Search results

Title: Depreciation and the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (PL 99-514)
Date: 1987
Summary: An important business tax provision of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 is the new tax depreciation rules for business assets. The effect of the Tax Reform Act's changes was to slow down the rate at which the cost of most assets can be depreciated. Depreciation deductions are thus less valuable to businesses than under prior law. The Act's depreciation changes, along with its repeal of the investment tax credit, also increased the tax burden on depreciable assets compared to other types of investments. While the primary purpose of this report is to describe the changes in depreciation rules and their effects, the report also contains basic information on the rationale for depreciation deductions and how the deductions are calculated.

Title: Displaced Farmers: A look at trends in farm numbers
Date: 1984
Summary: Farm population in the U.S., currently about 5.2 million people, continues to decline each year. Data from a 1982 Census Bureau-USDA survey show a loss of 431,000 farm people between 1980 and 1982. This drop corresponds with a continuing pattern of declining farm employment, which has fallen from over 10 million in 1940 to under 4 million currently. The number of farm operators in the U.S. is now estimated at 2,370,000--down from 2,400,000 the previous year. This paper will discuss the changing farm population, focusing on the farm labor force. It will investigate who leaves farming, why they leave, what they do as disemployed farmers, and the implications of their employment shift.

Title: Distributional effects of the administration tax reform proposal
Date: 1985
Summary: This report provides estimates, based on disaggregate data, of the distributional effects of the Administration tax reform proposal announced in May 1985. This report is a supplement to CRS report no. 85-159 E.

Title: Meeting the pension obligation: Underfunding and overfunding issues
Date: 1987
Summary: While most private pension plans are sufficiently funded, some are seriously underfunded. This paper discusses these issues and the legislative options being studied to address the problems confronting the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the optimal funding of private pension plans.

Title: Mandatory retirement and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Date: 1985
Summary: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects most workers aged 40 through 69 against employment discrimination on account of age. Various issues under the Act are pending before the Supreme Court, in the executive branch regulatory process and in Congress. These include whether and how retirement ages for State and local public safety officers ought to be subject to current ADEA provisions; whether the Act's upper age limit of 70 for non-federal workers should be removed, thereby largely eliminating mandatory retirement on account of age; and what requirements the ADEA should impose on pension plans. Issues have also arisen related to other occupational groups-higher education faculty, airline pilots, and high level executives.

Title: EDB and the agriculture community: A background discussion
Date: 1984
Summary: EDB is being removed from major agricultural uses because of concerns about possible adverse effects on human health. Regulatory actions to remove EDB from the food system will have impacts on the agricultural community. Uses of EDB in agriculture, regulatory actions to remove EDB from the food system quickly, and possible impacts of those regulatory actions on domestic and international markets are discussed.