Weekly Economic Update: April 17 - April 21, 2017
CHART OF THE WEEK: Tax Compliance Burdens the Economy
It took an estimated 8.9 billion hours to comply with IRS tax filing requirements in 2016 (the equivalent of 4.3 million full-time employees working solely on tax paperwork). Overall, filing 2016’s taxes cost Americans a projected $409 billion. The first 9 items in the chart account for over 90% of federal tax compliance costs. Compliance costs for individual tax filings, for example, was $99 billion in 2016. The compliance cost of 41 other federal tax items are captured in the “all other taxes” category.
More details and the data shown in the chart can be found in the Tax Foundation’s report.
LAST WEEK
News & Commentary Weekly Highlights
Wall Street Journal: How Technology Liberates Human Capital
Washington Post: Are living standards truly stagnant?
Wall Street Journal: Fed’s Janet Yellen Says Era of Stimulative Monetary Policy Is Ending
Forbes: Trump Lays Groundwork for Federal Government Reorganization
Top Economic Indicator Highlights
Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations Survey
This survey measures how much businesses expect prices to rise over the next year.
April: 1.9% March: 2.1% February: 2.0%
Noteworthy: Since this survey began in 2011, the period after November 2016 is the first time inflation expectations have averaged 2%. Previously, inflation expectations were consistently below 2%. Although the Fed does not use this specific survey to determine whether its objective of 2% average inflation is being met, these results may signal that inflation trends will continue to push the Fed to increase interest rates to more “normal” levels.
JEC Releases
The Myth of the ‘Senior Tax’: Why Seniors Benefit from Fixing Obamacare’s Millennial Penalty
The Invisible Risk Pool: State Innovation at Work
“Ten-day count-down to Tax Day.” Each day we give an additional reason why we need tax reform:
#8: High capital gains taxes hurt job creation, pay raises, and economic growth
#6: The U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world
#5: Americans shouldn’t have to calculate taxes under two different tax systems
#4: The tax code is too complex and costly
#3: We need fewer and flatter individual tax rates
#2: Small businesses need relief from higher tax rates
#1: America needs strong economic growth and prosperity
THIS WEEK
Upcoming Economic Data and Events
Monday
Empire State Manufacturing Survey (8:30am)
Tuesday
Business Leaders Survey (8:30am)
New Residential Construction (8:30am)
Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization (9:15am)
Wednesday
Federal Reserve Board of Governors Beige Book (2:00pm)
Thursday
Philly Fed Manufacturing Survey (8:30am)
Composite Indexes (10:00am)
Friday
Existing Home Sales (10:00am)
