Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) researchers suggest that the United States might be wise to change insurance tax rules.
The researchers at the OECD, Paris, have included the recommendations in an economic survey.
The researchers say the United States could start to reduce its budget deficit and improve its overall finances by reducing a variety of "tax expenditures," such as the mortgage interest deduction on owner-occupied housing and "the exclusion from personal income and payroll tax of employer-provided health insurance coverage."
"There is also scope for reducing other tax expenditures, such as the exclusion of capital gains from estate taxation, that neither enhance economic performance nor social equity," the researchers say.