Tax Policy Center

Experts

Caleb Quakenbush

Research Associate I

Ultimately, my hope is to be a part of promoting policy design that is fiscally sustainable, treats people fairly no matter their circumstances, and creates and protects opportunity for all. It is a privilege to work with a team devoted to providing careful analysis and reliable data that educates the public and gives policymakers trustworthy information for making evidence-backed choices in an ever-changing society.

Research report

Increased demand for better use of evidence in policymaking has sparked bipartisan support for better evaluation of federal spending programs. Tax expenditures, spending-like subsidies embedded in the tax code, cost taxpayers roughly as much as domestic discretionary programs, yet receive little...

July 10, 2018
Benjamin H. HarrisC. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Brief

When a recession hits, the federal government usually responds with tax cuts and additional financial assistance, because automatic policies built into the law often prove inadequate and elected officials need and want to respond to the crisis. This brief compares the distributional and stimulus...

June 14, 2018
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb QuakenbushElaine Maag
Brief

After one year of the Trump administration, we assess the fiscal path implied by budget policies that the president and Congress have so far put in place. Using a new framework that holds lawmakers accountable for reforms taken and not taken, we project that over the coming decade, nearly all...

June 6, 2018
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Research report

These tables show the expected present value at age 65 of benefits received in retirement and taxes paid over a career for households with different wage and marriage histories. The underlying data come from the Social Security Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS...

June 5, 2018
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Research report

Bad framing of fiscal policy contributes to a poor allocation of money collected and spent. Almost all real growth in government goes automatically to health, retirement and tax subsidies, while spending on children, the work force, and infrastructure are scheduled for decline as a share of...

December 1, 2016
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Brief

We usually think of lame ducks as politicians who have lost influence to their successors, but the next president could enter office with his or her influence already lost to his or her predecessors. The growing revenues that accompany economic growth traditionally provide a way for government...

November 3, 2016
C. Eugene SteuerleMaya MacGuineasTyler EvilsizerCaleb Quakenbush
Research report

How big is your retirement package? Benefits from government retirement programs—Social Security and Medicare—vary over time, but the trend has been toward higher lifetime benefits for each successive cohort. Expansion derives mainly from increases in real annual benefits, more years of benefits...

September 16, 2015
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Research report

Government directs a large amount of resources toward helping families build assets in the form of home equity, retirement savings, human capital, and business ownership. This Tax Fact summarizes the cost of different asset-building tax subsidies. These tax expenditures total to more than $370...

August 20, 2014
C. Eugene SteuerleCaleb Quakenbush
Research report

The federal government channels much of its support for asset building through the tax code. Asset-building tax subsidies, primarily for homeownership and retirement saving, totaled $384 billion in 2013. This report reviews federal tax expenditures for housing, retirement, savings, business...

March 7, 2014
Benjamin H. HarrisC. Eugene SteuerleSigne-Mary McKernanCaleb QuakenbushCaroline Ratcliffe