This is a reform with bipartisan roots — expert panels under both Bush and Obama recommended it.
This #TaxDay, it's time to close the pass-through loophole.
Full piece at @equitablegrowth.bsky.social 👇
equitablegrowth.org/the-other-tw...
The solution: require large, complex pass-throughs to be taxed like C corporations.
→ Achieves tax parity between equally-sized businesses, potentially boosting GDP by 6.8%
→ Raises substantial new revenue from the wealthiest
→ Defuses the potent (but false!) small business narrative in tax debates
Large pass-throughs also tend to have very complex ownership structures. Dozens of partnerships are layered on top of one another — obscuring ownership, complicating IRS audits, & facilitating offshore money movement.
These are not your local laundromats, beloved diners, or trusty hardware stores.
Despite what you may have heard about pass-throughs being small, mom & pop businesses, the top 1% captures a disproportionate share of all pass-through income.
The real beneficiaries: hedge funds, private equity firms, & real estate vehicles.
Buffett owns Berkshire Hathaway — a C corporation that pays corporate tax, pushing his tax rate up.
Michael Bloomberg owns Bloomberg LP — a partnership (a "pass-through") that doesnt pay corporate tax, pushing his tax rate down.
Same ballpark wealth. Different tax rules & rates.
Happy #TaxDay!
While you file, know that ultra-wealthy pass-through business owners may be paying a lower effective federal rate than you — sometimes far below even Warren Buffett.
There's a hidden two-tiered tax system almost no one talks about.
What did we think ICE was going to do with the $170 billion Congress gave them this summer? (For context, total nationwide spending on public prisons and jails is $80ish billion a year.)
Unsurprisingly, the RSC framework continues where last summer’s megabill left off on cutting taxes for the rich.
The most ludicrous of these “affordability” tax cuts is ELIMINATING the estate tax—a tax only affecting heirs to fortunes worth over $30 MILLION DOLLARS per couple.
Trump defunding the tax police. Predictable, but still sad.
This group within IRS was poised to generate astronomical returns on investment for the country.
equitablegrowth.org/research-pap...
Was thrilled to join Jeff Hoopes & Scott Dyreng late last year on Tax Chats podcast to discuss the qualified small business stock exclusion.
I am not a fan (of QSBS)! The podcast I like very much.
taxchats.buzzsprout.com/1878989/epis...
cc: @taxnotes.com coauthor @kylepomerleau.bsky.social
Critics say distributional weighting in benefit-cost analysis is impractical
But Dan Acland @goldmanschool.bsky.social proves otherwise—showing how weighting can overcome bias against low income & bridge divide b/w equity & efficiency equitablegrowth.org/research-pap... @equitablegrowth.bsky.social
Overlooked tax justice win in Seattle!
And possible model for federal reform: Give a break to the 90% of (actually small!) businesses (including independent contractors who file as businesses) that make less than $2 million in gross receipts each year, while raising rates on the larger firms.
Colorado is doubling down on our super popular program to tax the rich and pay for free school meals for every single public school kid. Universal programs have herd immunity. Tax the rich and use the money to give everyone else something popular.
@chusak.bsky.social shows that expiring Affordable Care Act premium tax credits--which Dems are fighting to extend--mean more to true small business owners than so-called "small business tax relief" included in this summer's Republican megabill, which went almost entirely to the rich
In a new analysis, Chris Bangert-Drowns & Chiara Chanoi measure workers’ exposure to AI and assess how it affects wages.
They find AI exposure is higher among people with higher levels of education who work in high-paying jobs, regardless of gender or race.
🔗:
Opposition to the qualified small business stock exclusion crosses ideological lines!
@kylepomerleau.bsky.social & me on why QSBS-which Republicans just expanded-is inefficient, unfair & should be scrapped, or at least reformed to fix glaring defects.
www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-to... @taxnotes.com
CBO confirms that the retroactive corporate tax cuts included in the Republican budget bill this summer delivered a multi-billion dollar windfall to the largest multinationals this fiscal year.
www.cbo.gov/publication/...
Great insights (and fun acronym reinterpretation!) from
@itep.org.
States should follow California's lead and decouple from the federal Qualified Small Business Stock exclusion. It sure doesn't seem like early-stage tech investment in CA has suffered without it...
itep.org/qsbs-trump-t...
America First!
Why would some business interests prefer for Congress to fly blind in tax policymaking? 🤔
Very good take from @howardgleckman.bsky.social @taxpolicycenter.bsky.social:
Ever wonder what brides & grooms really mean when they recite their wedding vows?
My attempt at translation: weeklyhumorist.com/the-jaded-we...
"I got really lucky and am marrying someone completely out of my league"
=
“I will be spending the next 20 years paranoid about you cheating on me”
#DC DEEP TODAY… Marching to the White House 🏡
Reason #3: These rich folks just got another tax cut!
The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017 already led to a big cut for the top. But this year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act not only extended TCJA but further lowered estate tax & provided additional breaks to high-income businesses & investors.
END/
Reason #2: The researchers attribute the ENTIRE corporate tax to shareholders. Most analysts assume some of the tax gets paid by workers.
Either way, the researchers find the corporate tax is critical for fairly taxing the richest Americans. Their total tax rate would be ≈15% without it.
This is actually a conservative estimate, for a few reasons:
Reason #1: That’s 23.8% of what the researchers call “economic income," a fairly comprehensive measure but still not capturing all unrealized capital gains. When those are included in denominator, the tax rate for the top drops to 21.2%.
It’s dog days of summer, but tax scholarship doesn't take a vacation!
New study out today by Balkir, Saez, Yagan, and Zucman finds 400 richest Americans pay just 23.8% in total (federal, state, foreign) taxes, less than the 30% paid by the average American. www.nber.org/papers/w34170 🧵
"We want them gone today."
As Republican states send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., organizer Keya Chatterjee of @freedcproject.bsky.social joins calls to end Trump's federal takeover of the nation's capital.
This is an opportunity for organizing...
And for reminding/educating fellow Americans across the country, who will be reading news stories about yesterday's events, about the 700,000+ disenfranchised Americans living in DC without representation in Congress.
DC residents and allies!! It’s time to turn your anger at the federal takeover of law enforcement into action with @freedcproject.bsky.social 🧵
