Taxation

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Session Type: Section Programs

Session Capacity: 90

Location: Hilton San Francisco Union Square

Room: Continental Ballroom 1

Floor: Ballroom Level

A new administration signals the prospect of a host of tax reform proposals. Accomplishing tax reform at the federal level is challenging enough and rarely are the effects of those reforms on state and local governments taken into account. That remains true even though federal tax policies have ripple effects at the state and local levels that often are not felt uniformly among the states. For example, eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes can recoup billions in federal revenue, but ending that deduction at the federal level would have a much stronger effect on states with high income taxes. More fundamental tax reform such as replacing the income tax with a VAT could have even greater impact on state and local governments and interfere with their ability to continue collecting sales and use taxes at current rates. The panel will explore issues surrounding intergovernmental fiscal structures, how they interact in a number of different contexts, and how fiscal responsibilities among federal, state, and local governments might be revised to correct perverse incentives that currently exist.

Business meeting at program conclusion.