TPC Citations & Sources

2009 | 2008 | 2007 |2006 | 2005

TPC research and analysis appears in hundreds of news articles each year. Below is a partial list, including the sources used in selected articles. Please note, article links cited below were verified on the day of publication and may change.

January  |  February  |  March  |  April  |  May  |  June  |  July  |  August  |  September  |  October  |  November  |  December

June

• 'It's the Economy, Stupid': Ask the Advisers, NPR, Talk of the Nation (June 30, 2008).
  
• Tax plan face off: Obama vs. McCain, Chicago Sun Times (June 30, 2008) by Abdon M. Pallasch .
  

  "Obama's staff told the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center he would raise the rates for people in the top two brackets -- about 2.5 million filers out of 100 million-plus. People in those high tax brackets would see the tax rate on their capital gains hiked from the current 15 percent to 20-28 percent."

• Transcript: Ed Rendell, Rob Portman, Fox News Sunday (June 29, 2008)
  

  "Well, let me start out by saying that the Tax Policy Center, an independent, bipartisan institution, said that if you make less than $250,000 a year in this country, if you're in the 80 percent down in terms of income, Senator Obama's tax cuts will put more money in your pocket than Senator McCain's. That's number one."

• Obama Courts Seniors With Tax Break, The Wall Street Journal (June 28, 2008) By Deborah Soloman.
  

  "While those with incomes under $50,000 would get relief under the Obama plan, his broader economic proposal would actually raise taxes for almost 10 million senior households, according to the Democratic-leaning Tax Policy Center.."

• Taxing Issues, National Review (June 27, 2008) by Eric Cantor.
  

  "Consider Sen. Obama’s pledge to lift the cap on the Social Security payroll tax for all earners for whom all income over $102,000 is currently exempted — above $250,000. The Tax Policy Center estimates the huge new tax increase would reel in .4 percent of GDP each year."

• What Obama means by tax the wealthy, CNNMoney (June 27, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "That lack of specificity concerns some tax experts. "If Obama is hinting that those making more than $250,000 would pay a higher payroll tax rate ... it would fundamentally change the way Social Security operates and run the risk of making the program look less like social insurance and more like welfare," Tax Vox blog editor Howard Gleickman wrote for the Tax Policy Center."

• Recheck of claims against Obama prove them false, The Tennessean (June 27, 2008) by Susan Bond.
  

  "The average Tennessean stands to save more money on taxes under Obama’s plan than McCain’s plan. According to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group, 89 percent of Americans will pay lower taxes under Barack Obama than under John McCain."

• Obama, McCain Likely to Step Up Government Role in U.S. Economy, Bloomberg News (June 27, 2008) by Rich Miller and Lorraine Woellert.
  

  "Eric Toder, of the Urban Institute, said no matter how the cap-and-trade system is set up, it will mean more government bureaucracy. ``One way of the other, it's going to be adding complexity,'' he said. ``There's going to be a lot of special pleading by companies looking for exceptions."

• First Hard Numbers on Obama Tax Plan Show Dramatic Tax Redistribution, Hawaii Reporter (June 27, 2008) by The Tax Foundation.
  

  "In Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact, No. 132, Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge uses revenue estimates from the Tax Policy Center to show that Obama's plan would greatly accelerate the decades-long trend toward a federal government that depends for tax revenue almost exclusively on a few high-income people."

• Secondary Sources: Fed Postmortem, Transparency, Obama and Taxes, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (June 26, 2008)
  

  "Who Pays Taxes?: On the Tax Policy Center’s TaxVox blog, Bob Williams explains how Barack Obama’s plan would raise taxes on an elderly couple by $150, despite a pledge to eliminate taxes for elderly households with income under $50,000. Obama’s plan “increases corporate income taxes, which indirectly affects the elderly (and others who own assets). And that gets to part two of the answer, what economists call “tax incidence” — who actually pays a tax. We assume that the incidence of the corporate tax falls on people who own assets by lowering their pre-tax rates of return. This assumption is controversial. Clearly, somebody must pay the tax. It could fall on shareholders, employees, customers, or a combination of the three. It could even affect asset income or wages more broadly, cutting returns for investors who own non-stock assets or reducing compensation for workers at firms outside the corporate sector."

• Obama and McCain: Different -- and Evolving -- Visions for the U.S. Economy, Knowledge@Wharton (June 25, 2008)br />

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, the two candidates' specific non-health tax proposals would reduce tax revenues by $3.6 trillion (McCain) and $2.7 trillion (Obama) over the next 10 years, or approximately 10% and 7% of the revenues scheduled for collection under current law."

• Ill., Calif. Sue Countrywide, NPR, All Things Considered (June 25, 2008) by Cheryl Corley
  
• Obama's Social Security Fine Print, Wall Street Journal (June 25, 2008) by Donald L. Luskin. (subscription required)
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Obama's new tax would siphon off 0.4% of gross domestic product annually. Combined with Mr. Obama's other tax-hike initiatives, "the total tax on labor would be close to 60 percent. In high-tax states like California and New York, the top rate would be even higher."

• $10 million fund launched to highlight tax policy, Philanthropy Journal (June 25, 2008) by David Whitford.
  

  "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."

• Social Security: Saving Us From Ourselves, CQ Weekly (June 23, 2008) by Clea Benson.
  

  "In 2007, federal income tax breaks for retirement saving exceeded actual savings by more than $60 billion, according to one study by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• The evolution of John McCain, CNNMoney.com (June 23, 2008) by David Whitford.
  

  "It'll be expensive - the independent Tax Policy Center estimates, optimistically, that McCain's plan would add $4.5 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years, compared with $3.3 trillion for Obama's plan - but McCain insists that he can balance the budget in four years with promised savings from running a tighter ship and increased tax revenues as the economy expands."

• McCain and Obama on Tax Reform, BusinessWeek (June 23, 2008) by Chris Farrell.
  

  "That breakdown of the two tax plans comes from the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Its recent analysis captures the essential difference between the two tax approaches."

• Obama, McCain Channel Clinton, Bush Legacies on Economy, Taxes, Bloomberg News (June 23, 2008) by Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "Both their tax proposals have a back-to-the-future quality,'' says Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington. "McCain would extend President Bush's tax cuts and lower marginal tax rates on companies, and Obama's list of targeted tax breaks would have looked perfectly at home in one of President Clinton's budgets.'"

• Obama opposition to drilling shows he just wants to tax the rich, The Tennessean (June 22, 2008) by Phil Valentine.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center says Obama's tax plan would push the effective tax rate on the wealthiest individuals to near 60 percent when state taxes are figured in."

• Tax cuts, but for whom?, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (June 21, 2008) by Craig Gilbert.
  

  "About 60% of households would owe less under the McCain plan than under current law, but most of those in the lower income brackets (the bottom 40%) would get no tax cut, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute."

• High Stakes for the Filthy Rich, The National Journal (June 21, 2008) by John Maggs.
  

  "To put this in perspective, if Obama's previous tax plan would raise an average of $700,000 apiece a year from the top 150,000 households, the new proposal would add at least $400,000 to the bill, according to a rough estimate by Len Burman, co-director of the Tax Policy Center."

• Big Promises Bump Into Budget Realities, Washington Post (June 21, 2008) by Lori Montgomery.
  

  "Obama also vows to extend the Bush tax cuts for families who earn less than $250,000 a year. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of Brookings and the Urban Institute, his tax plans would deprive the Treasury of nearly $900 billion in his first term, and increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion by 2018."

• Editorial: McCain descends into double-talk, St. Petersburg Times (June 21, 2008).
  

  "According to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a similar program offered by Fred Thompson during his short-lived campaign for president would have increased the deficit by about $600-billion annually."

• Obama, McCain Priorities Differ, But Neither Will Balance Budget, Investor's Business Daily (June 20, 2008) by Jed Graham.
  

  "The left-leaning Tax Policy Center concludes: "Obama's generosity comes at a price. . . . He'd raise the national debt by a staggering $3.3 trillion over the next decade, and that includes more than $900 billion in promised revenue raisers that TPC could not verify." After excluding unspecified revenue-raising measures, the Tax Policy Center finds McCain would raise the debt by $665 billion more than Obama. But that doesn't factor in either McCain's planned spending cuts, or Obama's spending plans for health care, infrastructure, education and energy."

• Obama win likely to mean Social Security tax hike for wealthy, McClatchy Newspapers (June 20, 2008) by David Lightman.
  

  "Obama's plan would help cut the projected Social Security shortfall by about half, by raising an estimated $629 billion over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. "Kudos to Senator Obama for kicking off the discussion," said Leonard Burman, the center's director and a former Clinton administration Treasury official, "but let's hope that policymakers soon move beyond the simplistic solutions."

• Secondary Sources: Commodity Prices, China Jobs, SWFs, McCain, Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics Blog (June 20, 2008).
  

  "Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center’s TaxVox blog says that John McCain’s ambitious plan to reform corporate taxes is disappearing. “Earlier his spring, McCain was talking about allowing companies to expense all their capital investments in the year they are made… Back then, McCain had not yet answered one big question: What would happen to the tax deduction companies take for their interest payments?"

• Perry: Obama's tax policy would `devastate' economy, The Houston Chronicle (June 20, 2008) by Associated Press. (appeared in Wichita Falls Times Record, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and KHOU-TV)
  

  "Gilson pointed to a new report from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center stating that Obama's tax plan will provide middle-class families with tax cuts three times as large as those they would receive under McCain's plan."

• Obama, McCain diverge on taxes, The Detroit News (June 20, 2008) by Carolyn Lochhead. (appeared in San Francisco Chronicle)
  

  "Taxes would fall most sharply for lower-income groups while rising sharply for top earners, according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint think tank of the center-left Brookings Institution and Urban Institute."

• Taxes, Integrity and CharacterYahoo News (June 19, 2008) by Joe Conason.
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the McCain proposals would render almost one-quarter of their benefits to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of taxpayers. Those are households with annual incomes over $2.8 million. Families in the lower 60 percent of the income scale would receive 8 percent of the McCain plan's benefits. This scheme will result in the loss of at least $4 trillion in revenue over the coming decade, as our physical infrastructure crumbles."

• A Comparative Tax Story: Obama, McCain, and Ike, Alternet.org (June 18, 2008) by Sam Pizzigati.
  

  "In 2009, says the Tax Policy Center, taxpayers making over $2.9 million a year will pay 28.3 percent of their incomes, on average, in federal taxes if John McCain tax policy becomes law and 39.2 percent if Barack Obama has his way."

• Obama Kisses Billions Goodbye, ABC News, Political Radar blog (June 18, 2008).
  

  "At present, income subject to Social Security taxes is capped at $102,000 per year. Eliminating that cap and imposing the Social Security tax on all income, as Obama suggested last year, would have raised $1.5 trillion over ten years, according to figures provided to ABC News by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center."

• New Effort Seeks to Educate Americans About Tax Policies, The Chronicle of Philanthropy (June 18, 2008) by Caroline Preston.
  

  "The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, hopes to use a $2.5-million challenge grant from the Gates foundation to create a $10-million fund to analyze tax issues."

• Three Questions for McCain, The New York Times (June 18, 2008) by David Leonhardt
  

  "Fast forward to last week, when a Washington research group called the Tax Policy Center set out to estimate the budgetary effects of Mr. McCain’s and Mr. Obama’s plans, after having talked with the campaigns about the details. Almost immediately, the center’s report became the yardstick that journalists and bloggers used."

• McCain and Obama Tax Policy Proposals, WAMU, The Diane Rehm Show (June 18, 2008).
• What they plan to do with our money, The Tucson Citizen (June 18, 2008) by Billie Stanton
  

  "Each has tax proposals that were just parsed by the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, nonpartisan think tanks."

• An ounce of skepticism for Obama's energy plan, Scripps News (June 18, 2008) by Dale McFeatters
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says Obama's tax proposals would reduce federal revenues by $2.7 trillion over 10 years -- when the government is already running $400 billion a year in the red -- and that was before he raised the possibility of a cut in corporate taxes."

• ‘Middle-class tax cuts’ and reality in 2008, Christian Science Monitor, Patchwork Nation blog (June 18, 2008) by Dante Chinni
  

  "Last week the Tax Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, released its preliminary analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans and found that both candidates would cut taxes for the vast majority of Americans."

• Obama missing chance to campaign as a tax cutter, MarketWatch (June 18, 2008) by Rex Nutting
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center's analysis of the two candidates' tax plans, 80% of taxpayers would get more from Obama's cuts than from McCain's. About 95% of taxpayers would pay less under Obama than under current law (which ends many of the tax breaks passed in the past decade)."

• Your World in Charts: "Tax Plans for All" Edition, The American Prospect, Ezra Klein blog (June 17, 2008) by Ezra Klein.
  

  "Anyway, Paul Krugman lays this out better than I've been able to, and also links to The Tax Policy Center's analysis of Obama and McCain's tax plans. It's a great backgrounder for folks interested in this stuff, and concludes: Although both candidates have at times stressed fiscal responsibility, their specific non-health tax proposals would reduce tax revenues by $3.7 trillion (McCain) and $2.7 trillion (Obama) over the next 10 years, or approximately 10 and 7 percent of the revenues scheduled for collection under current law, respectively."

• Obama Plans Spending Boost, Possible Cut in Business Tax, The Wall Street Journal (June 17, 2008) by Bob Davis and Amy Chozick
  

  "Sen. Obama has proposed a variety of measures that would raise taxes on individuals at the top end and provide tax relief to middle- and lower-income households. Under his plans, those in the middle would see their after-tax income increase by 2.4%, or $1,042, according to a nonpartisan analysis by the Washington-based Tax Policy Center. Americans with incomes above $2.8 million would see their after-tax income decrease by 11.5%."

• Today on the presidential campaign trail, The Associated Press (June 17, 2008) by Ann Sanner and Jerry Estill
  

  "The Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, gives a preliminary estimate that over the next decade, McCain's tax proposals would reduce federal revenues $3.7 trillion while Obama's cuts would amount to $2.7 trillion."

• Obama calls for sweeping reforms in Flint address, Detroit Free Press (June 16, 2008) by Chris Christoff
  

  "Obama said his tax plan would save the Letterman’s $1,400 a year. He noted a study by the national Tax Policy Center which concluded that McCain’s tax plan would save the Lettermans only $113."

• Fiscal Poison Pill, The New York Times (June 16, 2008) by Paul Krugman
  

  "Barack Obama’s tax plan is more responsible than Mr. McCain’s: relative to current policy, the Tax Policy Center estimates, the Obama plan would raise revenue by $700 billion over the next decade, compared with a $600 billion loss for Mr. McCain."

• McCain, Obama pitch economic plans, The New York Times (June 16, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  
  

  "Barack Obama’s tax plan is more responsible than Mr. McCain’s: relative to current policy, the Tax Policy Center estimates, the Obama plan would raise revenue by $700 billion over the next decade, compared with a $600 billion loss for Mr. McCain."

• Fiscal Poison Pill, USA Today (Associated Press) (June 16, 2008)
  

  "An independent, liberal-leaning think tank, the Tax Policy Center, issued an analysis of the candidates' tax plans that concluded that McCain's would primarily benefit very high income taxpayers, while Obama's would increase taxes for the wealthiest."

• Orthodox responses to taxing issues, Financial Times (June 15, 2008) by Clive Crook.
  
  

  "Measured against current law (ie, against a baseline that assumes the Bush tax cuts expire on schedule in 2011) and excluding healthcare (which involves some additional tax changes) Mr McCain wants to cut taxes by $3,700bn over the next 10 years. Mr Obama wants to cut them by $2,700bn. That amounts to a 10 per cent cut in revenue for Mr McCain and a 7 per cent cut for Mr Obama. (The estimates are from the non-partisan Tax Policy Centre of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.)

• Editorial: A Perot moment, Los Angeles Times (June 15, 2008)
  
  

  "Yet a report last week by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that the net effect of Obama's proposed tax hikes and cuts would cost the U.S. Treasury $2.7 trillion more over 10 years than if the Bush tax cuts all lapsed on schedule and the alternative minimum tax continued expanding. (The center projected that McCain's proposal would cost the Treasury $3.7 trillion.)"

• Obama to focus on bolstering Michigan's future, The Detroit News (June 15, 2008) by Gordon Trowbridge
  
  

  "In fact, Obama has proposed significant tax cuts for low- and middle-income families. The campaign points to an analysis last week by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that found Obama's plan would cut taxes mostly for those with moderate incomes, while McCain's would provide only modest benefits to families in most income brackets but a big boost to those in the top 20 percent of incomes."

• McCain, Obama offer competing tax plans, San Francisco Chronicle (June 15, 2008) by Carolyn Lochhead.
  
  

  "As much as Obama blasts the Bush tax cuts, he would expand large portions of them, promising even more tax cuts for middle- and lower-income groups. Taxes would fall most sharply for lower-income groups while rising sharply for top earners, according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint think tank of the center-left Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. Obama's campaign contends that no one earning less than $250,000 a year would see any tax increase."

• Political Economy: Taxing Patience, CQ Politics (June 14, 2008) by John Cranford.
  
  

  "So far, it’s pretty routine stuff. And neither McCain nor Obama is suggesting anything like a wholesale change in the income tax system, although both candidates would make a few significant adjustments at the margins. As researchers at the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center put it in an analysis last week: “They both have a back-to-the-future look to them."

• Editorial: Wanted: Fiscal responsibility in candidate plansKansas City Star (June 14, 2008).
  
  

  "McCain proposes to close the budget gap by cracking down on pork-barrel spending. That’s a fine idea. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center warns, however, that McCain will find it difficult to reduce spending enough to cover the revenue losses called for in his tax plan. The same caution holds for Obama’s plans to close loopholes, the research group says."

• Obama Highlights Rising Energy Costs, Washington Post "The Trail" blog (June 14, 2008) by Glenn Kessler.
  
  

  "An analysis of McCain's tax cut plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found than nearly 29 percent of his tax cuts would flow to individuals making more than $2.8 million. (Such taxpayers, the top one percent, tend to pay a significant proportion of overall income taxes."

• McCain, Obama Trade Fire on Tax Plans, FoxNews.com (June 13, 2008))
  
  

  "The study they referenced this week was a preliminary report out of the Tax Policy Center, which concluded that while both candidates offer “substantial” tax cuts, those breaks benefit two different classes of taxpayers - and both plans drive up the deficit. The report said McCain’s plan would offer “huge” breaks for high-income households, and Obama’s plan would offer more relief to those on the bottom of the scale.."

• McCain will repeal the AMT. Wait, no ..., CNNMoney.com (June 13, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  
  

  "According to a report released this week from the Tax Policy Center, which used numbers provided by the McCain campaign, the candidate is now proposing to permanently patch the AMT, but to do so in a way that eventually exceeds what Congress has been doing so far."

• Candidates Strongly Differ on How to Tax the Rich, NPR (June 13, 2008) by John Ydstie.
  
  

  "If you're among the richest Americans, the top one-tenth of 1 percent, the difference between McCain or Obama in the White House could be stark. Len Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, says that under McCain, those rich taxpayers would, on average, get a $270,000 tax cut from McCain, but with Obama in the White House, they'd face a $700,000 increase in their tax bill. So if you're rich, you could see nearly a million-dollar swing in your tax bill, depending on who wins the election."

• Electing a Spender in Chief, TheStreet.com (June 13, 2008) by John Fout.
  
  

  "A study by the Tax Policy Center, an offshoot of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, analyzed the recent budget implications of each candidates' proposals. The news from the report is bad: "Senator Obama's plan would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt (including additional interest costs) while Senator McCain's plan would add $4.5 trillion. This does not include the cost of expanding health insurance coverage and assumes that Senator McCain's proposals phase in and phase out on schedule. It also assumes that all of the candidates' optimistic revenue offsets materialize."

• Check Point: Will the Real Tax-and-Spender Please ’Fess Up?, The New York Times (June 13, 2008) by Larry Rohter.
  
  

  "In a study of the candidates’ plans made public Wednesday, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that in contrast to Mr. McCain, “Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The study said, “The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution,” whereas “Senator McCain’s tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes.”Other groups that focus on tax and economic policy are preparing similar analyses, but say they regard the Tax Policy Center’s assessment as highly reliable, based on its work in the past. The study did question some of Mr. Obama’s calculations, noting, for example, that “both candidates may be overoptimistic in their revenue targets for closing tax loopholes, Obama probably more than McCain."

• Obama combats darker side of Internet politics , AFP (June 13, 2008)
  
  

  "Citing a new study by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said one-quarter of the benefits under McCain's tax plan would go to people earning more than three million dollars a year."

• Campaign Notebook: McCain steps up push to win over disaffected Clinton backers (second item), The Boston Globe (June 13, 2008) by Foon Rhee.
  
  

  "Obama was armed with a study that suggests that his proposals would give families making between about $38,000 and $66,000 a year an average tax cut of $1,042 - three times more than the $319 in savings they would get from McCain's plans. The biggest gap would be for the 0.1 percent of taxpayers with incomes of more than $2.9 million a year, according to the Tax Policy Center in Washington. They would pay $270,000 less under McCain, but pay $702,000 more under Obama. Both plans, however, would dramatically increase the federal deficit, the study found."

• Economic woes loom large for McCain, Obama, Associated Press (June 13, 2008) by Jim Kuhnhenn
  
  

  "Economists of various ideological persuasions, however, view McCain's assessment as inaccurate or exaggerated." The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center: "The Labor Department reports came in a week that Obama had set aside to feature his economic plan. At the same time, an independent, liberal-leaning think tank, the Tax Policy Center, issued an analysis of the candidates tax plans that concluded that McCain's would primarily benefit very high income taxpayers, while Obama's would increase taxes for the wealthiest."

• Iraq-et Men From Mars, National Journal "The Hotline" (June 13, 2008)
  
  

  "Economists of various ideological persuasions, however, view McCain's assessment as inaccurate or exaggerated." The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center: "Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers."

• Candidates' tax plans raise U.S. debt, The Washington Times (June 13, 2008) by David M. Dickson.
  
  

  "Sen. Barack Obama's tax plan would make the U.S. tax system more progressive, while Sen. John McCain's tax policies would make the system more regressive - but both of them would raise the national debt by trillions of dollars, according to a study of their tax agendas by the Tax Policy Center."

• McCain holds town hall without rival; Stumbles some during televised event, The Washington Times (June 13, 2008) by Stephen Dinan.
  
  

  "The Obama campaign responded by pointing to a new analysis from a budget group, the Tax Policy Center, that says Mr. McCain's tax plan, while cutting most taxes, would largely benefit upper-income Americans. The analysis says Mr. Obama raises taxes on the wealthy and lowers taxes on lower-income folks."

• Obama vs. McCain: Who will reduce your taxes more?, The Tuscon Citizen (June 13, 2008) by Brian Tumulty.
  
  

  "The presumptive presidential nominees of the two major political parties each would reduce taxes for a middle-income household earning $66,354 a year by about $1,000 in 2009, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The tax analysis comes just more than a week after Barack Obama clinched the number of delegates need to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, making it nearly certain he will face Republican John McCain in the November election."

• Obama vs. McCain: Everyone, Under the Bus!, MSNBC's "First Read" blog (June 13, 2008) by Domenico Montanaro.
  
  

  "“In a study of the candidates’ plans made public Wednesday, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that in contrast to Mr. McCain, “Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers.” The study said, “The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution,” whereas “Senator McCain’s tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes.“Other groups that focus on tax and economic policy are preparing similar analyses, but say they regard the Tax Policy Center’s assessment as highly reliable, based on its work in the past. The study did question some of Mr. Obama’s calculations, noting, for example, that “both candidates may be overoptimistic in their revenue targets for closing tax loopholes, Obama probably more than McCain."

• Taxes: McCain vs. Obama, CNNMoney.com (June 12, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  
• Economists? Who, Those Guys?, MSNBC's "First Read" blog (June 12, 2008) by Carrie Dann.
  
  

  "McCain's ribbing of economic experts comes on the same day that the Obama campaign is touting a new study from the Tax Policy Center with favorable conclusions for Obama's tax plan. Analysis by the group, a Washington-based joint venture of Brookings and the Urban Institute, found that Obama's plan would deliver three times the tax break to middle-class Americans than would McCain's proposal. Senior advisor Doug Holtz-Eakin responded to the study on a conference call today, saying that the Tax Policy Center's methodology "makes some fundamentally unrealistic assumptions" about, for example, the impact of tax increases on small businesses, and that its analysis should be taken "with a grain of salt."

• Obama Keeps Focus On Dueling Tax Plans, The Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" blog (June 12, 2008) by Amy Chozick.
  
  

  "According to a study by the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan organization, both candidates’ economic plans would cause more damage than improvement. McCain’s plan could stimulate the economy but also grow the deficit, while Obama’s plan could create a deficit and complicate the tax code."

• Obama, Kaukauna talk taxes: Middle-class deserves the breaks, he says, NPR (June 12, 2008) by Greg J. Borowski.
  
  

  "A report this week from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found Obama’s plan would provide three times more in tax cuts for the middle class than McCain’s approach, something Obama touted Thursday."

• "Middle class could see bigger tax benefits under Obama, Minneapolis Star Tribune (June 12, 2008) by The New York Times News Service.
  
  

  "According to computations by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, under Obama's plan, the middle of the middle class, or those earning between $37,595 and $66,354, would see taxes cut by $1,042 a year. Under McCain's plan, taxes for people in that category would also fall, but by $319; most of the benefits would go to those making $2.8 million a year or more."

• Lightning Round: The Trouble with Trillions, The American Prospect "Tapped" blog (June 12, 2008) by Mori Dinauer.
  
  

  "Class warfare: The Tax Policy Center has released a report [PDF] comparing McCain and Obama's tax plans. Both run a deficit but Obama's is progressive while McCain's is regressive."

• Dog Bites Man, The New Republic "The Plank" blog (June 12, 2008) by Josh Patashnik.
  
  

  "Via TaxProf Blog, the Tax Policy Center has put out an analysis (pdf) of the Obama and McCain tax plans. Here's the conclusion: If enacted, the Obama and McCain tax plans would have radically different effects on the distribution of tax burdens in the United States. The Obama tax plan would make the tax system significantly more progressive by providing large tax breaks to those at the bottom of the income scale and raising taxes significantly on upper-income earners. The McCain tax plan would make the tax system more regressive, even compared with a system in which the 2001–06 tax cuts are made permanent. It would do so by providing relatively little tax relief to those at the bottom of the income scale while providing huge tax cuts to households at the very top of the income distribution."

• On the Issues: McCain's Tax Plan Aids Wealthy, Says Group, The Washington Post's "The Trail" blog (June 12, 2008) by Perry Bacon Jr.
  
  

  "An analysis of both campaigns proposals by the Washington-based, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that for people with incomes between $66,354 and $111,645, Obama's proposals would cut their taxes by more than $1000, compared to around $300 under McCain's plan. But for Americans with incomes above $603,402, Obama would raise their taxes dramatically, by more than $115,000 a year, while McCain would cut them by $45,000."

• Commentary: Start with Spending Cuts, Market Place "Public Radio International" (June 12, 2008) by Kai Ryssdal.
  
  

  "The non-partisan Tax Policy Center's been doing its thing. It's been digging into the tax promises John McCain and Barack Obama have been making. Take health care out of the equation and it turns out both candidates would wind up costing the government money. For Obama: $2.7 trillion less in tax revenues over the next 10 years. For McCain: $3.7 trillion."

• Progressive But Maybe Not Progress, Talking Points Memo blog (June 12, 2008) by David Kurtz.
  
  

  "The Tax Policy Center has released a report comparing the Obama and McCain tax plans. You can read the report, "A Preliminary Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans."

• Obama promotes middle-class tax cut, Boston Globe "Political Intelligence" blog (June 12, 2008) by Foon Rhee.
  
  

  "The presumptive Democratic nominee will go in armed with a study that suggests that his proposals would give families making between about $38,000 and $66,000 a year an average tax cut of $1,042 -- three times more than the $319 in savings they would get from the tax cut plans of Republican John McCain."

• Presidential hopefuls back $1,000 tax cut for middle-income households, Gannett News Service (June 12, 2008) by Brian Tumulty.
  
  

  "The Tax Policy Center’s independent analysis of the pieces of each tax package found Obama’s plan would provide $1,042 in estimated tax cuts for Americans in the middle 20 percent of income while Republican John McCain’s plan would provide about $1,009 — $33 less."

• ANALYSIS: Wealthiest would pay $1 million more in taxes under Obama plan, Bloomberg News (June 12, 2008) by Alison Fitzgerald.
  
  

  "The big difference between Obama and McCain is that Obama is clearly more focused on income distribution," said Leonard Burman, one of the study's authors. The analysis, which was done with the cooperation of the campaigns, showed that both candidates cut taxes overall, and fall short of making up for the lost revenue, so their plans would add to the federal deficit. McCain's proposals could exacerbate income inequality by cutting taxes for the wealthy more than for lower-income families, the study said."

• Independent analyst touts Obama tax plan, The Nashua Telegraph (June 12, 2008) by Kevin Landrigan.
  
  

  "The tax cut plan of Democratic nominee to be Barack Obama offers three times the break for middle class families than proposals of likely Republican nominee John McCain, according to analysts working for a left-leaning think tank. Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain's tax cut for this group would be $319, the report states."

• In 3rd District Primary, economy is the issue, The Salt Lake Tribune (June 12, 2008) by Robert Gehrke.
  
  

  "Both candidates support extending the Bush tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of 2010, although that and a fix to the alternative minimum tax would add $3.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute."

• Obama vs. McCain: Taxing and Spending, Business Week (June 12, 2008) by Jane Sasseen.
  
  

  "According to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two Washington think tanks, this round goes to Obama. The TPC took a look at the various tax proposals put forth by the two candidates and estimated that Obama's plan would lead to a boost in aftertax income for all but the highest earners, while taking a smaller bite out of government tax revenues than would McCain's plans."

• Thousands who earn $200,000+ avoid paying income tax, USA Today (June 12, 2008) by Kevin McCoy.
  
  

  "It's an interesting case study on how people find ways to avoid paying taxes," said Howard Gleckman, a senior research associate and tax blog editor at The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Cheney Pushes for More Drilling; Vice President Also Calls for Extension of Bush Tax Cuts, Washington Post (June 12, 2008) by Zachary A. Goldfarb.
  
  

  "Leonard Burman, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, said Cheney's description of the impact of the tax cuts on the poor was a mathematical trick. He said the impact of the cuts is minimal because low-income people already pay such a small amount in taxes, while higher income people retain a much larger share of their income with the tax cuts in place. "They're basically spinning," Burman said."

• UPDATE:McCain,Obama Tax Plans Would Add Substantially To Debt, Nasdaq online (June 11, 2008) by Patrick Yoest.)
  
  

  "U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama would add trillions of dollars to the federal debt through tax cuts under current spending assumptions, according to a study released Wednesday by the non-partisan think tank Urban Institute."

• McCain, Obama tax plans to boost U.S. debt: tax group, Reuters (June 11, 2008) by David Lawder. (appeared in Washington Post, Boston Globe)
  
  

  "In an analysis of how the candidates' tax proposals would affect federal revenues, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute said McCain's plans would cut receipts by $3.72 trillion from 2009-2018 compared with current tax law. Obama's plans would cut revenues by $2.73 trillion over the same period."

• Evening Wrap: Candidates Release Tax Plans, Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2008) by Brian Tumulty.
  
  

  "The study by the Tax Policy Center found that both candidates' plans would also significantly boost the federal debt."

• Candidates Would Cut Taxes But Differ on by How Much, The Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2008) by Deborah Solomon.
  
  

  "The study by the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of Washington think tanks the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, found that both candidates' plans would also significantly boost the federal debt. The plan offered by Sen. Obama would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years and Sen. McCain's plan would add $4.5 trillion."

• A waste of energy?, CNNMoney.com (June 11, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  
  

  "Under both plans, all American taxpayers could pay a price for their tax cuts: a bigger deficit. The Tax Policy Center estimates that over 10 years, McCain's tax proposals could increase the national debt by as much as $4.5 trillion with interest, while Obama's could add as much as $3.3 trillion."

• "Economic Choices 2008": The Great Tax Divide, Nightly Business Report (PBS) (June 11, 2008) by Darren Gersh.
  
  

  "The Tax Policy Center estimates Senator Obama would raise their taxes by more than $700,000. Senator McCain would cut taxes in that bracket by almost $270,000. What if you're in the middle, making between $37,000 and $66,000? Obama wants to cut your taxes by about $1,000, Senator McCain by around $300. Burman cautions the tax cuts are being promised just as the Federal budget is straining to support the retirement of the baby boom generation."

• A waste of energy?, Columbus Dispatch (June 11, 2008) by Jack Torry.
  
  

  "Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, said that suspending the federal gasoline tax "doesn't produce more energy. It probably would produce somewhat lower prices to consumers, but not the full amount of the tax."

• Obama, McCain Agree to Disagree on the Economy, NPR (June 11, 2008) by Scott Horsley.
  
  

  "Obama's proposal to raise dividend and capital gains taxes would be widely felt. But the vast majority of the increase would be borne by the wealthy. According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, the richest 5 percent of Americans collect more than half of all dividends and more than 85 percent of all capital gains."

• Economy is top priority for Obama, McCain, and voters, New York Times (June 11, 2008) by Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter.
  
  

  "And his call for repealing the alternative minimum tax, while it would still help some middle-class taxpayers, would still largely benefit the wealthy: some 80 percent of the benefit would go to the top 10 percent of earners, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington."

• Independent analyst touts Obama tax plan, The Nashua Telegraph (June 12, 2008) by Kevin Landrigan.
  

  "The tax cut plan of Democratic nominee to be Barack Obama offers three times the break for middle class families than proposals of likely Republican nominee John McCain, according to analysts working for a left-leaning think tank. Families making between $37,595 and $66,354 of annual income with Obama would get an average tax cut of $1,042 per family while McCain's tax cut for this group would be $319, the report states."

• In 3rd District Primary, economy is the issue, The Salt Lake Tribune (June 12, 2008) by Robert Gehrke.
  

  "Both candidates support extending the Bush tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of 2010, although that and a fix to the alternative minimum tax would add $3.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute."

• Obama vs. McCain: Taxing and Spending, Business Week (June 12, 2008) by Jane Sasseen.
  

  "According to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a joint venture between the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, two Washington think tanks, this round goes to Obama. The TPC took a look at the various tax proposals put forth by the two candidates and estimated that Obama's plan would lead to a boost in aftertax income for all but the highest earners, while taking a smaller bite out of government tax revenues than would McCain's plans."

• Thousands who earn $200,000+ avoid paying income tax, USA Today (June 12, 2008) by Kevin McCoy.
  

  "It's an interesting case study on how people find ways to avoid paying taxes," said Howard Gleckman, a senior research associate and tax blog editor at The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Cheney Pushes for More Drilling; Vice President Also Calls for Extension of Bush Tax Cuts, Washington Post (June 12, 2008) by Zachary A. Goldfarb.
  

  "Leonard Burman, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, said Cheney's description of the impact of the tax cuts on the poor was a mathematical trick. He said the impact of the cuts is minimal because low-income people already pay such a small amount in taxes, while higher income people retain a much larger share of their income with the tax cuts in place. "They're basically spinning," Burman said."

• McCain, Obama tax plans to boost U.S. debt: tax group, Reuters (June 11, 2008) by David Lawder. (appeared in Washington Post, Boston Globe)
  

  "In an analysis of how the candidates' tax proposals would affect federal revenues, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute said McCain's plans would cut receipts by $3.72 trillion from 2009-2018 compared with current tax law. Obama's plans would cut revenues by $2.73 trillion over the same period."

• Evening Wrap: Candidates Release Tax Plans, Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2008) by Brian Tumulty.
  

  "The study by the Tax Policy Center found that both candidates' plans would also significantly boost the federal debt."

• Candidates Would Cut Taxes But Differ on by How Much, The Wall Street Journal (June 11, 2008) by Deborah Solomon.
  

  "The study by the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of Washington think tanks the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, found that both candidates' plans would also significantly boost the federal debt. The plan offered by Sen. Obama would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years and Sen. McCain's plan would add $4.5 trillion."

• A waste of energy?, CNNMoney.com (June 11, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "Under both plans, all American taxpayers could pay a price for their tax cuts: a bigger deficit. The Tax Policy Center estimates that over 10 years, McCain's tax proposals could increase the national debt by as much as $4.5 trillion with interest, while Obama's could add as much as $3.3 trillion."

• "Economic Choices 2008": The Great Tax Divide, Nightly Business Report (PBS) (June 11, 2008) by Darren Gersh.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center estimates Senator Obama would raise their taxes by more than $700,000. Senator McCain would cut taxes in that bracket by almost $270,000. What if you're in the middle, making between $37,000 and $66,000? Obama wants to cut your taxes by about $1,000, Senator McCain by around $300. Burman cautions the tax cuts are being promised just as the Federal budget is straining to support the retirement of the baby boom generation."

• A waste of energy?, Columbus Dispatch (June 11, 2008) by Jack Torry.
  

  "Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, said that suspending the federal gasoline tax "doesn't produce more energy. It probably would produce somewhat lower prices to consumers, but not the full amount of the tax."

• Obama, McCain Agree to Disagree on the Economy, NPR (June 11, 2008) by Scott Horsley.
  

  "Obama's proposal to raise dividend and capital gains taxes would be widely felt. But the vast majority of the increase would be borne by the wealthy. According to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, the richest 5 percent of Americans collect more than half of all dividends and more than 85 percent of all capital gains."

• Economy is top priority for Obama, McCain, and voters, New York Times (June 11, 2008) by Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter.
  

  "And his call for repealing the alternative minimum tax, while it would still help some middle-class taxpayers, would still largely benefit the wealthy: some 80 percent of the benefit would go to the top 10 percent of earners, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington."

• McCain and Obama Trade Jabs Over Economic Strategies, PBS, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (June 10, 2008) by Scott Horsley.
  

  "If you look at what Senator McCain is talking about, it's really a very pumped-up version. It's Bush-onomics on steroids. He's talking about extending the Bush tax cuts, but that amounts to less than one-third of the McCain tax cuts. McCain's tax cuts scored over a 10-year budget window amount to $5.7 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."

• Breaking down McCain's speech on the economy, Salon.com (June 10, 2008) by Justin Jouvenal.
  

  "Also, according to the Tax Policy Center's projections, there are 5.8 million taxpayers who, by 2010, will be paying the AMT and making more than $200,000. These taxpayers, FactCheck says, would stand to benefit disproportionately from McCain's proposal."

• Economy is top priority for Obama, McCain, and voters, The Christian Science Monitor (June 10, 2008) by Ariel Sabar.
  

  "The ways in which the candidates say they would pay for spending increases or tax cuts are not really credible," says Roberton Williams of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Tax Evasion, 2008, National Journal (June 7, 2008) by Clive Crook.
  

  "If this should change, a quick read I would recommend to any incoming president is "Fixing the Tax System: Support Fairer, Simpler, and More Adequate Taxation," an 11-page paper by William Gale of the Brookings Institution. (You can Google it.) Gale's proposals, taken together, are not scarily radical."

• Column: Obama, McCain and taxes, The Atlantic, Clive Crook blog (June 6, 2008) by Clive Crook.
  

  "I mention a few specific possible reforms, based on some recommended pre-election reading: A short paper by Bill Gale of the Brookings Institution on priorities for fixing the system."

• McCain Aide Says Bush Knows Little About Economy (Update1), Bloomberg News (June 6, 2008) by Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "A Bloomberg News analysis of McCain's budget, which was released in April, shows it would increase the national debt by $1.8 trillion over eight years. Groups such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Tax Policy Center, both based in Washington, estimate the cost to be even higher."

• McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper, Bloomberg News (June 6, 2008) by Gene Sperling.
  

  "While the Urban Institute's Len Burman estimates this would cost only $75 billion per year, University of Michigan economist Reuven Avi-Yonah figures that the rate cut and expensing together “would open up almost unlimited opportunities for sheltering income” and reduce corporate tax revenue by 75 percent. Jason Furman, head of the centrist Hamilton Project, calculates the combined costs of the rate cut and income sheltering at more than $300 billion a year."

• Brookings Study Says Retirees Need Annuities to Increase Income , Bloomberg News (June 5, 2008) by Jeff Plungis.
  

  "Annuities give people a steady stream of monthly income for however long they live, ensuring they won't outlive their savings, study author Lina Walker, research director of the Retirement Security Project, said today at a talk in Washington. William Gale and Mark Iwry of Brookings and David John of the Heritage Foundation co-wrote the study."

• Taxing the 'Not-So-Rich' Rich, Business Week (June 5, 2008) by Jane Sasseen.
  

  "Targeting just a fraction of the population [for an increase] is not going to generate the revenues they need," says Roberton Williams, an ex-Congressional Budget Office staffer now with the independent Tax Policy Center. Adds Clifton: "They are going to have to find a way to get more from the middle class."

• Secondary Sources: Recession?, Obama Bailout, $4 Gas, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (June 4, 2008) by Phil Izzo.
  

  "Cap and Trade: Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center blog says that a windfall from a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions could pay for Sen. Barack Obama’s policy initiatives if he’s elected president."

• Bush: 43M families hurt if tax cuts expire, CNNMoney.com (June 2, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "Williams concedes "we don't know how much revenue would go up" if the tax cuts are left to expire. But, he said, "we know the budget deficit will get larger if we extend them." The Tax Policy Center estimates that an extension of the cuts for everyone except high-income taxpayers could cost $783 billion over 10 years."

May

• Democrats Eye Tax Code To Reshape U.S. Biofuels Policy, CongressDaily (May 29, 2008) by Peter Cohn.
  

  "Howard Gleckman, a senior research associate with the Tax Policy Center, singled out the chicken-waste jet fuel language for particular derision. "We keep going around in this big circle. Each set of incentives chases the other," said Gleckman."

• People, The Chronicle of Philanthropy (May 29, 2008).
  

  "Peter G. Peterson Foundation (New York): Appointed Eugene Steuerle, a senior fellow and co-director of the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute (Washington), to be vice president."

• Entitlement Reform, Not Tax Increases, The American Spectator (May 28, 2008) by Peter Ferrara.
  

  "Other prominent co-authors included former CBO Directors Alice Rivlin, Robert Reischauer, and Rudolph Penner, Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution, Progressive Policy Institute President Will Marshall, and Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute."

• Late in the Term, an Exodus of Senior Officials, Washington Post (May 28, 2008) by Dan Eggen and Christopher Lee.
  

  "It's probably important for the morale of the staff, because if there are no replacements for senior-level positions and none in the wings, then it suggests that they are kind of irrelevant," Burman said. "It does kind of signal that the work of that office is kind of shutting down."

• Bearing No Burden , Washington Post (May 27, 2008).
  

  "As the Brookings Institution's William G. Gale showed in dispensing with this claim several years ago, only 1.3 percent of taxpayers with small-business income fell into the group taxed at the top marginal rate of 35 percent, which applies to incomes of more than $357,700."

• McCain Releases Information From His Wife's 2006 Tax Return, The Wall Street Journal (May 24, 2008) by Laura Meckler and Elizabeth Holmes. (subscription required)
  

  "Itemized deductions of $570,000 make up less than 10% of her income. Mr. Burman said much of that money would be state and local taxes, as well as charitable contributions."

• Cindy McCain Reported Income Exceeding $6 Million in 2006, Washington Post (May 24, 2008) by Jonathan Weisman and Matthew Mosk.
  

  ”She's pretty rich," said Leonard Burman, a former Treasury official at the Urban Institute, who is the director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. "She would do well under Senator McCain's plan."

• Editorial: Ryan's 'road map', Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (May 23, 2008).
  

  "On taxes, Ryan proposes a simplified tax code with two rates - 10% on income up to $100,000 and 25% on higher incomes. This is much like a proposal by presidential candidate Fred Thompson earlier this year (borrowed from Ryan, actually) that the Urban Institute said would cause a $5 trillion to $7 trillion hit to tax revenues over 10 years."

• Sullivan Joins Push For Gas Tax Holiday, The Day (May 19, 2008) by Ted Mann.
  

  ”We ought to be worrying about ways to reduce our energy consumption rather than raising it,” said Williams, of the Tax Policy Center. “The craziest thing you can do is lower the price of energy. That only encourages people to be more profligate in their use.”

• Tax system too complex, unfair & outdated, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (May 18, 2008) by William Gale.
  

  "Every candidate for the presidency, Senate and House should have a full and carefully constructed position paper on taxes, showing voters what they will do once in office. Mere sound bites -- like "no new taxes" -- are misleading and solve nothing."

• The Budget According to McCain: Part II, Factcheck.org (May 14, 2008) by Lori Robertson, Viveca Novak and Joe Miller.
  

  "According to projections by the Tax Policy Center (TPC), 26.6 million of those paying the tax in 2010 will make up to $200k, while 5.8 million will make more than that. TPC figures also show that the majority (64 percent, or 20.9 million) of AMT taxpayers in 2010 will earn more than $100,000 a year."

• Senate Considers Individual Tax Reform, WebCPA.com (May 14, 2008).
  

  "Leonard E. Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, wondered about the effect of the presidential election on tax reform."

• WILLIAM G. GALE: Current tax system is too complex, unfair and outdated, Belleville News-Democrat (May 14, 2008).
  

  "The next Congress should streamline tax incentives for education, and combine the personal exemption, child credit and earned income credit into a higher standard deduction. Corporate income should be taxed only once, rather than taxing both corporations' new income and individual investors' capital gains - but clamp down on corporate tax shelters."

• Senate Finance Grapples With Tax Code Overhaul, CQ Politics (May 13, 2008).
  

  "If you could get it simple and even, you’d probably get a long way toward a consensus," said William Gale of the Brookings Institution.

• The big lie of tax cuts, The Capital Times (May 13, 2008) by Margaret Krome.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center says that middle-income households received $20 from those 2003 tax cuts, whereas the average household earning over $1 million received $32,000, or 1,600 times as much!"

• Editorial: Gas-Tax Moratorium Is Gimcrackery, Daily News-Record (May 13, 2008).
  

  "Small wonder then that economist Leonard Burman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has labeled this political stratagem "terrible economics." There are simply no winners in this equation."

• Creeping Up, Times Record News (May 11, 2008) by Trish Choate.
  

  "But its reach could balloon from 20,000 filers in 1970, to an estimated 39 million — roughly one-third of taxpayers — in 2017, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• The 100% Auction, Investor’s Business Daily (May 9, 2008) by Jed Graham.
  

  "Urban Institute calculations for fiscal 2012 show that McCain is calling for $300 billion more in tax cuts than Bush did."

• The 100% Auction, Washington Monthly, Political Animal blog (May 9, 2008) by Kevin Drum.
  

  "Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center has this to say about cap-and-trade schemes for addressing global warming: Cap'n Trade would work like this. The government would require companies to obtain permits that give them the right to emit a fixed amount of greenhouse gasses."

• Between the Lines, The Vermillion Plain Talk (May 8, 2008) by David Lias.
  

  "Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, said the laws of the market argue against a tax suspension."

• "Commentary"-Gas Price Solutions, PBS. Nightly Business Report (May 8, 2008) by Len Burman.
  

  "Senator Clinton has said she doesn't care if a bunch of elitist economists oppose the idea of a summer gas tax holiday; she knows she could make it work. We complained that limited supply would keep gas prices high, even if the Federal tax were suspended. But Mrs. Clinton is right. The government could force prices down, but I don't think she would like the results."

• Three reminders that politics shouldn't always be taken seriously, Austin American-Statesman (May 8, 2008) by W. Gardner Selby.
  

  "Such cuts might shave pump prices, according to Roberton Williams of Washington's nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Most likely, he said, oil refiners would raise prices to make up for the paused taxes and pocket the extra pennies as profit — just for the summer, of course."

• Fuzzy math on the campaign trail, CNNMoney.com (May 6, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "On the Republican side of the ledger, John McCain wants to make permanent all of President Bush's tax cuts and eliminate the AMT altogether. The Tax Policy Center estimates both measures combined could reduce federal tax revenue by nearly $4 trillion over 10 years."

• Editorial: Gas tax suspension offers no relief, Washington Times (May 6, 2008).
  

  "Leonard Burman, the co-director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, later emailed Mr. Mankiw: "Yesterday I was on the NewsHour to talk about the gas-tax holiday. I asked if there was another guest, and the producer said: 'We tried, but we couldn't find anyone to argue the other side (that the gas-tax holiday made sense).'"

• ‘Elite’ Economists Refuse to Get Behind Gas-Tax Holiday, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics (May 5, 2008).
  

  "But even those who are stretching to find a way the plan could work don’t see much advantage to the vast majority of Americans. Len Burman of the Tax Policy Center says the only way to keep the cost of gas low is through mandatory price controls or rationing, both of which have the potential for long 70s-style lines at the pump."

• State budget in the dumps, The Sun Chronicle (May 5, 2008) by Maite Jullian and Rachel Kolokoff.
  

  "A 2004 study by the Urban Institute, a non-partisan economic and social policy research group, found the 2001 national recession led to massive revenue shortfalls in the states across the country. The study, which analyzed 10 states, said Massachusetts reduced local aid by 5 percent between 2003 and 2004 to compensate for budget gaps."

• Dems Fight on Eve of Primaries; U.S. Government Offers to Help Myanmar; Gas Tax Holiday: Checking the Facts, CNN, The Situation Room (May 5, 2008).
  

  "LEN BURMAN, TAX POLICY CENTER: And the best case scenario is they save an average of $28 or $29 over the course of the summer. But, in fact, they would save a tiny fraction of that, because that assumes that the full amount of gas tax is passed on to consumers in lower prices."

• Election promises economy shake-up, Abilene Reporter-News (May 5, 2008) by Todd Spangler.
  

  "Said economist Len Burman, director of the Washington-based Tax Policy Center: "There's a lot of pandering, and the pandering is bipartisan. ... Every time they open their mouths, they say something stupid."

• Our position: It's disappointing to see the presidential contenders adding to deficit, Orlando Sentinel (May 5, 2008).
  

  "Analysts from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center calculate Mr. McCain's plan would add $5 trillion or more to the $9 trillion national debt over the next decade, mainly from new tax cuts. The plans from Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, heavy on new spending, also would swell deficits, though not quite a third as much."

• Clinton, Obama seeing eye to eye on the economy, The Virginian-Pilot (May 5, 2008) by Philip Walzer.
  

  "One more thing about the candidates and the economy: "All three have made proposals that cost a lot of money and don't have any means of paying for them," said Roberton Williams, principal research associate of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution in Washington."

• Editorial: Gas-tax holiday bad policy, The Wichita Eagle (May 5, 2008).
  

  "It's basic economics," Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, told the Washington Post. "Gas is always in very short supply during the summer, which is why prices go up. In order to reduce the price, you would have to increase supply, but that is difficult over the short term, because the refineries cannot add capacity."

• Democrats trade jabs in virtual debate, Boston Globe (May 5, 2008) by Susan Milligan.
  

  "The gas tax holiday has been widely derided by economists at MIT, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Tax Policy Center, and other institutions, but the idea has been received warmly by low-income voters in rural areas."

• TAX CUTS: NOT FAIR, The Free Lance-Star (May 4, 2008) by Roberton Williams.
  

  "The Bush tax cuts favored the rich, whose after-tax income rose more than 6 percent before considering their pretax gains. No matter how you torture the data, the average household's gain was less than half that."

• A Softer Pay-as-You-Go Stance, CQ Politics (May 4, 2008) by David Nather.
  

  "Now, Democrats have written pay-as-you-go requirements into House and Senate rules (though they ignored them last year to pass temporary relief from the alternative minimum tax). But McCain has proposed enough tax cuts to reduce federal revenues by as much as $5.7 trillion over 10 years, according to the Tax Policy Center, a think tank run by the nonpartisan Brookings Institution and the liberal Urban Institute."

• For Democrats, Instincts Differ on Economics, New York Times (May 4, 2008) by David Leonhardt.
  

  "Obama has a shorter list of tax breaks,” said Leonard E. Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, “but has some really big items on it."

• Clinton, Obama clash on summer gas tax relief, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (May 3, 2008) by David Espo.
  

  "That's $10 billion [in gas price increases], and it's going into the pockets of oil refiners."-- Leonard Burman of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, who says oil companies would simply raise prices during a gas-tax moratorium."

• Gas Tax Cut Is No Holiday, The New York Times, Times Topics blog (May 3, 2008) by Len Burman and Eric Toder.
  

  "Refiners run near capacity every summer as families rack up miles on family vacations. That’s one reason why gas prices jump in the summer. If the gasoline tax cut translated into lower prices, we’d all want to drive more and burn more gas. Since the refiners can’t produce much more without building new refineries, especially in the very near term, the price has to go back up."

• Alternative minimum tax needs an alternative solution, critics say, Abilene Reporter-News (May 2, 2008) by Trish Choate.
  

  "But its reach could balloon from 20,000 filers in 1970 to an estimated 39 million -- roughly one-third of taxpayers -- in 2017, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• Dumbing down U.S. energy policy, MinnPost (May 2, 2008) by Steve Berg.
  

  "Because, as Leonard Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, explained on PBS, refineries in summer are already running at full capacity. They can't make more gasoline than they're already making, and the market can't respond fast enough to supply more imports. Even if prices declined initially, they would shoot back up as driving increased and stations began to run short."

• ALL BUSINESS: Don't count on gas tax cut lowering prices, Associated Press (May 2, 2008) by Rachel Beck.
  

  "Meanwhile, the oil and gas companies — which already have been tallying massive profits thanks to higher gas prices — could see another boon to their bottom line if prices rise and they don't have to deduct any tax from their prices, notes Len Burman, director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center."

• Presidential Candidates Debate Gas Tax Holiday, Bloomberg News (May 2, 2008) by Alison Fitzgerald.
  

  "“That's $10 billion, and it's going into the pockets of oil refiners,” said Leonard Burman of the Tax Policy Center in Washington. “The last time I checked, they didn't need it.”

• Will Voters Accept Obama's Gas Plea?, The Wall Street Journal (May 2, 2008) by Nick Timiraos. (subscription required)
  

  "A range of economists, including Gregory Mankiw, who was chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, and Leonard Burman, who directs the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, have criticized the proposal because it would save drivers little while encouraging gasoline consumption and depleting the federal Highway Trust Fund. Sen. Obama opposes the holiday for the same reasons."

• Presidential Candidates Debate Gas Tax Holiday, WCAV-TV (May 1, 2008) by David R. Francis.
  

  "The problem is, this proposal just won't work," said Len Burman of the Tax Policy Center."

• Gasoline-tax reprieve: an idea running on empty, The Christian Science Monitor (May 1, 2008) by David R. Francis.
  

  "The small cartoon on the Tax Policy Center's website shows a man's head with a gaping hole through it and the words "Stupid Tax Trick." The words refer to the proposal by Republican Sen. John McCain to suspend the 18.4 cents per gallon federal excise tax on gasoline between Memorial Day and Labor Day."

• Bruno urges suspension of state's gas tax for the summer, The Buffalo News (May 1, 2008) by Tom Precious.
  

  "One of those critics of a federal tax cut said the same argument could not necessarily be made if New York lowers its gas tax because the supply of fuel into the state — unlike the nation — is not fixed. Eric Toder, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said a state tax cut “should have the effect of bringing prices down in New York."

• In Our View: Campaign nonsense, The Columbian (May 1, 2008) by Alec MacGillis and Steven Mufson.
  

  "On this issue, Obama has plenty of company, including Eric Toder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C., who told the Reuters news agency, “You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut” as oil companies, already raking in huge profits, would simply raise their prices."

• Clinton Gas-Tax Proposal Criticized, Washington Post (May 1, 2008) by Alec MacGillis and Steven Mufson.
  

  "Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, said the laws of the market argue against a tax suspension. "Every summer, the refiners are running full out. If the price fell, people would want to drive more and there would be shortages," he said. "It's a basic economic principle that if the supply is fixed, the price is going to be determined by demand."

April

• Gas Tax Holiday Plan Provides Fodder for Campaigns, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (April 30, 2008).
  

  "The issue here, though, is if we eliminated the gas tax it wouldn't translate into an immediate reduction in the price, because refiners are running at full capacity. They can't produce more. If the price went down, there would be shortages."

• Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea, Reuters (April 30, 2008) by Alister Bull.
  

  "You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington."

• Gas-Tax Holiday = Cheap Votes, Wired, Autopia blog (April 30, 2008) by Chuck Squatriglia.
  

  "There's a good chance you'll never see that 30 bucks because oil companies are "just going to push up the price of the gas by almost the size of the tax cut," Eric Toder of the non-partisan Urban Institute told Reuters."

• Analyzing Proposed Gas Tax Holiday, NPR, All Things Considered (April 30, 2008).
  

  "Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan think tank, talks with Melissa Block."

• Gas-Tax Holiday Wouldn't Lower Prices at the Pump, CNBC (April 30, 2008) by Kenneth Stier.
  

  "Unless the goal is to temporarily boost profits for petroleum refineries and foreign producers, the proposal makes no sense,” says Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center."

• Can drivers expect any relief?, The News & Observer (April 30, 2008) by Kevin G. Hall.
  

  "And to the degree it drives gasoline prices down, Americans would drive more, which would reduce supplies and push up prices, said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, which is run jointly by the liberal Brookings Institution and centrist Urban Institute."

• Candidates' gas-tax plans sputter, economists say, MarketWatch (April 29, 2008) by Robert Schroeder.
  

  "Since the refiners can't produce much more without building new refineries, the price has to go back up," wrote Len Burman and Eric Toder on TaxVox, the blog of the Tax Policy Center. (Their post is titled "What Were They Thinking???") "Unless the plan's aim is to boost short-term profits for petroleum refineries, the proposal makes no sense."

• Bay Area home to the state's elite - 8 counties place in wealthiest dozen, San Francisco Chronicle (April 29, 2008) by Kathleen Pender.
  

  "And you're probably better off in California than a lot of other states, says Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center."

• Adding Up the Benefit Of Pennies at the Pump, Washington Post (April 29, 2008).
  

  "It's basic economics," said Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan thinktank. "Gas is always in very short supply during the summer, which is why prices go up. In order to reduce the price, you would have to increase supply, but that is difficult over the short term, because the refineries cannot add capacity."

• Gas Tax Holiday: A Good Political Issue, But Not Such a Great Idea, Time, Swampland blog (April 29, 2008) by Karen Tumulty.
  

  "It's basic economics," said Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan thinktank. "Gas is always in very short supply during the summer, which is why prices go up. In order to reduce the price, you would have to increase supply, but that is difficult over the short term, because the refineries cannot add capacity."

• Candidates' Health-Care Ideas May Not Offer Immediate Cure , Wall Street Journal (April 28, 2008) by Laura Meckler. (subscription required)
  

  "Everybody is talking about the same kinds of things, but they are very difficult to do," said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "If we started on a campaign right now, you'd be lucky to see the product of that in seven to 10 years, if everything was meshing right."

• Obama-Clinton Battle Will Haunt Party's Nominee, Bloomberg News (April 28, 2008) by Kevin Hassett.
  

  "Clinton wants a universal mandate. Obama only wants to require coverage for kids. However, according to the Urban Institute's Eugene Steuerle, ``the practical differences between what Clinton and Obama would implement may be more apparent than real.'' Even the candidates themselves admit their plans are largely the same."

• Bush Made Permanent, New York Times (April 28, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  

  "According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the overall effect of the McCain tax plan would be to reduce federal revenue by more than $5 trillion over 10 years. That’s a lot of revenue loss — enough to pose big problems for the government’s solvency."

• Candidates' plans would increase deficit, United Press International (April 27, 2008).
  

  "The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington found his tax and budget plans, if enacted as proposed, would add at least $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years."

• 3 Candidates With 3 Financial Plans, but One Deficit, The New York Times (April 27, 2008) by Larry Rohter and Michael Cooper.
  

  "Mr. McCain’s plan would appear to result in the biggest jump in the deficit, independent analyses based on Congressional Budget Office figures suggest. A calculation done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington found that his tax and budget plans, if enacted as proposed, would add at least $5.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade."

• McCain the destroyer, The New York Times, The Conscience of a Liberal blog (April 26, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  

  "Burman makes the point that McCain’s tax proposals are extremely expensive, and highly irresponsible unless McCain plans to more or less eviscerate government as we know it. Basically, McCain proposes to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, plus repeal the alternative minimum tax, plus sharply cut corporate taxes — with a total cost of 3.2 percent of GDP, which is equal to total domestic discretionary spending."

• McCain economic plan: tax cuts, program cuts, Asbury Park Press (April 21, 2008).
  

  "That is, massive tax cuts, estimated by the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute to bleed as much as $7.9 trillion out of federal accounts through 2018. These would be coupled with unspecified federal budget cuts. "It's a mind-boggling number," Len Burman, who analyzed the McCain plan for the center, said."

• Supple-Side Economics, Washington Post (April 23, 2008) by Ruth Marcus.
  

  "Regrettably, McCain 2008 has junked "shared sacrifice" in favor of tax cuts that the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says would total $553 billion in 2012. Of that, $179 billion comes from extending the Bush cuts he once opposed and more than twice that amount -- $374 billion -- from McCain's new ones."

• Editorial: Election Year Folly, Washington Post (April 21, 2008).
  

  "Mr. McCain's tax cuts would cost more than $300 billion a year in 2012, according to estimates from the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center."

• Candidates' Plans For Economy Split Down Classic Party Lines , Investor's Business Daily (April 18, 2008) by Jed Graham.
  

  "Howard Glickman, senior research associate at the left-leaning Urban Institute, wrote, "It is neither politically nor economically sensible to think you can solve all of the nation's fiscal problems or pay for all your campaign promises on the backs of 3% of households."

• McCain's gas-tax plan is on empty, Marketplace (April 18, 2008).
  

  "Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain wants to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer travel season. Truckers say they like the idea. But commentator and tax expert Len Burman says McCain's proposal won't get us where he wants to go."

• Our Opinion: McCain runs on empty with gas tax-holiday plan, Tucson Citizen (April 18, 2008).
  

  "Leonard E. Burman of the nonpartisan Urban Institute told the Los Angeles Times that the proposal is "a huge windfall for refiners" and not for consumers."

• McCain Plans for $3.3 Trillion Tax Cut, Balanced Budget at Odds, Bloomberg News (April 18, 2008) by Ryan J. Donmoyer and Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "Two Washington research groups said McCain's plan would cost more. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimated his tax cuts would total $5 trillion over a two-term presidency. The Tax Policy Center, run jointly by the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute, said they would cost at least $5.7 trillion."

• Testing your tax smarts, MarketWatch.com (April 17, 2008) by Eva Rosenberg.
  

  "Useful Resources...Tax Policy Center's tax facts page."

• How Will McCain Handle 'Are You Better Off' Issue?, Real Clear Politics.com (April 17, 2008) by Mort Kondracke.
  

  "According to the Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, two-thirds of Bush's tax cuts went to those in the top 20 percent of income and left those making less than $100,000 a year paying more of the total burden of federal taxes than any other income group."

• Secondary Sources: Imperial Fed, Behavioral Economics, Gas Tax, The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (April 17, 2008).
  

  "Len Burman and Eric Toder write on the Tax Policy Institute’s TaxVox blog that there are nothing but problems in Sen. John McCain’s proposal to temporarily suspend the gas tax over the summer. “Refiners run near capacity every summer as families rack up miles on family vacations. That’s one reason why gas prices jump in the summer. If McCain’s excise tax cut translated into lower prices, we’d all want to drive more, which would push up the demand for gasoline."

• McCain offers vision on taxes, spending, The Palm Beach Post (April 16, 2008).
  

  "And his proposed "middle-class tax cut" - a full repeal of the alternative minimum tax - stretched the definition of middle class. Of the 4 million taxpayers now paying the AMT, 93 percent earn between $200,000 and $1 million, according to the Tax Policy Center."

• McCain says middle class aid is needed, Boston Globe (April 16, 2008) by Brian C. Mooney.
  

  "Leonard Burman, director of the Brookings-Urban Tax Policy Center, said it would have little effect and "as a matter of fiscal stimulus, it makes no sense at all. . . . In the campaign season, there is an irresistible pressure on candidates to promise giveaways."

• McCain says middle class aid is needed, The Arizona Republic (April 16, 2008) by Kevin G. Hall and Matt Stearns.
  

  "The true cost would be $180 billion a year, according to the Tax Policy Center, run jointly by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, both center-left research centers in Washington."

• McCain's Plan for Working Class Offers Plenty for Corporate World, Washington Post (April 16, 2008) by Michael D. Shear and Jonathan Weisman.
  

  "And McCain's proposed "middle-class tax cut" -- a full repeal of the alternative minimum tax -- stretched the definition of middle class. Of the 4 million taxpayers paying the AMT, 93 percent earn between $200,000 and $1 million, according to the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• McCain economic plan offers goodies to middle class, The Kansas City Star (April 15, 2008) by Matt Stearns.
  

  "I think we're hearing a lot of promises that may not be viable when the rubber hits the road," said Rudy Penner, a senior fellow at the centrist Urban Institute, a policy research group."

• McCain economic plan would suspend gas tax, CNNMoney.com (April 15, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "In its preliminary analysis of the Thompson plan, the Tax Policy Center found every income class would pay less in tax, but those making between $100,000 and $500,000 would see the biggest drop in their average federal tax rate."

• Editorial: Taxes: Getting off cheaply, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (April 15, 2008).
  

  "While the income tax is progressive, the payroll tax is the opposite. It hits hardest at the poor and middle classes. The poorest fifth of working Americans pay 7.3 percent of their wages in payroll taxes, while the best-paid 1 percent of Americans pay just 2 percent in payroll taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. That's mainly because the payroll tax for Social Security stops after income hits $102,000."

• Taxing State of Affairs, Chicago Tribune, The Swamp blog (April 15, 2008) by Andrew Zajac.
  

  "But the U.S. actually has one of the lower tax burdens among developed nations, according to a 2006 report by the non-partisan Urban Institute."

• How to Solve Tax Puzzlers, MSNBC Cosmic Log blog (April 15, 2008) by Alan Boyle.
  

  "The idea of simplifying the tax system is tremendously appealing," Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center and a fellow at The Urban Institute, told me on Monday. "The biggest problem is that politicians in both parties have increasingly seen the tax system as a way of giving away goodies to different constituencies."

• Starting Over From Scratch, CQ Weekly (April 14, 2008) by Clea Benson and Richard Rubin.
  

  "Most economists believe that saving creates more capital, which can create greater standards of living in the future,” said Ben Harris of the Brookings Institution. “It’s the best way to ensure that the longrun standard of living in the United States remains high."

• Capital Gains Tax Deabte, CNBC (April 11, 2008).
• County foreclosure rate behind national, Gainesville Daily Register (April 11, 2008) by Andy Hogue.
  

  "Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, said such a plan may encourage banks to repossess properties more quickly."

• Mortgage rates decline a bit, Bankrate.com (April 10, 2008) by Chris Kissell.
  

  "Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and co-director of the Tax Policy Center, also questions the wisdom of the proposed tax credits. "I don't feel that using tax credits to artificially move prices around in short times is terribly good policy," he says."

• Critics Blast Senate Housing Bill, Associated Press (April 7, 2008) by Andrew Taylor.
  

  "A bank that owns a foreclosed house will get a big selling-price advantage over the single mom who lives next door and has been faithfully paying off her loan," says Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• Deficit Hawks Try, Try Again, The Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2008) by David Wessel. (subscription required)
  

  "There was Alice Rivlin, founding mother of the Congressional Budget Office and a former Clinton White House budget director; Bob Reischauer, one of her successors at CBO; and Bel Sawhill, a Clinton budget-office official."

• An Unfamiliar (Economic) Game, The American Prospect (April 3, 2008) by Howard Gleckman.
  

  "When a young Jack Nicklaus won the 1965 Master's Tournament, golf legend Bobby Jones said Nicklaus was "playing a game with which I am not familiar." I have the same feeling about today's financial markets."

March

• Blog Watch, The Wall Street Journal (March 31, 2008) by Becky Bright. (subscription required)
  

  "This blog of the Tax Policy Center -- a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution -- provides commentary on federal, state and local legislation and on tax issues affecting individuals and businesses."

• Deficit Widens on Falling Tax Receipts, The Wall Street Journal (March 29, 2008) by John D. McKinnon. (subscription required)
• What Taxpayers Gain, Washington Post (March 28, 2008).
• As Candidates Warm to Bush Tax Cuts, Economists Warn of Long-Term Effect, Washington Post (March 28, 2008) by Lori Montgomery.
  

  "But that is not technically true. The middle-class tax cuts also reduce revenue -- by about $800 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution."

• How to pay zero taxes, Money Magazine (March 27, 2008) by Marlys Harris.
  

  "Those principles still hold today. "Our tax system still is progressive," says Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C. In 2005 the 10% of taxpayers with the highest incomes provided 70% of income-tax revenue, which cost them on average 25% of their income, more than any other group, according to the IRS."

• Thanks for paying with us!, San Antonio Current (March 26, 2008) by Elaine Wolff.
  

  "A 2006 study commissioned by Enterprise from independent researchers from the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution found that a car-rental tax in Kansas City, Missouri, caused consumers to seek out less-expensive rental options and to rent cars for fewer total days, resulting in an overall loss in state sales-tax revenue."

• Thanks for paying with us!, San Antonio Current (March 26, 2008) by Elaine Wolff.
  

  "A 2006 study commissioned by Enterprise from independent researchers from the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution found that a car-rental tax in Kansas City, Missouri, caused consumers to seek out less-expensive rental options and to rent cars for fewer total days, resulting in an overall loss in state sales-tax revenue."

• Candidates diverge on health care plans, USA Today (March 26, 2008) by Julie Appleby.
  

  "Len Burman, director of the centrist Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says McCain's plan would improve the current system because it offers low-income residents a refundable tax credit to buy insurance. He also says that tax credits could likely lead some employers to drop health coverage."

• Making Tax Day Less Painful, Washington Times (March 26, 2008) by Andrew L. Yarrow.
  

  "We could eliminate most forms for most taxpayers; go to return-free filing, putting the onus on the government, as Grover Norquist has suggested; and/or adopt a Simplified Income Tax proposed by the Urban Institute's Leonard Burman, with a single family credit, a refundable work credit, a 15 percent mortgage credit, no state or local tax deduction and a built-in 401(k)."

• Going to Extremes to Avoid the AMT, SmartMoney.com (March 20, 2008) by Aleksandra Todorova.
  

  "Only 20,000 taxpayers were subject to the AMT in 1970, according to research by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan group. In 2007, it hit 3.5 million. Half of those taxpayers earned between $200,000 and $500,000 and another 5% earned less than $200,000. By 2010, the group says, the AMT will reach more than 80% of filers earning between $100,000 and $200,000 and half of those earning between $75,000 and $100,000."

• Feeling Risky? Take a Look at These Daredevil Tax Deductions, FoxBusiness.com (March 20, 2008) by Kathryn Glass.
  

  "According to a February 2007 report by Washington, D.C., think tank the Urban Institute, more and more people are itemizing deductions on their tax returns--some with stunning creativity. Indeed, between 1995 and 2004, the percentage of taxpayers that claimed specific expenses as deductions increased from 29% to 35%."

• What will you do with a rebate?, Laramie Boomerang (March 17, 2008) by Aaron LeClair.
  

  "The Tax Policy Center estimates that 10 percent of Americans won’t receive an economic stimulus payment. They include people who receive most of their income from federal or state funds or those who do not make $3,000 annually."

• Numerous bond, levy requests on the way, The Missoulian (March 17, 2008) by Keila Szpaller.
  

  "The federal deficit is at an all-time high. At the same time, federal discretionary spending is getting tighter and tighter, said Kim Rueben, public finance economist for the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research center."

• How to Keep the IRS From Knocking on Your Door, FoxBusiness.com (March 14, 2008) by Kathryn Glass.
  

  "The IRS has a formula, and it’s a secret formula,” said Eric Toder, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. “They have developed statistical associations between noncompliance and the kinds of things you put on your tax returns."

• U.S. economists see long-term ills from Iraq war, Reuters (March 13, 2008) by Richard Cowan.
  

  "Robert Reischauer, head of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said the benefits of war spending for the U.S. economy had been "muted" because so much of the money is spent on goods and services abroad. That, he said, was "stimulating economies elsewhere, not the least being the economies of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia."

• Too Many Cooks, Nothing of Substance, Boca Raton News (March 13, 2008) by Jim Tait.
  

  "In a study published by the Urban Institute in April 2006, the growth rate of personal income and employment in Colorado was compared to the growth rates in other states in the periods before and after passage of TABOR. The study’s authors concluded, “although we find some very limited evidence for short-term increases to growth, these were not sustained in the longer term."

• Editorial: Estate Tax Planning, Washington Post (March 13, 2008).
  

  "The Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center estimates that estates valued at more than $10 million per individual would enjoy an average tax cut of $1.8 million."

• Getting Rid of the AMT: No Easy Task , FoxBuxiness.com (March 10, 2008) by Lauren Covello.
  

  "In the first place, the patch is only in place for one year and has to be revisited next year. So while less than 1% of taxpayers with incomes between $75,000 and $100,000 in 2007 will be hit by the AMT, that number could grow to 50% in 2010 if Congress fails to reapprove the patch, said Roberton Williams, a principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center."

• Getting Rid of the AMT: No Easy Task , FoxBuxiness.com (March 10, 2008) by Lauren Covello.
  

  "In the first place, the patch is only in place for one year and has to be revisited next year. So while less than 1% of taxpayers with incomes between $75,000 and $100,000 in 2007 will be hit by the AMT, that number could grow to 50% in 2010 if Congress fails to reapprove the patch, said Roberton Williams, a principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center."

• ANALYSIS-McCain budget numbers don't add up, experts say , Reuters (March 10, 2008) by Andy Sullivan.
  

  "These tax cuts would shrink annual federal revenues from $4.55 trillion today to $3.4 trillion in 2018, according to Len Burman of the Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center."

• Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore , Boston Globe (March 6, 2008) by Farah Stockman =.
  

  "American companies that evade payroll taxes face fines or other criminal penalties. The use of foreign subsidiaries to avoid payroll taxes, while allowed by the Defense Department, may still be subject to challenge by the Internal Revenue Service, according to Eric Toder, a former director of the office of research for the IRS."

• California city dodges bankruptcy bullet—for now , Government Procurement (March 6, 2008) by Michael Keating.
  

  "Kim Reuben, who is a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, told GovPro.com that more cities like Vallejo, “which has had large declines in home sales and prices, and increases in the number of foreclosures,” could face similar financial difficulties."

• Election 2008: The Pocketbook Issues; The next President could make big changes to the ways Americans invest and save for retirement , Business Week (March 4, 2008) by Ben Steverman.
  

  "One problem with Presidential campaigns is that they're mostly a time to talk about the "give-away side of the budget," says Eugene Steurele, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Tax cuts and new spending programs are popular topics in stump speeches. But Steurele, like other fiscal experts, warn that politicians must confront the U.S. government's shaky finances before it's too late."

• About Those Health Care Plans by the Democrats , New York Times (March 3, 2008) by Carolyn Bigda.
  

  "But Robert D. Reischauer, a health policy expert and president of the Urban Institute, said, “It will be difficult for Senator Clinton and Senator Obama to retain popular support for their plans once the details are specified."

• Seek alternatives to the AMT trap , Chicago Tribune (March 2, 2008) by Carolyn Bigda.
  

  "In fact, the candidates’ positions on the Bush tax cuts should leave many of us worried. On the Democratic side, both candidates want to eliminate the tax cuts on couples earning more than $250,000 per year. The Tax Policy Center determined that this would reduce revenue by $783 billion. On the Republican side, John McCain wishes to make the tax cuts permanent, but the Tax Policy Center reports that this could reduce federal revenue by $2 trillion over ten years."

• Opposition to taxes may be bad for Texas , Fort Worth Star-Telegram (March 2, 2008) by Mitchell Schnurman.
  

  "In Texas, 71 percent of families had adjusted gross income below $50,000 in 2005, compared with 68 percent in the United States, says Kim Rueben, a public-finance economist at the Urban Institute in Washington."

February

• It’s All About the Benjamins for Uncle Sam , The Cornell Daily Sun (February 28, 2008) by Lee Blum.
  

  "In fact, the candidates’ positions on the Bush tax cuts should leave many of us worried. On the Democratic side, both candidates want to eliminate the tax cuts on couples earning more than $250,000 per year. The Tax Policy Center determined that this would reduce revenue by $783 billion. On the Republican side, John McCain wishes to make the tax cuts permanent, but the Tax Policy Center reports that this could reduce federal revenue by $2 trillion over ten years."

• Builders battle Congress , San Francisco Chronicle (February 28, 2008) by Kathleen Pender.
  

  "Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, says he considers it "a terrible idea. The tax code is already heavily biased in favor of homeowners. Too much goes into homes and not enough into other productive investment."

• Obama's Plan Adds Up, Probably , The Wall Street Journal (February 28, 2008) by David Wessel. (subscription required)
  

  "Based on estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a number-crunching joint venture of two think tanks populated by Democrats, this yields better than $100 billion a year in round numbers. He also favors lifting the ceiling on wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax, but isn't specific; aides say that is meant as part of a Social Security fix so it isn't counted in this exercise.”

• Who gets the biggest mortgage-interest tax break? Wealthy homeowners , Boston Herald (February 27, 2008).
  

  "Moderate-income home owners in the 10 or 15 percent tax bracket don’t benefit much from a deduction, even if they do qualify, said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. But wealthier people at a higher tax rate do.”

• Secondary Sources: Wal-Mart, Trade, Medicare , The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics blog (February 27, 2008).
  

  "Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center looks at competing theories for the rising cost of Medicare: http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/.”

• The Role of the Refundable Tax Credit , Nightly Business Report (February 25, 2008).
  

  "LEONARD BURMAN, CO-DIRECTOR, TAX POLICY CENTER: People get the sense that other people are getting more goodies from the tax code than they are and they have the feeling that the tax system is unfair. And since our whole system is based on the notion of voluntary compliance, it is important for people to perceive it as being fair.”

• Editorial: Lip-Reading, Again , The Washington Post (February 25, 2008).
  

  "More troubling, however, is the substance of the new McCain position, which amounts to more than $4 trillion in lost revenue over the next decade; Len Burman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that by 2018 tax receipts would be at an unsustainable 16.6 percent of gross domestic product, down from 18.8 percent in 2007. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have proposed their own tax cuts, but they look modest in comparison to Mr. McCain's.”

• Promises would have a high price, The Charlotte Observer (February 24, 2008) by Kevin G. Hall and Margaret Talev.
  

  "If you were to repeal the AMT, it would just add to the deficit. It is a serious problem, and none of the candidates is talking about it very seriously," said Len Burman, the director of the Tax Policy Center, a policy research group run jointly by the centrist Urban Institute and the center-left Brookings Institution.”

• Costly Campaign Vows Face Reality Check , Associated Press (February 24, 2008) by Kevin G. Hall and Margaret Talev.
  

  "Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer, who directed the Congressional Budget Office during landmark budget debates of 1990 and 1993, says there's only so much any incoming president can hope to accomplish. Already, Reischauer says, the agenda includes bruising battles over renewing the Bush tax cuts, as well as reforming the AMT and preventing Medicare payments to doctors from being cut.”

• Issues: The Economy -- Clinton, Obama sound alike, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Politics Blog (February 22, 2008) by Elizabeth Auster.
  

  "The cost of Obama's tax cuts has raised eyebrows not only in Clinton's camp. Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center in Washington, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, says he is concerned that both candidates have promised too much at a time "when we know our fiscal situation is bad and getting worse." Burman said he is particularly worried by Obama's cuts because they are so much larger.”

• The 44th president's $4 trillion headache, CNNMoney.com (February 22, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi.
  

  "The leading candidates of both parties want to preserve the tax cuts to some extent. The Republicans want to extend all the cuts. According to the Tax Policy Center, that would reduce federal revenue by $2 trillion over 10 years.”

• Tax Delusions, New York Post (February 15, 2008) by Alan Reynolds.
  

  "Even the Tax Policy Center (a think tank famously friendly to tax hikes and Democrats) estimates that raising the top two tax rates might bring in a mere $32 billion in 2010. That's 6 percent of the likely deficit - not a license to start a dozen new programs.”

• Editorial: Numbers game, Bangor Daily News (February 13, 2008) by Jesse Drucker.
  

  "Not exactly, according to the Tax Policy Center. The median household would pay about $800 more in taxes in 2011 if the president’s tax cuts lapse. The wealthiest 1 percent of households would pay an average of $64,000 in additional taxes annually, according to the center.”

• A list of the unstimulated , The Politico, The Crypt blog (February 12, 2008).
  

  "The Tax Policy Center estimates that about 10 percent of Americans won’t be getting a rebate check this spring. With the aid of Chad Stone, the chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, we’ve identified some would-be economic stimulators who are in for some disappointing news.”

• Cost of Business Tax Cuts Underestimated, Wall Street Journal (February 11, 2008) by Jesse Drucker. (subscription required)
  

  "The analysis was reviewed by tax experts at the conservative American Enterprise Institute as well as the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the liberal Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.”

• There are no shortcuts with the alternative minimum tax, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (February 10, 2008) by Jerri Stroud.
  

  "Without the patch, the AMT would have raised $80 billion in taxes, said Roberton Williams, a principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center in Washington, a project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. With the patch, it will raise about $30 billion.”

• The Bag of Tricks Is Almost Empty, The New York Times (February 10, 2008) by Edmund L. Andrews.
  

  "I don’t see how you can possibly get by without raising taxes,” said Leonard Burman, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. “You would have to go back to the 1950s, before we had Medicare.”

• Bush Unveils Final Federal Budget Proposals; Endorses Revision Of Preparer Penalty Standard , CCH Federal Tax Weekly (February 7, 2008) by Steven R. Weisman . (Other appearances: Los Angeles Daily News, News & Observer)
  

  "It’s kicking the game down the road,” Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center, told CCH. No one thinks keeping the AMT is a good idea but the cost of repeal, estimated at more than $800 billion, has left Congress with no alternative than “patching” it every year. "

• Bush’s Final Budget Hints at Tough Choices Ahead , The New York Times (February 5, 2008) by Steven R. Weisman . (Other appearances: Los Angeles Daily News, News & Observer)
  

  "Republicans and Democrats are in complete denial on these issues,” said Robert D. Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “But were they to face up to the long-run fiscal challenges, it would be a ticket to defeat. It’s not what voters want to hear."

• Universal pension scheme explored , GlobalPensions.com (February 5, 2008) by Keren Holland.
  

  "A universal pension scheme has been suggested to address problems in the US retirement system, as part of a discussion paper published by economic and social policy research body Urban Institute. The paper – Tax Considerations in a Universal Pensions System (UPS) – said the present retirement system threatened to fall short in providing the aged with security."

• 4 candidates, your paycheck , CNNMoney.com (February 5, 2008) by Jeanne Sahadi .
  

  "No one has really staked out a credible claim at fiscal responsibility," said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center. "They'd just devote deficits to different purposes."

• Bad deal budget for NJ and nation , NJVoices blog (February 4, 2008) by Jon Shure.
  

  "As a study by Brookings Institution economist William Gale and then-Brookings economist (now CBO director) Peter Orszag concluded, making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent without offsetting their cost would be "likely to reduce, not increase, national income over the long run."

• Are you rich or middle class? , Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (February 2, 2008) by Avrum D. Lank.
  

  "That was the year Congress was told that about 155 rich Americans had used loopholes to avoid paying any income taxes in 1966, according to a history of the alternative minimum tax compiled by the Tax Policy Center in Washington."

January

• Subprime Lenders Get Tax Breaks in U.S. Senate Stimulus Plan , Bloomberg News (January 31, 2008) by Ryan J. Donmoyer.
  

  "Some tax experts, such as New York University Professor Daniel Shaviro and Urban Institute scholar Eric Toder, a former Treasury Department official, said they don’t see how a five- year-loss carryback will boost the economy. “I’m skeptical,” Shaviro said."

• Burr calls for sales tax holiday , The News & Observer (January 30, 2008) by Barbara Barrett.
  

  "Roberton Williams of the non-partisan Tax Policy Center said such a short holiday wouldn't offer much to the economy -- especially if shoppers merely decide to buy their shoes one week instead of another. "This is saying we're going to knock 5 percent off the sales price," Williams said. "Well, I can find a sale better than that any day at Macy's."

• FOR THE RECORD: ECONOMY , Washington Post (January 29, 2008) by Steve Mufson and Jonathan Weisman.
  

  "Here's another way of looking at it: the median American household will pay roughly $828 more in taxes in 2011 if the Bush tax cuts expire, according to the Tax Policy Center, a non-ideological think tank venture. The richest 1 percent of American households, in contrast, would have to pay an extra $64,154 a year when the tax cuts expire. ''

• Economy, tax cuts seize center stage , Toledo Blade (January 27, 2008) by Tom Troy.
  

  "Ben Harris, a senior research associate with the Brookings Institution and the Tax Policy Center in Washington, said many voters see themselves, unrealistically, as among the rich. "I don't think that Americans have a particularly good grasp of who benefits from these tax cuts, and I think a lot of people think they're the primary beneficiaries and they're not," Mr. Harris said. The Tax Policy Institute says the tax cuts have disproportionately benefited wealthier people. ''

• Study: Millions of seniors won't qualify for tax rebates , The Star-Ledger (January 26, 2008) by Robert Cohen.
  

  "A study by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution has found that 18.1 million of the 31.2 million households headed by someone 65 years or older will not receive a tax rebate under the stimulus plan negotiated by President Bush and Congressional leaders. ''

• Who gets stimulated? , New York Times, The Conscience of a Liberal blog (January 25, 2008) by Paul Krugman.
  

  "Fast work by the people at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, who figure out who gets what from tax plans. They now have distribution tables for the stimulus proposal announced yesterday, and they more or less match my expectations.''

• Stimulus package gets mixed reviews , St. Louis Post-Dispatch (January 25, 2008) by Tim Logan.
  

  "The fact that the federal government is doing something, between this and (Tuesday's) 0.75 point interest rate cut, it gives a psychological boost to the economy," said Roberton Williams, a principal research associate with the Tax Policy Center in Washington. But, Williams noted, $150 billion in a $13 trillion economy "is not a big chunk of change."

• Speedy Deal on Stimulus Plan May Not Yield Short-Term Help, Washington Post (January 25, 2008) by Steven Mufson and Neil Irwin.
  

  "This is pumping a lot of money into the pockets of people who are likely to spend it and spend it quickly," said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute.''

• Tax rebates deal announced, Associated Press (January 24, 2008) by Andrew Taylor.
  

  "Bush has supported larger rebates of $800-$1,600, but his plan would have left out 30 million working households who earn paychecks but don't make enough to pay income tax, according to calculations by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center. An additional 19 million households would receive only partial rebates under Bush's initial proposal.''

• Bernanke's Surprise, Slate (January 23, 2008) by Daniel Politi.
  

  "While everyone is talking about rebates and tax cuts, Len Burman writes in the NYT op-ed page that nothing would stimulate the economy in the long-term as much as a repeal of the Bush tax cuts.''

• Make the Tax Cuts Work, New York Times (January 23, 2008) by Len Burman.
  

  "SINCE 2001, Washington’s answer to every policy question has been the same. What should we do with a big surplus? Tax cuts. How do we beat back global terrorism? Tax cuts. Increase energy independence? Rebuild New Orleans? Expand health insurance coverage? Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts.''

• The Economy Just Keeps Going “Bump!”, TPM Cafe (January 22, 2008) by Jared Bernstein.
  

  "As EPI will feature in a snapshot later this week, preliminary research by the Brooking-Urban Institute Tax Policy Center shows that over 70% of the Bush tax rebate goes to the top 40% (average income: $134,000) and less than 10% reaches the bottom 40% (average income: $14,300).''

• Proposed Surtax Would Be Worse than Existing Alternative Minimum Tax, The Heartland Institute-Budget & Tax News (January 20, 2008) by Michael Schuyler.
  

  "Burman and Leiserson write, "The proposed add-on tax would be extremely simple: subtract the threshold ($100,000 or $200,000) from AGI and multiply the difference (if any) by 4 percent. Add that to income tax."

• Many physicians will still be hit by AMT, American Medical News (January 20, 2008) by Dave Hansen.
  

  "The average extra tax imposed in 2006 was $6,782, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institute.''

• Bush Nears Plan That Economists Say May Boost Growth (Update3) , Bloomberg News (January 18, 2008) by Matthew Benjamin.
  

  "It's getting money to people who are likely to spend it,'' Leonard Burman, director of the Washington-based Tax Policy Center, said of the Bush plan. "It might do a little good for the economy.''

• Rental car tax has opponents, too, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (January 17, 2008) by Justin Vellucci.
  

  "Some taxes are matched to their purposes. Gasoline taxes, for example, are often dedicated to maintaining and constructing roads and bridges," wrote Brookings Institution Deputy Director William G. Gale and Kim Rueben, an Urban Institute senior research associate, in a 2006 report for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. "But one of the most remarkable aspects of car rental taxes is the wide variety of projects they finance around the country that are not in any way related to the act of renting a car."

• Revenue base will be increased , The Times-Union (January 15, 2008).
  

  "Those who oppose the Fair Tax plan routinely use the paper written by William Gale for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. ''

• Pensions for everyone, Press-Telegram (January 11, 2008) by Jon Forman.
  

  "In a new discussion paper for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Adam Carasso of the New America Foundation and I estimate that these 3-percent-of payroll accounts would provide 13.8 percent of final wages at retirement for the every worker."

• Bush Stimulus May Have Only Modest Effect , Real Time Economics (Wall Street Journal blog) (January 13, 2008).
  

  "In principle, a well-timed and carefully designed economic stimulus package can help avert or minimize a recession. In practice, timing a fiscal stimulus is nearly impossible since forecasters usually “predict” economic turning points only long after they have occurred. "

• Rudy Giuliani Proposes `Biggest Tax Cut' in U.S. History, Bloomberg News (January 10, 2008) by Christopher Stern and Alison Fitzgerald.
  

  "Giuliani also proposes eliminating the estate tax altogether, a longtime goal of Republicans. The estate tax raised $29 billion in 1999, according to the Tax Policy Center, a research group in Washington. "

• Taxpayer Advocate Thinks the IRS Owes Apologies and $1,000, Washington Post (January 10, 2008) by Nancy Trejos .
  

  "It sounds like something where they could assuage people who know enough to go to the taxpayer advocate and complain very loudly, but there are potentially a lot of people who are damaged by things that happen at the IRS," said Len Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. "

• Tax-Free Options for the Future, Business Week (January 8, 2008) by Lisa Sanders.
  

  "To offset the loss of revenue, Rangel has proposed raising taxes in other areas, which would primarily affect those with household incomes above $500,000, according to the Tax Policy Center. "

• Huckabee tax plan would be a disaster, Marketplace (January 8, 2008).
  

  "LEN BURMAN: Mike Hucakebee is right that our tax system badly needs reform. But his proposed plan, the FairTax, would be a disaster."

• Whatever You Call It, It's a Mother; Expect big tax changes in 2009. Not all of them will thrill you, Kiplinger's Personal Finance (January 2008) by Kevin McCormally.
  

  "According to an analysis prepared for the Tax Policy Center, a respected think tank, the top 1% of earners would bear the brunt of Rangel's plan. Pretty much everyone else would enjoy a tax cut or see little or no difference in their federal income-tax bill."

• Editorial: Obama Emerges, The New York Sun (January 7, 2008).
  

  "It would reduce the corporate income tax to 30.5% from the current 35% and give the largest tax cuts — an average of $3,582 for each filer, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute — to households earning between $200,000 and $500,000 a year."

• Mike Huckabee wants to abolish the IRS, Salon.com (January 7, 2008) by Brad DeLong.
  

  "William Gale of th e liberal Brookings Institution think tank says it's a de facto 44 percent sales tax. Calculations go still higher once you add in all the necessary and politically inevitable exemptions on big-ticket items -- like a new home or hospital care."

• Huckabee’s Tax Plan Appeals, but Is It Fair?, New York Times (January 6, 2008) by Tom Redburn.
  

  "But even though critics acknowledge that there would be some economic benefits from introducing a broad-based consumption tax, Mr. Gale of the Brookings Institution said that the proposal itself was “fundamentally a ruse.” “The notion that there is a 23 percent rate that solves all our problems,” he said, “is politically unrealistic and mathematically impossible."

• Congress' tax changes likely to benefit filers, but will slow returns, The Oklahoman (January 6, 2008) by Paula Burkes Erickson.
  

  "According to the Tax Policy Center, it would cost $85 billion to abolish the AMT, compared with $74 billion to repeal the regular income-tax structure."

• Presidential Candidates Shrink From Budget Issue, The Wall Street Journal (January 2, 2008) by Jackie Calmes. (subscription required)
  

  "Whoever is elected, Mr. Steuerle says, "still must either retract many of the promises made to the middle class, increase its taxes, or both. Right now, the leaders of both political parties consider it political suicide to lead the way."