Alan D. Viard on tax and revenue estimates.

Politicians have frequently directed harsh rhetoric toward particular corporate taxpayers that earn high profits. At times, this rhetoric has been accompanied by policy proposals that single out a narrow set of profitable taxpayers for disparate treatment. Perhaps the most notable example is the war against Big Oil.

This Outlook outlines six simple—and bipartisan—changes to the tax code that can help the country move toward a tax code aimed towards economic growth and away from complex regulations and political favoritism.

The Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office are not providing correct estimates about the costs of proposed legislation.

Federal scoring methodologies must be revamped to achieve the most accurate results possible.

A striking disconnect remains between the methods of mainstream economists and those used by congressional staff to evaluate tax proposals.

Neither the CBO nor the Treasury's assumptions--that capital bears 100 percent or that no one bears the tax--are valid. Both approaches fail to reflect recent empirical and theoretic research that finds workers bear a large portion of the burden of the CIT.

Capping the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance will bend the curve of health care costs and make it more feasible for smaller firms to offer more cost-effective insurance to their workers.