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Policy Options: Eliminate Itemized Deductions

We estimate the budgetary, economic and distributional effects of eliminating all Schedule-A itemized deductions starting on January 1st, 2021. We project that it would raise about $2.1 trillion of additional revenue on a conventional basis over the 10-year budget window and increase GDP by 2.3 percent by 2050. Families in the top 10 percent of the income distribution would bear 75 percent of the overall burden of this tax increase.

Policy Options: Eliminate Itemized Deductions

Policy Options: Increase Tax Rates on Capital Gains & Dividends

We estimate the budgetary and economic effects of increasing the top rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends from 20 percent to 24.2 percent, which is enacted on January 1st, 2021. We project that it will raise around $60 billion of additional revenue on a conventional basis over the 10-year budget window and increase GDP by 0.1 percent by 2050.

Policy Options: Increase Tax Rates on Capital Gains & Dividends

Policy Options: A 1% Value-Added Tax

We estimate the budgetary and economic effects of a new broad-based 1 percent value-added tax (VAT) with a progressive universal rebate calculated based on earnings, which is enacted on January 1st, 2021. We project that it will raise $700 billion of additional revenue on a conventional basis over the 10-year budget window and increase GDP by 0.8 percent by 2050.

Policy Options: A 1% Value-Added Tax

Policy Options: A Carbon Tax of $30 per ton

We estimate the budgetary and economic effects of a new carbon tax of $30 per ton of emissions, which is enacted on January 1st, 2021, rising by inflation plus 5 percent through 2050. We project that it raises $1.6 trillion of additional revenue on a conventional basis over the 10-year budget window and increases GDP by 2.2 percent by 2050.

Policy Options: A Carbon Tax of $30 per ton
PDF Brief Brief

Social Security Projections Competing Baselines

This legacy brief is available as a downloadable PDF.

PDF Brief Brief

The Social Security 2100 Act Updated Analysis of Effects on Social Security Finances and the Economy

This legacy brief is available as a downloadable PDF.

PDF Brief Brief

PWBM Working Paper W2019-2

This legacy brief is available as a downloadable PDF.