The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, typically shortened to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), is a

nonpartisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

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based in Washington D.C. A joint venture of the

Urban Institute The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and pr ...

and the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

, it aims to provide independent analyses of current and longer-term tax issues, and to communicate its analyses to the public and to policymakers. TPC combines national specialists in tax, expenditure, budget policy, and microsimulation modeling to concentrate on five overarching areas of tax policy: fair, simple and efficient taxation, social policy in the tax code, business tax reform, long-term implications of tax and budget choices, and state tax issues.

History

In 2002, tax specialists who had served in the

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, George H. W. Bush, and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

administrations established the Tax Policy Center to provide analysis of tax issues. The following year TPC developed a tax simulation model to analyze the federal income tax and proposals to change it. That model has evolved to incorporate new and additional data, changes in federal tax law, and other aspects of the tax system and the economy.

Staff

Tracy Gordon replaced Mark Mazur as the Robert C. Pozen Director of the Tax Policy Center in March, 2022, after serving as Acting Director from January 2021. Bill Gale, Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy at the Brookings Institution, serves as Co-Director. Leonard Burman was director of TPC from 2013 to 2017. Donald Marron, former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and former acting director of the Congressional Budget Office, was Director of TPC from 2010 to 2013. The center's TaxVox blog is led by tax correspondent Howard Gleckman.

Analyses

TPC publications examine the impacts of a variety of tax issues. A 2012 report outlined the then-presidential candidates' tax proposals and analyzed their distributional and revenue impacts. Other studies have examined the 2001-2006 tax cuts, the alternative minimum tax, the impact of tax provisions on low-income families, and tax incentives for education. An extensive collection of tables provides estimates of the impact of current taxes as well as the implications of proposals to change tax law. TPC representatives have testified before the

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regarding tax and health care reforms. TaxVox, the TPC blog, discusses current tax and budget issues. The Tax Policy Briefing Book is an on-line collection of short articles that explain a range of tax issues. Entries offer background information, describe key elements of the tax system, propose changes to improve the tax system, and provide information on state and local tax policy. The center has also collected various data tables in "Tax Facts" which cover aspects of the U.S. tax system, ranging from tax rates and revenues collected to changes over time in state and local tax collections. TPC's State and Local Finance Data Query System (SLF-DQS) provides tools with which users can create their own tables related to state and local finances based on data from the Census of Governments State and Local Finance series.

Funding

TPC is funded by individuals, corporations, trade groups, and foundations including the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...

References

External links