David S. Mitchell

Distributional weighting in benefit-cost analysis is practical and effective at assessing government rulemaking without bias against low-income individuals Distributional weighting is feasible for many federal agencies and nonprofit organizations and is a tool for overcoming bias against lower-income individuals.

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

Workplace exposure to artificial intelligence is higher among U.S. workers with higher wages, depending on how AI is used A look at the continuing impacts of artificial intelligence on the U.S. labor market and avenues for future exploration.

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

Monthly Budget Review: September 2025 The federal budget deficit was $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2025, CBO estimates, $8 billion less than the shortfall recorded during fiscal year 2024.

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/...

Quite Some BS: Expanded ‘QSBS’ Giveaway in Trump Tax Law Threatens State Revenues and Enriches the Wealthy States should decouple from the federal Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) exemption.

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:

The Jaded Wedding Attendee’s Translation Guide for Marital Vows – Weekly Humorist

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%.

How Much Tax Do US Billionaires Pay? Evidence from Administrative Data Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

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 🧵

Opinion | The Economy Is Starting to Pay for Trump’s Chaos

Economic threats ahead, courtesy of your president

The promise of equitable and pro-growth tax reform The next president and the incoming 119th Congress will have a rare opportunity in 2025 to enact true pro-growth tax reform.

Congress had opportunity to write simpler & more equitable tax code that raised additional revenue while encouraging economic competition & innovation that boosts productivity & growth. equitablegrowth.org/research-pap...

But this law moves in the opposite direction on every front. END

10) Politically Targeted Pay-Fors

What do research universities, legal immigrants, blue-state homeowners & clean energy producers/investors/consumers have in common?

They're all seen as political enemies by those in power. So they get an economically destructive tax INCREASE.

Opinion | This Loophole Buried in Trump’s Bill Is Anything but Beautiful

9) Encourages Outsourcing

Despite all of Trump’s rhetoric on tariffs and trade, his signature legislative initiative undermines domestic production by loosening tax penalties for profit shifting by multinational corporations. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/o...

8) Missed Opportunity on Care

Instead of making the investments we know we need in paid leave, child care, and pre-K, the law tweaks a few employer tax credits and modestly and selectively increases the child tax credit, a woefully inadequate response to the care crisis.

7) Other Macroeconomic Consequences

The law increases interest rates, not just b/c of fiscal risk premium, but also b/c of price pressure from deficit-spending. Even if Trump (illegally) fires Powell, consumers pay higher prices 1 way (inflation) or another (expensive credit).

6) Budget Gimmicks

The most egregious is the use of the “current policy baseline” to fraudulently conceal $3.8 trillion in tax cut extensions. This unprecedented abuse of the budget reconciliation process erodes trust in US global leadership & heightens fiscal risk.

5) More Indefensible Tax Giveaways

The law doesnt just extend TCJA & doesnt just affect marginal rates. It gifts bunch of other handouts to the rich, including

Increase in estate tax exemption
Enhanced qualified small business stock exclusion
Extension of pass-through deduction

4) Large Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

The law uses these savings from Medicaid & SNAP for large tax cuts for the rich, making it the most regressive tax & budget bill in modern history.

The average household in top 0.1%, which makes >$2 million/year, gets a $300K+ cut in 2027.

3) Increased Hunger

22 million families will lose some or all of their SNAP benefits as a result of the cuts, which will also have negative downstream consequences on local economies across the US.

2) Backdoor Repeal of the Affordable Care Act

It's not just Medicaid that gets hit, but also enhanced premium tax credits that millions of Americans use to gain access to affordable insurance through the state marketplaces.