In this commentary, Len Burman offers a radical proposal: use the tax system to bring in tax revenues and spending programs to provide the social safety net.
The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 will extend the low tax rates on capital gains and dividends through 2010, grant temporary relief from the individual alternative minimum tax through 2006, and extend several expiring business tax breaks. To prevent Senators from raising...
The United States raises less tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2003, taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP,...
Citizens pay an overall marriage penalty when their combined social welfare benefits less taxes are lower when they are a married couple than when they are two single individuals. Because marriage is optional, marriage penalties or subsidies are assessed primarily for taking wedding vows, not...
Using dynamic scoring to weigh the effects of tax and spending proposals poses a high risk that ideological biases will pollute the analysis, senior fellow Rudolph Penner warns in a Ripon Forum commentary. The former director of the Congressional Budget Office also points out that...
Anyone familiar with tax and expenditure legislation knows full well that interest groups constantly win special favors from federal and state legislators. For a long time I have struggled with how to make better use of the principle of equal justice to restrain or eliminate bad policy. Here are...
Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic...
Work may be a four-letter word to some citizens in slow-growing Western European economies, but Americans know better. Senior fellow Eugene Steuerle explains why our work habits are suddenly so important.
School districts in 37 states are "independent" and able to generate their own revenues, usually by setting property tax rates. Some school districts in other states are dependent on cities, towns or counties for funding authority. In addition, school districts have increasingly been dependent...
In recent decades, economists have acquired great weight in debates over incentives. When it comes to examining the effect of policy incentives on behavior, the theory is relatively straightforward. However, many factors, especially non-financial, have been ignored for sometimes very legitimate...
Tax and Spend
In this commentary, Len Burman offers a radical proposal: use the tax system to bring in tax revenues and spending programs to provide the social safety net.
Roth Conversions as Revenue Raisers: Smoke and Mirrors
The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 will extend the low tax rates on capital gains and dividends through 2010, grant temporary relief from the individual alternative minimum tax through 2006, and extend several expiring business tax breaks. To prevent Senators from raising...
The U.S. Tax Burden Is Low Relative to Other OECD Countries
The United States raises less tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2003, taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP,...
The Widespread Prevalence of Marriage Penalties
Citizens pay an overall marriage penalty when their combined social welfare benefits less taxes are lower when they are a married couple than when they are two single individuals. Because marriage is optional, marriage penalties or subsidies are assessed primarily for taking wedding vows, not...
Dynamic Scoring: Not so Fast!
Using dynamic scoring to weigh the effects of tax and spending proposals poses a high risk that ideological biases will pollute the analysis, senior fellow Rudolph Penner warns in a Ripon Forum commentary. The former director of the Congressional Budget Office also points out that...
Reform and Equal Justice
Anyone familiar with tax and expenditure legislation knows full well that interest groups constantly win special favors from federal and state legislators. For a long time I have struggled with how to make better use of the principle of equal justice to restrain or eliminate bad policy. Here are...
New Estimates of the Budget Outlook
Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic...
Working to Fix our Fiscal Woes
Work may be a four-letter word to some citizens in slow-growing Western European economies, but Americans know better. Senior fellow Eugene Steuerle explains why our work habits are suddenly so important.
Education Spending and Changing Revenue Sources
School districts in 37 states are "independent" and able to generate their own revenues, usually by setting property tax rates. Some school districts in other states are dependent on cities, towns or counties for funding authority. In addition, school districts have increasingly been dependent...
Do Incentives Affect Behavior? Would an Economist Know?
In recent decades, economists have acquired great weight in debates over incentives. When it comes to examining the effect of policy incentives on behavior, the theory is relatively straightforward. However, many factors, especially non-financial, have been ignored for sometimes very legitimate...