NEW from me & Ellis Chen on IRS oversight. What do we know and what we need to know about: > IRS criminal investigations partnering with ICE > what the 25% staffing cut means for tax refunds > what has happened to IRS high-wealth audits > Palantir's new contracts & your data privacy

Tuning in for SCOTUS oral argument on tariffs today? @justsecurity.org @taxlawcenter.org's Kelsey Merrick with a primer on how using tariffs to raise revenue is a choice for Congress, not the President.

Tuning in for SCOTUS oral argument on tariffs today? @justsecurity.org @taxlawcenter.org's Kelsey Merrick with a primer on how using tariffs to raise revenue is a choice for Congress, not the President.

On Wednesday, SCOTUS will weigh whether the President can use IEEPA to unilaterally impose tariffs. Kelsey Merrick argues Congress intentionally ended tariffs as a major revenue source decades ago and never delegated that choice to the President. www.justsecurity.org/123833/tarif...

On 10/28, join us for a panel discussion highlighting how OBBBA missed substantial opportunities to improve the tax system and falls far short of the "tax reform" that many across the political spectrum have long called for. nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Fun fact: You can write clarinet lessons off on your taxes! (with a note from your dentist) It’s one of thousands of exemptions I look at why U.S. taxes are so complicated for @marketplace.org with @dashching.bsky.social & Larry Zelenak @dukelaw.bsky.social www.marketplace.org/story/2025/1...

Could be a big deal for many filers, including those who are elderly, disabled, rural, and unbanked:

New from me at @brookings.edu: Unprecedented, dangerous turnover at IRS: Of 31 top positions, 15 have turned over since January, 2 have been placed on leave, 2 are vacant and 3 are slated for elimination. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

Our analysis of the full Joint Committee on Taxation tables of the flawed GOP megabill: a $1T tax cut for the top 1% and a staggering $2.4T tax cut for the top 10%. Tax cuts of around $500B for households in the bottom 60%--the very folks who also face the brunt of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

Eliminating multi-language services would make it harder for taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations, set honest taxpayers up to fail and needlessly put tax revenue at risk. The IRS should not move forward with this harmful idea that has no sound tax administration purpose.

We are excited to launch a project to remake federal tax administration. Effective tax administration is critical to the federal government, but has recently faced drastic challenges over the last six months.

SCOOP: DOGE moved to kill Direct File, the IRS's popular free tax filing tool, days after meeting with private tax filing software lobbyists. www.wired.com/story/doge-d...

This piece confirms grave risk to all taxpayers from DHS efforts to get its hands on legally protected IRS data, risking targeting of US citizens, mistaken arrests, and rampant violations of privacy rights and civil liberties

TPC corrects the record on taxes on Social Security benefits. Trump Admin claimed "nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay fed income taxes on their bens" 50.9% of filers w/SS bens paid the tax before 47.3% now Only 3.6% no longer pay taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/corre...

Via @jeffstein.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com anti-tax interests want the Trump IRS to give an unlawful tax cut to wealthy people by executive fiat. Just the tip of one of two big icebergs of tax cuts for special interests coming for the tax system. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

House-passed, etc.:

The 2017 tax bill was bad for Republican politicians. The 2025 law could easily be worse. www.taxnotes.com/featured-ana...

The Senate-passed bill weakens the tax system and makes it more regressive, complex, and gameable. Many of its tax cuts are complicated and wasteful tax breaks that dole out favors to specific industries and activities with little or no good policy reason.

Thread: Lawmakers are realizing “surprises,” “airdrops” &“mysteries” are buried in the bill. Time to take a beat: seems more important to know what's in a ~$5T bill than meet a fake deadline! Things worth $10s/100s of billions & people’s livelihoods & health aren’t “minutiae.”

Thread: Article highlighting a tax break for the wealthy shoved into the tax bill the Senate is considering: turbo-charging a loophole-ridden tax break for venture capitalists and other well-off investors. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... (Paywall via @bloomberglaw.com @bloombergtax.com)

While tax subsidies for space ports were added to the text in the middle of the night.

Some of the surprise costly new tax breaks popped up overnight in the new Senate text: 1) tax benefits for spaceports (who asked for this?) 2) tax credits for coal (including exports)

THREAD: The SALT “deal” in the latest Senate bill is a nonsensical approach to tax policy. It preserves (and lessens) a limit on deductions for wealthy taxpayers while ignoring a loophole that allows the wealthiest of those taxpayers to avoid the limit entirely.

And the US tax system is *subsidizing* executives' personal use of company jets by not fully including that perk in their taxable income: taxlawcenter.org/tealbook/pol....

Another day, more SALT discussion news, but as yet none of it about this potentially major $$$ sleeper issue:

THREAD: GOP Senators say they're trying to scale back the SALT cap relief in the House bill. But could the approach to SALT in the Senate bill actually end up *more* generous & costly overall than the House bill? Do Senators – or does anyone – even know, despite the intense political focus on SALT?

"The Senate Finance Committee bill's approach to the SALT cap is incredibly complex, confusingly drafted, and raises significant questions about its intent and operation, particularly with respect to PTET workarounds." Initial @taxlawcenter.org overview: taxlawcenter.org/blog/senate-...

There's a reason we keep saying it's important for the government to safeguard sensitive personal data . . .

Great comment from @dashching.bsky.social @taxlawcenter.org on the international "revenge tax" in the Republican bill, which puts at risk domestic jobs and growth. So much for America First! apnews.com/article/trum...

The idea from someone quoted in this piece that the "revenge tax" could be "fixed" by giving more authority to the Administration to do what it likes is mindboggling given the tariff experience.

Tucked in the House bill: A provision that if in place in 2020 (most recent year of audits generally complete, & had there been no changes in filing behavior) would have meant the IRS conducting more than 35 times as many audits of individual taxpayers as it did. taxlawcenter.org/blog/propose...

And yet parts of the business community think this Administration won't let any of the economic self-harm embedded in section 899 ("tweaked" by the Senate or not) actually come to pass. Hmmm.

SSA also holds tax data. This event discussed risks to taxpayer data leaving and held outside the IRS:

Certain people have begun to notice how the House tax bill doesn't change tax breaks for oil & gas, only those for clean energy. Learn about: House bill's changes to clean energy credits: taxlawcenter.org/blog/house-b... Tax code subsidies for foreign oil & gas: taxlawcenter.org/tealbook/pol...

The unfolding revenge/retaliation tax (section 899) saga is a good example of post-passage realizations about what the bill does after there's been time to read it.... taxlawcenter.org/blog/protect...

Full recording of our discussion on risks to taxpayer privacy from DOGE & related efforts featuring Daniel Werfel, Lily Batchelder, Brandon DeBot, Elizabeth Laird, and David Padrino nyu.zoom.us/rec/share/IF...

Thread: New from @taxlawcenter.org: we get in the weeds (footnotes) and also big picture on the section 899 "revenge"/retaliation tax in the House bill that's under active consideration in the Senate. taxlawcenter.org/work/revenge...

Tomorrow, join the Tax Law Center for a conversation featuring former IRS and Treasury leadership on the risks of unprecedented efforts to use and share sensitive taxpayer data across government. Register here: nyu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Important to keep an eye on these threats to the core of the tax system, even as reconciliation trundles along:

THREAD Markets are waking up to a provision buried in the House bill that could undermine the demand for US Treasuries at a time when bond markets are already jittery: www.ft.com/content/b400... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Given the latest twist in the ever-chaotic tariff war, here's a reminder that the House bill has a provision that tries to ignite a tax and investment war, too:

Certain people have begun to notice how the House tax bill doesn't change tax breaks for oil & gas, only those for clean energy. Learn about: House bill's changes to clean energy credits: taxlawcenter.org/blog/house-b... Tax code subsidies for foreign oil & gas: taxlawcenter.org/tealbook/pol...

Want to understand what the House-passed bill does to clean energy provisions - and the tax subsidies for foreign oil and gas it didn't touch? We've got you! Clean energy credits: taxlawcenter.org/blog/house-b... Tax breaks for foreign oil and gas (untouched): taxlawcenter.org/tealbook/pol...

Clickbait! Find 16 more delightful diagrams like this (and plenty of text) by my @taxlawcenter.org colleagues Duncan Hardell, Mike Kaercher, Thalia Spinrad on Section 304 tactics beyond "Granite Trust" in @taxnotes.com (paywall). www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-to...

Featuring: passthrough "workarounds," more unnecessary red tape for working families claiming the EITC, unworkable clean energy credit rules, taxpayer privacy. And some themes of the bill: adding to tax system complexity and picking winners and losers with no policy coherence.

Roundup of the @taxlawcenter.org's work on tax provisions in the House-passed reconciliation bill: mailchi.mp/nyu/reconcil...

Here's our deputy director Mike Kaercher's statement on SALT workarounds: "One of the 2017 tax law’s base broadening provisions was a cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, but that cap was significantly undermined by complex and legally dubious 'workarounds.' (1/4)

President Trump wants to replace the income tax with tariffs. That’s not just bad economics—it’s a plan to defund the government and shift the burden to working families. In our essay collection, @dashching.bsky.social‬ tackles why this matters. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/t...

The House GOP tax bill took a look at the chaotic and failed tariff war and said, yes, more of that please, with taxes and investment this time. US workers, consumers, businesses would again face the costs: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/u...

🧵 (1/6) ‪Tax Policy Center, @budgetlab.bsky.social‬@taxpolicycenter, and PennWharton all have new analyses of the House bill; they paint a remarkable picture of a starkly regressive bill. Cuts to Medicaid/SNAP exacerbate the regressive pattern of the tax increases, making quite a picture.