A $2.5 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will seed the new Opportunity Fund, which aims to help all sectors of society better understand the U.S. tax system.
The fund is being launched by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
The "intellectual venture capital fund" is intended to educate policy makers, the public and the media about the tax-related policy challenges facing the country over the next decade.
The grant from the Gates Foundation will match $1 for every $3 the fund receives before April 1, 2011.
"With the Opportunity Fund, the Tax Policy Center will be able to broaden the scope of its activities," Leonard Burman, director of the center, says in a statement. "From more analyses of tax issues involving the environment, energy, business and international trade to major investments in our economic models and increased public education through expanded communication."