Alan Cole
Full Stack Economics
Washington, DC, United States
Contact Alan
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Past articles by Alan:
Why America can’t build quickly anymore
If we have 12 years to fight climate change, we can't afford to take 17 years to build subway lines. → Read More
How Zillow's homebuying scheme lost $881 million
They failed in the same way as my bad fantasy football team. → Read More
Joe Manchin’s friends aren’t listening to him
The Senator has spoken plenty. They just don't want to hear him. → Read More
Save the magnet schools
Learning is a good thing. If students can do more of it, they should. → Read More
How a key Biden tax idea got crushed
The president was forced to retreat on the key issue of step-up basis → Read More
Which Places Benefit Most From State and Local Tax Deductions?
Do taxpayers in your area rely heavily on state and local deductions? See how Trump's latest tax plan may affect taxpayers in your county. → Read More
A Beginner’s Guide to Trade and Foreign Exchange
A lot of tax discussion recently has focused on foreign exchange rates and border adjustments. Rather than talk about difficult abstractions, I thought it might be helpful to think about things in terms of a real physical business and its real physical outputs. What follows, I hope, will help show how real businesses that do … → Read More
A Beginner’s Guide to Trade and Foreign Exchange
A lot of tax discussion recently has focused on foreign exchange rates and border adjustments. Rather than talk about difficult abstractions, I thought it might be helpful to think about things in terms of a real physical business and its real physical outputs. What follows, I hope, will help show how real businesses that do international trade interact with each other, and how that all relates… → Read More
What Do the Election Results Mean for Tax Policy?
Today, the natural question for those of us in the tax world is, “What does the election mean for tax policy in general, and tax reform in particular?” → Read More
Comments on the Penn Wharton Budget Model and Candidate Tax Plans
Today the Penn Wharton budget model project presented its macroeconomic analysis of the tax plans proposed by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. An interactive version of its macroeconomic analysis can be found here. We expect these results, or similar ones, will soon be incorporated into a Tax Policy Center analysis, though at this … → Read More
Comments on the Penn Wharton Budget Model and Candidate Tax Plans
Today the Penn Wharton budget model project presented its macroeconomic analysis of the tax plans proposed by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. An interactive version of its macroeconomic analysis can be found here. We expect these results, or similar ones, will soon be incorporated into a Tax Policy Center analysis, though at this time, none has been released. → Read More
Five Facts About the Trump Tax Return Disclosure
The New York Times reports that it has obtained pages from Trump’s 1995 state tax returns. The Times reported late Saturday night that it had received an envelope containing the first pages of Trump’s alleged 1995 state tax returns in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The documents were mailed to the Times from New York City; the return address claimed it was sent from → Read More
Tax Foundation Distributional Estimates: What Do They Look Like In Dollars?
Regular readers of Tax Foundation reports know that we publish estimates of the distributional impact of federal tax changes: that is, we estimate how a tax reform might affect the after-tax incomes of taxpayers at different income levels. → Read More
Why We Published a Range of Estimates for Donald Trump’s Plan
I. Our Analysis of Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Reflects Uncertainty → Read More
Details and Analysis of the Donald Trump Tax Reform Plan, September 2016
Key Findings Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s tax plan would significantly reduce income taxes and corporate taxes, and eliminate the estate tax. According to the Tax Foundation’s Taxes and Growth Model, the plan would reduce federal revenue by between $4.4 trillion and $5.9 trillion on a static basis. The amount depends on the nature of a key business policy provision. → Read More
Details of the Donald Trump Tax Reform Plan, September 2016
Introduction Today in New York, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump released a tax reform plan. The plan would reform the individual income tax code by lowering marginal tax rates on wage, investment, and business income. Furthermore, it would broaden the individual income tax base. The plan would also lower the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent and modify the corporate income tax base.… → Read More
A Simple Thought Experiment
I have a simple exercise for the reader. This shouldn’t be difficult to follow, nor should it require any kind of advanced education in economics, nor should it even require you to agree with me about a lot of basic axioms or assumptions of economics. It just requires you to think along with me. Are you ready? Here goes. First: → Read More
The Real Value of $100 in Metropolitan Areas
Last week, we published a map showing how far $100 would take you in different states. For example, in states with low costs of living, like Mississippi, $100 had the same sort of purchasing power that $115.34 would have in an average state. But what about the differences in purchasing power within a single state? Do people in Houston have the same purchasing power as those in Dallas? And of… → Read More
The Real Value of $100 in Each State
This map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in a low-price state than in a high-price state. → Read More
The Real Value of $100 in Each State
This map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Prices for the same goods are often much cheaper in states like Missouri or Ohio than they are in states like New York or California. As a result, the same amount of cash can buy you comparatively more in a low-price state than in … → Read More