Federal government debt is over $32 trillion, around the size of the nation’s annual economic output (its gross domestic product, or GDP). Debt levels this high mean US borrowing costs are sensitive to interest rate changes that may otherwise seem small.
5 min read
California levies the highest tax on gasoline at 73.6 cents per gallon (cpg), followed by Illinois at 70.4 cpg and Indiana at 63.1 cpg.
10 min read
How we support savings in the US is too complex, and Trump Accounts worsen the problem. If lawmakers truly want to increase savings for taxpayers from day one, they should look to the UK and Canada, which have done it successfully for many years.
In 2025, the CTP reduced the backlog of premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) by about 70 percent. This year, the CTP is already accelerating PMTA reviews further and allowing some leeway for products under review but not yet officially authorized. This is great progress, but much more can be made.
7 min read
Twenty-four out of the 35 European countries covered in this map currently levy estate, inheritance, or gift taxes.
4 min read
The new public country-by-country reporting regimes adopted by the EU and Australia, and changes from the Financial Accounting Standards Board for financial accounts, are meant to promote transparency by multinational enterprises but have ubiquitous structural differences.
10 min read
2026 Tax Brackets
Facts & Figures 2026: How Does Your State Compare?
Summary of the Latest Federal Income Tax Data, Tax Year 2023
State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2026
State and Local Sales Tax Rates, 2026
Corporate Tax Rates Around the World, 2025
Top Personal Income Tax Rates in Europe, 2026
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Commentary
See All CommentaryWill Trump Accounts Make Saving Easier?
How we support savings in the US is too complex, and Trump Accounts worsen the problem. If lawmakers truly want to increase savings for taxpayers from day one, they should look to the UK and Canada, which have done it successfully for many years.
Why Wealth Taxes Always Fail
Though they are often framed as affecting only the richest households, the economic effects of wealth taxes extend much further by reducing capital formation, discouraging entrepreneurship, curtailing wage and employment growth, and ultimately weakening the overall economy.
Why Billionaires Are Still Leaving California
The California Billionaire Tax Act’s residency provisions are exceptionally vulnerable to legal challenge. Even if the tax passes and survives challenges to its broader constitutionality, billionaires who leave California sometime in 2026 have good reason to believe they can escape some or all of the tax.
If Amendment 5 Passes, Lawmakers Need a Zephyr, not a Gale, to Sail Missouri to Tax Competitiveness
If voters approve Amendment 5 on the primary election ballot this August, Missouri policymakers must pass legislation to gradually phase out the state’s income tax while choosing how to pay for this goal.
A Taxing Approach to High Energy Costs Will Backfire
If you want more energy production, taxing producers is the wrong place to start. And if you want to tax companies more if they’re making big profits, the corporate income tax already does that.
Illinois’ Alcohol Tax Is Almost As Old as America. It Needs Reform.
As the alcohol industry innovates with newer products like high alcohol content beer or ready-to-drink cocktails, the efficacy of a categorical system continues to break down.
USMCA Is Up For Review. The US Would Be Foolish Not to Extend It
Testimony: Are Digital Services Taxes a Viable Solution for the EU Budget?
Floridians Should Think Twice Before Embracing Property Tax Elimination
What Europe’s UN Tax Turn Means for Multinationals
Will the AI Apocalypse Come for the Tax Code?
The Risks the Wealth Tax Advocates Are Ignoring