Taxes

CBO periodically issues a volume of options—this year’s installment presents 121—that would decrease federal spending or increase federal revenues. CBO’s website allows users to filter options by topic, date, and other categories.

CBO found that the tax burden on intangible assets is lower than that on tangible assets. In CBO’s estimation, the 2017 tax act increases the tax burden on research and development but reduces it on most other intangible assets.

In 2015, average household income before accounting for means-tested transfers and federal taxes was $20,000 for the lowest quintile and $292,000 for the highest quintile. After transfers and taxes, those averages were $33,000 and $215,000.

In 2016, students pursuing higher education received about $91 billion in financial support from federal spending programs and tax expenditures. This report examines the distribution of that assistance among households, by income group.

In CBO’s projections, the economy grows relatively quickly this year and next and then more slowly in the following several years. The federal budget deficit rises substantially, boosting federal debt to nearly 100 percent of GDP by 2028.

In 2014, average household income before accounting for means-tested transfers and federal taxes was $19,000 for the lowest quintile and $281,000 for the highest quintile. After transfers and taxes, those averages were $31,000 and $207,000.

As filed by the Conferees to H.R. 1 on December 15, 2017.

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation provide information about the distributional effects of the conference agreement for H.R. 1.

Letter to the Honorable Kevin Brady, Chair of the Conference Committee on H.R. 1, with the estimated budgetary effects of the conference agreement as posted on the website of the House Committee on Rules on December 15, 2017.

How much do companies benefit from corporate inversions? In this report, CBO analyzes the reasons for and effects of inversions. CBO also projects how inversions and certain other strategies will affect future U.S. corporate tax revenues.

Under the President’s proposals, budget deficits from 2018 through 2027 would total nearly one-third less than those in CBO’s baseline projections, ranging between 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent of GDP, down from 3.6 percent in 2017.

Under current law, deficits in CBO’s baseline projections continue to climb over the next decade, driving up federal debt. Economic growth remains modest, at about 2.0 percent through 2018 and then 1.9 percent later in the period.

CBO examines corporate tax rates—the statutory rates, as well as average and effective marginal rates—and the factors that affect them for the United States and other G20 member countries in 2012.

CBO discusses several uncertainties in the outlook for the U.S. economy, as described in An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2016 to 2026.

CBO's revenue projections since 1982 have, on average, been a bit too high—more so for projections spanning six years than for those spanning two—but their overall accuracy has been similar to that of the projections of other agencies.