I love working on public finance issues and seeing their endless application to so many budget, tax, spending, and charitable issues that go well beyond what can be found in any textbook. I am drawn to Urban because in my view, it leads the nation in so many areas of research—combining its talents for evaluating a broad spectrum of public policy issues, gathering and using related data from a range of sources, and integrating research across disparate program areas; and all the while maintaining a truly nonpartisan approach to analysis, a deep culture of respect for each member of the organization, and a strong commitment to serve the public through its work.
Most Social Security reform proposals have focused on one goal: restoring the program’s long-run fiscal balance. Yet under all recent proposed restructurings we have examined—whether...
The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying recession laid bare many of the needs of working families and children, as well as federal, state, and local governments’...
When Congress enacted the American Rescue Plan (ARP), it included an implicit deal: It agreed to reduce the level of additional future weekly federal unemployment...
In 2017 and again in 2020, Congress made deficient—but temporary—changes to the federal income tax deduction for charitable giving. By significantly increasing the standard deduction,...
It never is easy for government to respond to crises, especially one as big and far-reaching as the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, a better policymaking process...
Largely as a consequence of the pandemic, trillions of dollars have been flowing out of the Treasury’s coffers. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the...
There are many benefits to a first-time homebuyer tax credit, such as the one proposed by President-elect Joe Biden. However, the transition from the...
Typical millennial couples born in 1995 who retire in 2060 are scheduled to receive about $2.2 million in lifetime Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Presidential Budgets reveal much about the priorities of an administration. President Trump’s fiscal year 2021 budget, released in early 2020, proposes almost no additional resources...
Congress has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic slowdown by putting hundreds of billions of dollars directly into people’s pockets. Much of this came from...
According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress spent about $1.5 billion in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to create a...
Did the Treasury Department’s decision to put President Trump’s name on the coronavirus stimulus checks slow the mailing of those checks? Of course it did,...
The current recession derives from two sources: demand and supply. On the demand side, consumers are purchasing fewer durable goods (e.g., automobiles) and spending much...
As Republicans and Democrats joined hands to provide the most recent of what might be several stages of relief from our national pandemic crisis, almost...
On March 3, the Treasury Department put out a press release saying that 2018’s charitable giving “appeared largely unchanged from previous years,” despite a “concern...
The current debate over wealth taxes mostly focuses on whether the very rich are undertaxed, but gives little attention to the most efficient and fairest...
The recent passing of former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker serves as an important reminder of his critical role in ending stagflation in the late...
Federal lawmakers have found many ways to shift the responsibility for today’s spending to tomorrow’s taxpayers. But among the most important is their habit of...
Recent stories in the news raise important questions about the ability of government to impose constraints on abusive government investigations. I’m not here to judge...
Under pressure from President Trump and worried about a worldwide economic slowdown, the Federal Reserve recently cut short-term interest rates. By continuing to push rates...
