Many happy returns

View this email in your browser Happy tax day! Or, selfishly at least, it should be, given how little Americans pay in taxes. Wonkblog's Christopher Ingram looks at the rate people actually pay after credits and deductions. Even taking into account 2013's tax hikes, effective US rates are near historical lows for pretty much everyone. The one slight exception is the top 1%. Their effective rate has returned to the mid-1990's and early-1980's level of about 35%, but is still below historic levels. US taxes are also low relative to other developed countries. Matt Yglesias points out that the US has the third-lowest tax burden of OECD countries, measured by tax as a percent of GDP. Corporations, being people too, aren't left out. In fact, they have things even better: an effective 2010 tax rate of 12.6%, Andrew Sorkin writes, thanks to myriad loopholes. Many pay no taxes at all. Low taxes aren't without their downsides. US taxes are, you are no doubt aware, annoyingly complicated, and they're kept that way by the multi-million dollar lobbying efforts of a company that makes billions from your confusion. The IRS, Ezra Klein explains, already knows enough about you to do your taxes for you. But lobbying works, especially for businesses, so your taxes remain far more arduous than necessary. – Ben Walsh On to today's links: Long Reads San Francisco's housing crisis, explained - Techcrunch Wonks "When I am watching a movie I often think 'why isn't the Coase theorem holding here?'" - Tyler Cowen A great discussion of Capital in the 21st Century with Piketty, Bob Solow, Betsey Stevenson, and more - EPI Martin Wolf on Piketty: He doesn't explain why inequality matters - FT HFT and the social value of price discovery - Joe Stiglitz Quotable "Flash Boys is the story of small furry creatures. Some of them are Canadian; one is vegetarian" - Moe Tkacik EU Mess Britain hits six straight months of disinflation - the Guardian Deals A tick-tock of Facebook's acquisition of Oculus - Fortune  Google buys drone company to bring internet/surveillance to the world - Guardian Interesting For people spurred by emotion, demonstrating that a charity is effective leads to fewer donations - SSRN Alpha UK hedge fund manager pays $72,000 fine for 5-year train fare arbitrage - CNBC Classic Bess This Cinco de Mayo, Take A Bath With Warren Buffett - Dealbreaker Click here to sign up for the email. unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences    Tweet Share Read Later