Today’s column addresses questions about whether and when Social Security will fix problems with benefit calculation for those born in 1960, effects of the earnings test on survivor’s benefits and qualifying for divorced spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc,
Taxes
President Biden’s campaign promise never to raise taxes on those making $400,000 or less annually will inevitably conflict with his proposal to tax unrealized capital gains at death. My TPC colleague Rob McClelland and I estimate Biden’s new capital gains tax could exempt about 98 percent of decedents who made $400,000 or less, but about
The American Rescue Plan’s $350 billion in direct funding for state and local governments came with a caveat: Governments are not allowed to use that free money to pay for tax cuts. That had a lot of Republicans up in arms, claiming that President Biden had banned states outright from passing tax cuts. That’s not
All the evidence isn’t in, but it’s clear that many Americans accelerated their retirement plans during the pandemic and the rush to retire probably isn’t over. In September 2020, about 3.2 million more baby boomers were retired than a year earlier, according to a Pew Research Center report. In each of the previous four years,
Tax bills almost always force Congress to think about how to define income, but President Biden’s campaign promise to never raise taxes for those making $400,000 or less puts the question front-and-center. If you are not a tax geek, you might be surprised to know there are many definitions of income. Some are used to