View Research by Author - C. Eugene Steuerle

Past or current positions include deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax analysis, cofounder and codirector of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, vice president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, president of the National Tax Association, chair of the 1999 Technical Panel advising Social Security on its methods and assumptions, president of the National Economists Club Educational Foundation, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, federal executive fellow at the Brookings Institution, columnist for Tax Notes and the Financial Times, economic coordinator and original organizer of the Treasury's 1984-1986 tax reform effort, and chair of ACTforAlexandria, a community foundation.

Awards include distinguished or outstanding alumnus awards from the University of Dayton and St. Xavier High School in Louisville, KY, as well as the first Bruce Davie-Albert Davis Public Service Award from the National Tax Association in 2005. Subscribe to his regular column at http://blog.governmentwedeserve.org/.

Ph.D., Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison

1987-1989: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Richard B. Fisher chair and Institute Fellow

Read more in Steuerle's Institute Fellow bio

Publications

This paper examines the minimum distribution requirements for foundations. The first section presents a historical review of current law. The second section looks at the technical problems in the distributions requirements which lead to inequities across foundations and inefficiencies in their distribution of funds. The third section presents proposals to eliminate these problems, and the fourth section discusses the role of public policy in requiring minimum distributions and the effects of these requirements on the growth of the foundation sector. The fifth section looks at how these requirements impact the broader charitable sector.

Income inequality understates the size of the economic gap between whites and minorities in the United States. In 2010, whites on average had two times the income of blacks and Hispanics, but six times the wealth. Analyses of wealth accumulation over the life cycle show that the racial wealth gap grows sharply with age. Wealth isn't just money in the bank, it's insurance against tough times, tuition to get a better education and a better job, savings to retire on, and a springboard into the middle class.

Extending the charitable deduction deadline is a move with precedent: the government has used it to encourage giving following a natural disaster. However, temporary laws have limited effect. Consider instead allowing charitable deductions made by April 15, aka tax day, to be applied to the previous year's tax returns. As in other facets of life, people are prone to making their decisions concerning giving at the last minute. If tax software companies such as TurboTax could show taxpayers how donating an extra $100 or $1,000 would lower their taxable income, this would be a powerful marketing tool for charities.

Despite the Great Recession and slow recovery, the American dream of working hard, saving more, and becoming wealthier than one's parents holds true for many. Unless you're under 40. Stagnant wages, diminishing job opportunities, and lost home values may be painting a vastly different future for Gen X and Gen Y. Today's political discussions often focus on preserving the wealth and benefits of older Americans and the baby boomers. Often lost in this debate is attention to younger generations whose wealth losses, or lack of long-term gains, have been even greater.

Personal finance for low- and middle-income families differs significantly from that of upper-income families, who tend to be the focus of mainstream finance. The assets of low- and middle-income families have less to do with stock and bond portfolios than they do with human capital, social insurance programs, and homeownership. Social welfare policy should be adjusted to acknowledge this reality.

These remarks were originally presented at the "The Future of Life-Cycle Saving and Investing" conference, co-sponsored by the Boston University School of Management, the Research Foundation of the CFA Institute, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on May 24, 2011. It was first published in Life-Cycle Investing: Financial Education and Consumer Protection (November 2012): 85-96 (doi: 10.2470/rf.v2012.n3.7).

Gene Steuerle testifies before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on labor force participation, taxes, and the social welfare system. Although there is some disagreement over the extent to which the nation’s social welfare systems affect work efforts, there is almost no disagreement that they are designed in piecemeal fashion, leading to a variety of unfair, inefficient, and somewhat strange effects. Our modern economy requires modern approaches to social welfare and taxation. At a minimum, we need to begin approaching our wide assortment of programs, phase-outs of benefits, and tax rates in a more integrated fashion.

Return to list of authors