three key criteria for fostering broadly shared economic growth: enhancing economic security, building a highly skilled work force, and reforming the tax system. Income security proposals offer methods for reforming unemployment insurance, protecting against the risk of reemployment at a lower wage after job loss, and improving incentives for retirement saving. Education proposals build human capital by improving each level of education, from preschool programs for poor children to graduate fellowships in math and science. The tax proposals seek to make taxation simpler, more progressive, and better suited to a global economy. Contributors include Roger C.Altman, Reuven S.Avi-Yonah, Jason E. Bordoff, Kimberly A. Clausing, Susan M. Dynarski, Molly E. Fifer, Richard B. Freeman, Jason Furman,William G. Gale,Austan Goolsbee, Robert Gordon, Jonathan Gruber,Thomas J. Kane, Lori Kletzer, Jeffrey R. Kling, Alan B. Krueger, Jens Ludwig, Peter R. Orszag, Howard F. Rosen, Robert Rubin, Isabel Sawhill, Judith E. Scott-Clayton, and Douglas O. Staiger.

The Encyclopedia of Taxation & Tax Policy

The Encyclopedia of Taxation & Tax Policy PDF Author: Joseph J. Cordes
Publisher: The Urban Insitute
ISBN: 9780877667520
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
"From adjusted gross income to zoning and property taxes, the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy offers the best and most complete guide to taxes and tax-related issues. More than 150 tax practitioners and administrators, policymakers, and academics have contributed. The result is a unique and authoritative reference that examines virtually all tax instruments used by governments (individual income, corporate income, sales and value-added, property, estate and gift, franchise, poll, and many variants of these taxes), as well as characteristics of a good tax system, budgetary issues, and many current federal, state, local, and international tax policy issues. The new edition has been completely revised, with 40 new topics and 200 articles reflecting six years of legislative changes. Each essay provides the generalist with a quick and reliable introduction to many topics but also gives tax specialists the benefit of other experts' best thinking, in a manner that makes the complex understandable. Reference lists point the reader to additional sources of information for each topic. The first edition of The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book of the Year (1999) by Choice magazine."--Publisher's website.

Death and Dollars

Death and Dollars PDF Author: Alicia H. Munnell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780815758921
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
Despite the recent downturn in the stock market, the 1990s boom and the shift to defined contribution plans mean that more individuals will have significant wealth upon retirement. How they use that wealth will determine not only their own well-being, but also the living standards of their children, the resources available to philanthropies, and the level of investment capital in the economy. This volume explores the reasons why people save, how they decide to allocate their wealth once they retire, and how givers select their beneficiaries. It also assesses the extent to which the estate tax and annuitization of retirement wealth affects the amount and nature of wealth transfers. Finally, it looks at the impact of wealth transfers––first on the amount of aggregate saving and capital accumulation, and then on the distribution of wealth among households. Several conclusions emerge. First, gifts and bequests are important; they may account for about half of total wealth in America. Second, rich people make most of the wealth transfers. They are thoughtful about how much they pay in taxes and how they dispose of their wealth. They care about philanthropic causes and view their charitable contributions as more than a way to avoid paying estate taxes. Third, most nonrich people probably have some lexicographic preferences about the disposition of their wealth; they want to ensure they have adequate resources to take care of their own needs, and if money is left over, they would like it to go to their children. Fourth, little support has emerged for the pure altruistic model of bequests. Fifth, institutions matter. In the case of the rich, the estate tax probably reduces saving and increases bequests to charity. In the case of the nonrich, the shift to defined contribution plans will at a minimum mean that they have more wealth in their hands when they die, and therefore they will leave larger accidental bequests. It might also increase their interest in leaving an estate for their heirs. Saving and bequest behavior remains a fertile ground for future research. Major differences of opinion remain on such important issues as the effect of bequests on the distribution of wealth. The contributors to this volume provide a summary of existing knowledge, push the debate forward, and link topics in a unique and comprehensive way. At the same time, they make clear that many questions remain unresolved about the motives for and effects of wealth transfers.

Taxation and Tax Policy Issues

Taxation and Tax Policy Issues PDF Author: Brian L. Yoshov
Publisher: Nova Publishers
ISBN: 9781600211362
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
In 2005, Americans paid about $2.1 trillion in combined federal taxes, including income, payroll, and excise taxes, or about 16.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These taxes fund the services provided by government. As taxpayers, we balance the costs of taxes with the benefits of government. The goal of tax policy is to design a tax system that produces the desired amount of revenue and balances the minimisation of compliance and efficiency costs with other objectives, such as equity, transparency, and administrability. This book examines the detail which is where vested interests do their damage.