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KiwiSaver is a new saving incentive program in New Zealand that requires automatic enrollment of all new employees, with an option to opt out. KiwiSaver also subsidizes participation, but its subsidies are smaller than tax subsidies for saving in qualified retirement plans in the United States. Recent research shows that using automatic enrollment as a default rule substantially increases participation in retirement saving plans, but evidence on whether saving incentives plans increase net saving is mixed.

Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child credit have been expanded. This brief illustrates how current tax rules interact with the minimum wage and considers whether increased tax credits could substitute for minimum-wage increases for those earning the federal minimum wage.

KiwiSaver is a new saving incentive program in New Zealand that requires automatic enrollment of all new employees, with an option to opt out. KiwiSaver also subsidizes participation, but its subsidies are smaller than tax subsidies for saving in qualified retirement plans in the United States. Recent research shows that using automatic enrollment as a default rule substantially increases participation in retirement saving plans, but evidence on whether saving incentives plans increase net saving is mixed.

Before you start doing your actual taxes, make sure you’ve got everything you need. Even if you decide to use a tax preparer rather than doing them yourself, you’ll still need to do this step.
Today, get together all of the following income-related papers, if they apply to you. You might have only one [...]

It’s still December, and that means you still have a little time to make some last minute fixes to this year’s tax picture. Unless you’re one of the lucky few who’s sure they’re going to get a refund, consider doing one or all of the following to cut down your tax burden a little [...]

You’ll think I’m crazy, and you won’t be the first. But I enjoy doing my taxes every year. I like watching all the numbers coming together, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment when I’ve not just finished the taxes themselves, but ended off the year with a nice balance sheet and [...]

In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress
to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.

Owing to balanced budget requirements, states often raise taxes during recessions. Unless carefully crafted, these tax hikes can fall on low-income working families--the same families likely to be subject to concurrent budget cuts. During the recession that started in 2001, states utilized several tools to balance budgets including tapping rainy day funds, borrowing, increasing taxes, and cutting spending. In many cases, low-income families were shielded from tax increases by increasing or creating state Earned Income Tax Credits (EITCs).

During the 1990s, US income-transfer and tax policies shifted towards trying to encourage work among low-income families. Optimal tax theory, however, suggests that work subsidies are usually an inefficient way to raise the incomes of poor families unless the work effort of recipients has external benefits and/or taxpayer/voters prefer redistributing income to the working poor rather than the idle poor.

The early years of the 21st century have been marked by a major tax bill almost every year. This fact sheet looks at the impact of these laws on taxpayers, especially on who benefits and who doesnt, and discusses some unfinished business, including the future of the estate tax and the individual alternative minimum tax.