Research Intern - Tax Policy

To be considered for this role, you must apply directly through our online application. 

Overview

Cato's Tax Policy Studies research examines how the federal tax code raises revenue, distributes subsidies, and shapes economic incentives—focusing on lowering the tax burden on individuals and businesses, removing distortionary tax expenditures, and promoting principled reforms aligned with individual liberty and limited government. 

Adam Michel's work covers individual and corporate income taxes, capital investment policies, international tax, tax expenditure analysis, and state and local fiscal policies. Recent projects include a comprehensive review of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its TCJA extensions, corporate tax reform, capital expensing, and original research on tax expenditure costs. 

Interns support Michel with research and data tasks that directly contribute to published analyses, policy studies, and public commentary.

Responsibilities

• Conduct fact-finding and background research to support op-eds, blog posts, and policy analyses.
• Gather, clean, and analyze tax and fiscal data from IRS Statistics of Income, CBO, OMB, JCT, BEA, BLS, and FRED; create clearly labeled, reproducible charts and tables for published work.
• Conduct comparative policy studies across states and countries — past projects have included VAT implementation in 60 countries and state-level tax and fiscal comparisons.
• Write comprehensive literature reviews on tax policy topics related to ongoing research projects.
• Assist with independent research projects assigned by Michel — past interns have created original analyses of tax expenditures, replicated existing studies, and researched specific tax provisions from the ground up.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated knowledge of and genuine interest in US tax and fiscal policy — including how the tax code raises revenue, distributes subsidies, and shapes incentives — grounded in and aligned with Cato's principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.
• Strong economics background with the ability to clearly explain tax incentives, tradeoffs, and distributional effects to policy audiences.
• Clear policy writing with precise claims and accurate citations from primary sources.
• Data literacy with common tax and fiscal sources, including IRS SOI, CBO, OMB, JCT, BEA, BLS, and FRED.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including filters, sorting, XLOOKUP or INDEX-MATCH, and PivotTables.
• Professionalism, reliability, and attention to detail — data projects require careful troubleshooting, and accuracy in both analysis and written output is essential.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in tax policy, public finance, or a related field—through a research assistantship, policy organization internship, published or submitted paper, or independent project with verifiable results.
• Familiarity with the team's active research areas, including TCJA and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tax expenditure reform, corporate and capital tax policy, and state fiscal comparisons; applicants are encouraged to review the team's recently published work before applying.
• Proficiency in Stata or R for conducting statistical analysis in replication studies and original quantitative research projects.
• Coursework or independent study in public finance, tax policy, or applied economics with direct relevance to tax analysis.

The Cato Internship Program

Cato’s paid internships are available for undergraduates, recent graduates, graduate students, law students, and early-career professionals who are strongly committed to individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace—principles that together form libertarianism, also known as “classical liberalism,” “market liberalism,” or, to many of our international friends, simply “liberalism.” 

All Cato interns participate in the same intensive seminar series, which covers a wide range of history, philosophy, policy, and professional development topics. Interns also assist with events and occasionally support Cato staff with other daily tasks. 

Interns receive competitive pay. Part-time roles are adjusted accordingly and require a minimum of 25 hours per week. Program participants must be able to attend in person in Washington, DC.

For more information about the internship program and experience, we encourage you to explore our website. If you have any questions, email studentprograms@cato.org.