Over a permanent horizon, the fiscal gap now exceeds 7 percent of GDP under the CBO baseline and 10 percent of GDP under an adjusted baseline, substantially higher than a year ago. Allocating the fiscal gap to different programs is not straightforward, though. Most government programs are...

In the heady days after his re-election, President Bush promised to replace the current tax system with something better. Politicians often delude themselves that reform can be summoned by proclamation. But, a wholesale transformation of the income tax system isn't about to happen quickly or...

Proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts are now a focus of attention, with the President expressing a strong desire to push forward on creating individual accounts within Social Security. This paper considers the appropriate budgetary treatment of proposals to...

The new budget projections released by the Congressional Budget Office (2005) provide an opportunity to assess fiscal policy in the first four years of the Bush administration and to discuss prospects for the next four years and beyond. This report examines the baseline CBO projections, adjusts...

An important characteristic of many countries is that they exhibit, to greater or lesser degrees, some "asymmetry" in the way in which different regions are treated by their intergovernmental fiscal systems. This paper explores some of the varied extents and manners in which such asymmetrical...

Although retail gasoline prices have reached an all-time high, gasoline taxes are not to blame. Gasoline taxes (both federal and state) average 43 cents per gallon and have fallen in real terms. Gasoline prices and taxes do vary across regions but there is little correlation between tax rates...

Gas prices have increased substantially since the beginning of this year, continuing their upward trend since 1990. American drivers are pushing the federal and state governments to implement policies to lower gas prices. But gasoline taxes have not contributed to the increase in gas prices....

While U.S. gasoline prices were indeed at a historical high after Katrina, they are both declining and much lower than gas prices in other countries.

Claims that increasing capital gains tax rates will adversely impact stock markets and economic growth are not strongly supported by empirical data. Over the last half-century, the correlation between the maximum capital gains tax rate and the ratio of the S&P index to GDP has been about -0....

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...