Research Library

Many climate policy approaches place a disproportionate burden on lower-income families, writes fellow Mark Finley. Political leaders have started to recognize that climate policy must approach fossil fuels and energy transition as an “AND”, not an “either/or”, and that the distributional impact of policy must also be addressed. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog. This post originally appeared in the Forbes blog on January 26, 2022.

"With the pressures of climate change and the urgency to incorporate alternative energy resources like wind and solar, the fixation on the purported benefits of energy transition technologies overshadows the glaring reality — an absence of strategy around identifying and quantifying other life cycle externalities, such as waste disposal or environmental impacts," write fellow Rachel Meidl and research assistant Mathilde Saada. Read more on the Baker Institute Blog.

"Perhaps surprisingly, the latest national data published by the U.S. Department of Labor suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has not given small businesses greater cause for concern over the cost of health care benefits," writes McNair scholar Alisha Small. Read her post on the Baker Institute Blog.

By subsidizing only electric vehicles and EV batteries produced by union labor in the U.S., the auto industry could face trouble in valuable trade partnerships with Canada and Mexico, writes fellow David Gantz.

Methane emissions are both "extraordinarily bad" and "easy to fix," so why not address them now? A federal tax of $1,500 per metric ton emitted could curb and counter the impact of U.S. methane emissions, argues this commentary piece.

You may have read that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have introduced an extremely lucrative way to sell digital work, like art. Beyond the question "what's an NFT?" is how the sometimes-extraordinary proceeds are taxed. Center for Public Finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains in the Baker Institute Blog.

With the rise of the gig economy has come an increase in concerns about tax compliance. This blog post reviews two recent changes to tax reporting rules for the sharing economy sector — the comeback of Form 1099-NEC and a reduction in the reporting threshold of Form 1099-K — and their implications for tax administration and reporting.

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have experienced a massive surge in popularity over the last year. How do SPACs work, and what are some of the tax implications that investors may overlook? Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains on the Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/3t5eMH8

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which became law in mid-March, left out the mandate to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, but it did lead to an open policy discussion about current minimum wage standards. In a post for the Baker Institute Blog, public finance fellow Joyce Beebe considers some of the pros and cons of increasing the minimum wage and possible future developments.

In late January 2021, the stock price of GameStop skyrocketed, causing the online trading platform Robinhood to suspend sales of its stock. What happened, and what tax policies are being proposed as a result? Public finance fellow Joyce Beebe explains on the Baker Institute Blog.