Law Commons^™

Fairness In Rate Cuts In The Individual Income Tax, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (the 1981 Act) made significant changes in federal income, estate, and gift taxation, touching virtually every taxpayer.¹ The centerpiece of the 1981 Act consisted of rate reductions in the individual income tax.² These reductions, said to average 23%, served a number of different but related objectives. First, those in favor of the tax cuts posited that all taxpayers would benefit from equitable, across-the-board reductions in an excessive and growing tax burden.³ Related to this objective was an anticipated reduction in the size of the federal government, because less tax money …