Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
9-2015
Publisher
Boston University School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
The federal income tax adjusts many but not all of its dollar components automatically to account for inflation. In this article I analyze the benefits and burdens this process confers on some taxpayers and the political logic behind them. I discuss the choice of the proper index for making the adjustments, as well as the effects of the failure to adjust specific dollar amounts. I conclude that some adjustments have become overly generous, while unadjusted provisions suffer slow repeal, sometimes intentionally. Indexation thus can have the effect of tax legislation by stealth.
Recommended Citation
Alan L. Feld,
Silent Tax Changes: The Political Economy of Indexing for Inflation
,
in
No. 15-35
Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper
(2015).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/804
