The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the unified deficit in fiscal year 2007 will be $198 billion.1 This amounts to 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Project (GDP), which is less than the average over the last forty years. This may lull some into a false sense of complacency. It...
President Bush's new health care proposal ignores the most important problems in the current health care system: a lack of guaranteed affordable, accessible, and adequate insurance coverage for those with modest incomes or with high health needs. The proposal's focus on limiting the tax...
In testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, senior fellow C. Eugene Steuerle explained how, in recent decades, the government has wound a straightjacket around federal spending and tax subsidies. The main culprits have been in the broad areas of retirement, health, and taxation. Left...
The recent fiscal situation and the intermediate-term budget outlook may appear relatively benign, Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer told the Senate Budget Committee, but deficits and debt will gradually grow to unprecedented and unsustainable levels if current tax and spending...
With rapid increases in entitlement spending just over the horizon, now is the time to get deficits down and national saving up, senior fellow Edward Gramlich told the House Budget Committee.
The paper describes the basic features of the President's plan and evaluates the extent to which it would meet its stated goals of expanding health insurance coverage and restraining healthcare spending. The basic approach would improve the market for health insurance, but inadequate attention...
The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed from those original goals and under current law the tax will affect over 23 million...
In this commentary for public radio's Marketplace program, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explains why automatically adjusting the minimum wage for inflation benefits more than just low-wage workers.
Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child...
In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.
Options To Close the Long-run Fiscal Gap
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the unified deficit in fiscal year 2007 will be $198 billion.1 This amounts to 1.5 percent of Gross Domestic Project (GDP), which is less than the average over the last forty years. This may lull some into a false sense of complacency. It...
The President's Health Care Proposal Misses the Point
President Bush's new health care proposal ignores the most important problems in the current health care system: a lack of guaranteed affordable, accessible, and adequate insurance coverage for those with modest incomes or with high health needs. The proposal's focus on limiting the tax...
Defining Our Long-Term Fiscal Challenges (Steuerle)
In testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, senior fellow C. Eugene Steuerle explained how, in recent decades, the government has wound a straightjacket around federal spending and tax subsidies. The main culprits have been in the broad areas of retirement, health, and taxation. Left...
Defining Our Long-Term Fiscal Challenges (Reischauer)
The recent fiscal situation and the intermediate-term budget outlook may appear relatively benign, Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer told the Senate Budget Committee, but deficits and debt will gradually grow to unprecedented and unsustainable levels if current tax and spending...
Why Deficits Matter
With rapid increases in entitlement spending just over the horizon, now is the time to get deficits down and national saving up, senior fellow Edward Gramlich told the House Budget Committee.
The President's Health Insurance Proposal - A First Look
The paper describes the basic features of the President's plan and evaluates the extent to which it would meet its stated goals of expanding health insurance coverage and restraining healthcare spending. The basic approach would improve the market for health insurance, but inadequate attention...
Options to Fix the AMT
The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed from those original goals and under current law the tax will affect over 23 million...
It's All About How You Raise Minimum Wage
In this commentary for public radio's Marketplace program, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explains why automatically adjusting the minimum wage for inflation benefits more than just low-wage workers.
Tax Credits, the Minimum Wage, and Inflation
Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child...
Doing Nothing's a Good Thing
In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.