Honey, I Shrunk The Tax Base: The Decline In Taxable Shareholders
The content discusses updated data from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center showing a decreasing shareholder tax base and how it could affect tax policy. The percentage of taxable shareholders has dwindled over time, with implications for taxing dividends and capital income. Foreign investors, retirement accounts, and not-for-profit institutions are the largest groups of nontaxable shareholders. The article aims to address the issue of a shrinking tax base and provides transparency in methodology for readers to engage with the data. The implications of the decreasing shareholder tax base include the impact on corporate tax cuts benefiting foreign investors and the need to consider solutions like a withholding tax on corporate distributions to foreign investors.
