Understanding U.S. Corporate Tax Losses
Recent data on corporate tax losses in the U.S was explained during a public lecture by Professor Alan Auerbach, Director of the Robert D. Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor Auerbach presented as guest of the Department of Economics. His current research interests include corporate taxation, population aging and fiscal imbalances and the effects of tax cuts during the G. W. Bush presidency.
He explained that the ratio of losses to positive income was much higher around the recession of 2001 than in earlier recessions. By using a comprehensive sample of U.S. corporation tax returns for the period 1983-2005, he explored a variety of potential explanations for this surge in tax losses. He took account of the significant use of executive compensation stock options beginning in the1990s and recent temporary tax provisions that might have had important effects on taxable income.
Photo: Professor Allen Auerbach
