National Tax Journal articles from September 2002

National Tax Journal archives from September 2002

Short-run effects of fiscal policy with forward--looking financial markets.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION Traditional analyses of fiscal policy imply that raising government spending or reducing taxes stimulates economic activity in the short run. However, an alternative view developed by Blanchard (1984) and Branson (1985)...

The Bush tax cut and national saving.(Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act)
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION Following through on pledges made during his election campaign, President Bush proposed and Congress passed for his signature a substantial tax cut in 2001, forever linked to the unwieldy acronym EGTRRA (the Economic Growth...

Expectations and expatriations: tracing the causes and consequences of corporate inversions.(economic factors associated with corporate expatriations)
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION There is considerable confusion over the attributes necessary for a corporation located in the United States to be considered an "American" company, particularly insofar as nationality is thought to carry with it any...

Taxes and organizational form: the case of REIT spin-offs.(real estate investment trusts)
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION Publicly traded corporations hold a significant amount of real estate. Compustat data indicate that publicly traded corporations hold approximately $5 trillion of property, plant and equipment, of which we conservatively...

The effects of temporary partial expensing on investment incentives in the United States.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION On March 9th, President Bush signed the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002. The Act included a temporary increase in depreciation allowances for business spending on equipment and software (E&S) in the form of 30...

Are state and local revenue systems becoming obsolete?
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION In recent months, we public finance types have become used to nearly universal reports of sharply declining state revenues. Although cyclical factors are mostly responsible, many tax analysts believe that long-term economic...

State corporate tax revenue trends: causes and possible solutions.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION States' ability to collect taxes on business, and particularly on interstate business activity, appears to be diminishing. This should not be a surprising outcome since economists have for many years recognized the...

Choice complexity in tax benefits for higher education.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION Complaints about tax complexity suggest that the tax code is not like a store that is better because it has more choices. The many education "products" on the tax-benefit shelves come with inevitable and complex rules...

Complexity in retirement savings policy.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION The U.S. retirement system is often described as a three-legged stool in which the legs represent Social Security, employer pensions, and individual savings. This metaphor can be somewhat misleading, however, because it...

The individual AMT: problems and potential solutions.(alternative minimum tax )
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION In January 1969, Treasury Secretary Joseph W. Barr reported to Congress that 155 individual taxpayers with incomes above $200,000 paid no federal income tax on their 1967 tax returns. (1) The news created a political...

Nature or nurture: why do 401(k) participants save differently than other workers?
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION Although a large literature has examined whether the 401(k) program affects the amount of money that workers save, fewer authors have examined whether the program affects how and why workers save, despite the striking...

Federal tax policy, employer matching, and 401(k) saving: evidence from HRS W-2 records.(effect of tax policy on saving behavior)
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION The ability of the federal government to stimulate retirement saving through tax policy is a central economic policy issue and often a point of contentious debate in the literature. Since 1981, when the Internal Revenue...

Federal terrorism risk insurance.
September 1, 2002... INTRODUCTION For commercial property/casualty insurers, the terrorist attacks of September 11 represented a loss of a magnitude, now estimated at approximately $40 billion, which was both unprecedented and unanticipated. The costliest...