Garrett Watson

New at @TaxFoundation: Our 3rd edition of Options for Reforming America's Tax Code is published today! It is full of 80+ options for changing federal tax policy, measuring economic, revenue, and distributional impacts using our in-house tax model. A useful educational tool.

In 2022, incomes for the bottom 80 percent of earners were slightly lower after taxes and transfers compared to 2020 and 2021, driven by expiring pandemic-era policies. Learn more: hubs.ly/Q04rlhJp0

The past five years have been a marathon for us tax policy wonks. Taking the mantle of the federal team is an honor and a responsibility. We have a strong team, important work ahead, and high standards to uphold. I am excited to get to it. /End

In related news, @andrew_lautz will be joining the federal team to strengthen our policy work even further. Andrew is driven, humble, and insightful, so naturally he will be a great fit.

Exciting career news: I am stepping into the role of Vice President of Federal Tax Policy @TaxFoundation. When I joined @TaxFoundation nearly 8 years ago, I saw it as one of the best places to educate taxpayers and make principled, pro-growth tax policy changes a reality. 🧵 1/6

@Brendan_Duke @ericadyork The only people odder than us policy wonks are the people who enjoy the management side! 😂

@ericadyork Congratulations to all of you (but really to you as well know doing research at a think tank is way better than managing at a think tank :) )

Some professional changes to share: For the past decade, Tax Foundation has been part of my life. It’s where I started my career in tax policy, where I’ve grown as a professional and individual, where I’ve made great friends and connections, and where I’ve been working during many other life changes—from getting married to having three kids. It’s been an honor to lead the team over the past several years, which have been a tumultuous time in tax policy and have seen a renewed trade war and fierce debates over how to extend the TCJA. I am so proud of all that we have built and accomplished, ranging from improved project management practices and an ambitious research agenda to top tier media hits and new collaborations. My next chapter at Tax Foundation will look a bit different, as I am stepping back from organizational leadership and full time work to focus on my key research areas and spend more time with my young family. I couldn’t be more thrilled that @GS_Watson is taking the reins and will be leading the federal team, that @andrew_lautz is joining us, and that I get to keep contributing (on a part time basis) to the excellent research Tax Foundation will continue to produce.

Slopulism follows when parties give up on economic policy. If you no longer care about delivering broad prosperity & low inflation - either because you can't pull it off, or think voters won't reward it - all that's left is to carve up the economy and hand pieces to your voters.

Our age of central bank independence is collapsing

Ahead of the trade deadline, @TaxFoundation is announcing that we have acquired @andrew_lautz.

I know it's gonna be a perfect fit because I was also working on my own trade deadline joke. Thrilled to be joining the best tax team in the game, and building on the great work @danieldbunn, @ericadyork, @GS_Watson, and the whole @TaxFoundation federal team have been doing.

At the end of last week, my last big @TaxFoundation paper came out. It presents a series of capital projects and how expensing for investment changes their viabilities.

One of Ayn Rand's very best observations, which has aged like fine wine: "Socialism is not a movement of the people. It is a movement of the intellectuals, originated, led and controlled by the intellectuals, carried by them out of their stuffy ivory towers into those bloody fields of practice where they unite with their allies and executors: the thugs."

It occurs to me that if ones goal is to have states eliminate their income taxes and replace them with more sales taxation, an easier path would be to just exempt capital income from taxation.

It is precisely in a society like America - which, from the founding, has contained dissident groups with different understandings of the good and an acute sense of the risks of civil war over which to impose - that it is most important to separate meaning from the state.

I’m not scared. I think you guys will fail because your ideas are stupid and very, very, old and will fail wherever put into practice. Price controls are older than Christianity, for instance. Your Mao schtick is moronic and takes advantage of your fans’ ignorance. I think you’re a cosplaying radical kid of privilege and apologist for murderers and terrorists. But you’re not scary dude. You’re a poseur. I think it’s hilarious you streamed my comments to your easily duped fans.

It's hard to imagine a more appropriate final publication for @ahardtospell as he leaves @TaxFoundation to head to grad school. If you want to understand more about how expensing interacts with investment decisions, you should dig in. Well done, Alex.

The OBBBA made substantial improvements to cost recovery, but more opportunities remain for policymakers looking to improve the investment climate in the US. Read more: hubs.ly/Q04rkW1x0