Bill Gale
Co-director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
- The plan to extend and expand the 199A deduction for businesses makes for bad economics. My new blog with @samthorpe.bsky.social explains why.
- New post out in @contrariannews.org on Trump's misguided and potentially destructive tariffs.
- It’s not every day that a president proudly pursues a tariff plan that threatens to create a global recession. (Un)fortunately for us, that day has come, gone, and come back again. Economist @billgale.bsky.social is here to discuss the misconceptions and fumbled steps.
- In the latest budget update, Alan Auerbach and I show that the fiscal outlook remains grim. Under current law, debt will reach 154% of GDP by 2055. Under current policy, which assumes that TCJA is made permanent, debt reaches 209% of GDP. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...
- Even without extending TCJA, keeping debt/GDP at its 2024 level (98%) in 2055 would require permanent spending cuts or tax increases of 1.84% of GDP if started in 2026—about $530 billion, or 22% of 2024 income tax revenues, or 15% of spending other than Social Security, Medicare, and interest.
- New working paper: The U.S. income tax may be race-neutral on paper, but its effects aren’t. Our new paper shows how white, Black, and Hispanic families face different burdens, especially when considering untaxed income. Read more: www.brookings.edu/articles/the...
- 1.2% of GDP. That's how much extending TCJA will cost each year. It's also how much would it take to close the Social Security funding gap for 75 years or longer. Congress could save Social Security, and avoiding a regressive tax cut would make it possible. www.brookings.edu/articles/cut...
- The gutting of the estate tax has been costly. If the 2001 rules were still in place (indexed for inflation), it would've raised $145B in 2021—seven times more than the actual $18B collected. www.brookings.edu/articles/tax...
- As we face the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in US history, converting the federal estate tax (taxing what people leave) to an inheritance tax (taxing what people receive) could be a win-win. 1/2 www.brookings.edu/articles/fol...
- Our analysis shows a 37% inheritance tax with a $2.81M exemption would raise the same revenue as the current estate tax—but more progressively. It would also broaden the tax base and boost mobility. 2/2
- As DOGE continues its blitz across Washington, it's missing a major opportunity: tax expenditures. Reforming these hidden subsidies in the tax code, which cost roughly $1.5T annually, could reduce deficits, increase progressivity, and simplify the code. www.brookings.edu/articles/a-b...
- Reposted by Bill GaleTrump is in LV promoting no taxes on tips. Exempting tips from taxes does nothing to help most low-income workers, and it may do little for many tipped workers—or even harm them as @billgale.bsky.social & Ian Berlin of @brookings.edu discuss in @econofact.bsky.social econofact.org/tip-off-the-...
