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Eric Toder
Institute Fellow
Codirector, Tax Policy Center
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
  • Profile
  • Outside Affiliations
  • Before joining Urban, I had a long career in government, including three years as a political appointee heading the staff of tax policy economists in the Treasury Department. I joined Urban after leaving government service because it is a place where I could continue to do high-quality research on important issues, surrounded by great colleagues. I value the commitment to nonpartisan and independent analysis, and the encouragement Urban provides to seek better ways of communicating research findings and basic facts about the economy and policy issues to nontechnical audiences.

    Eric Toder is an Institute fellow in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute. In his current position, he serves as a leading expert on corporate and international tax and tax compliance issues and performs and directs research studies.  

    Toder has published articles on a wide variety of tax policy and retirement policy issues, including corporate tax reform, distributional effects of tax expenditures, carbon taxes, value-added taxes, net benefits of Social Security taxes and spending, tax compliance, and the effects of saving incentives. 

    Before joining Urban, Toder held a number of senior-level positions in tax policy offices in the US government and overseas, including service as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Tax Analysis at the US Department of the Treasury, director of research at the Internal Revenue Service, deputy assistant director for the Office of Tax Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, and consultant to the New Zealand Treasury. He has also served as a part-time consultant to the International Monetary Fund and a lecturer in the Comparative Tax Policy and Administration program at the Harvard Kennedy School and was treasurer of the National Tax Association between 2010 and 2020. 

    Toder received his PhD in economics from the University of Rochester in 1971.

    Research Areas
    Economic mobility and inequality
    Wealth and financial well-being
    Global issues
    Aging and retirement
    Taxes and budgets
    Tags
    Retirement policy
    Small businesses
    International development and governance


    Outside Affiliations
    Harvard Kennedy School: Program on Comparative Tax Policy and Administration
    Listed as Faculty
    Body

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