The Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010 is a detailed reform package that overhauls Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. federal tax system. In a January 27, 2010, report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the spending provisions of the plan. This paper presents...
In 2010, 45 percent of tax returns will either remit no federal income tax or receive a net tax refund. But this figure overstates the share of taxpayers who would be unaffected by higher income tax rates. Raising all rates by 1 percent would hold only 34 percent of tax returns harmless; others...
Eric Toder testified before the Senate Committee on Finance on how recently proposed incentives for small business may help economic recovery. These incentives are only a small component of broader policies to accelerate recovery from the deep recession we have experienced in the past two years...
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program targets debt and equity capital to businesses or organizations situated in low-income, economically distressed communities. This is a report on a diverse sample of five projects that utilized New Markets Tax Credits allocated early in the program's...
The expansion of refundable tax credits and the proliferation of specialized tax breaks means that households with similar incomes can face wildly different effective federal tax rates. For example, among middle-income households, the median effective income tax rate is 3 percent, but 10 percent...
The Tax Policy Center has examined the key tax proposals in President Obama's 2011 budget. Separate discussions below describe each of the proposals including current law, proposed changes, and, when appropriate, the distributional effects. The budget as presented by the president lacks complete...
Today's federal budget policies are unsustainable. Three programs - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid - constitute more than 40 percent of spending other than interest in a normal year and all are growing faster than the economy and tax revenues. At the same time, Congress has kept the...
President Obama has proposed to freeze most domestic discretionary spending -- a step in the right direction, but not enough. The $250 billion in expected savings over the next decade is chump change compared with deficits that could top $10 trillion if policy doesn't change.
Institute Fellow Rudy Penner describes how the U.S. budget is prepared by the executive branch and Congress, and how it then is implemented by the executive branch. The budget preparation process could be improved, Penner asserts, but budget implementation works smoothly and efficiently. The...
In August 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2009) projected that the federal budget deficit would total $7.1 trillion over the 2010-2019 decade-under current law. That outcome would require the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress to stop "patching" the...
Preliminary Revenue Estimate and Distributional Analysis of the Tax Provisions in A Roadmap for America's Future Act 2010
The Roadmap for America's Future Act of 2010 is a detailed reform package that overhauls Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. federal tax system. In a January 27, 2010, report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the spending provisions of the plan. This paper presents...
Held Harmless by Higher Income Tax Rates?
In 2010, 45 percent of tax returns will either remit no federal income tax or receive a net tax refund. But this figure overstates the share of taxpayers who would be unaffected by higher income tax rates. Raising all rates by 1 percent would hold only 34 percent of tax returns harmless; others...
Tax Issues Related to Small Business Job Creation
Eric Toder testified before the Senate Committee on Finance on how recently proposed incentives for small business may help economic recovery. These incentives are only a small component of broader policies to accelerate recovery from the deep recession we have experienced in the past two years...
Analysis of Selected New Markets Tax Credit Projects
The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program targets debt and equity capital to businesses or organizations situated in low-income, economically distressed communities. This is a report on a diverse sample of five projects that utilized New Markets Tax Credits allocated early in the program's...
Variation in Effective Tax Rates
The expansion of refundable tax credits and the proliferation of specialized tax breaks means that households with similar incomes can face wildly different effective federal tax rates. For example, among middle-income households, the median effective income tax rate is 3 percent, but 10 percent...
Tax Proposals in the 2011 Budget
The Tax Policy Center has examined the key tax proposals in President Obama's 2011 budget. Separate discussions below describe each of the proposals including current law, proposed changes, and, when appropriate, the distributional effects. The budget as presented by the president lacks complete...
Choosing the Nation's Fiscal Future
Today's federal budget policies are unsustainable. Three programs - Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid - constitute more than 40 percent of spending other than interest in a normal year and all are growing faster than the economy and tax revenues. At the same time, Congress has kept the...
Let's freeze more than chump change
President Obama has proposed to freeze most domestic discretionary spending -- a step in the right direction, but not enough. The $250 billion in expected savings over the next decade is chump change compared with deficits that could top $10 trillion if policy doesn't change.
Budgeting in the Ideal and in the United States
Institute Fellow Rudy Penner describes how the U.S. budget is prepared by the executive branch and Congress, and how it then is implemented by the executive branch. The budget preparation process could be improved, Penner asserts, but budget implementation works smoothly and efficiently. The...
Desperately Seeking Revenue
In August 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2009) projected that the federal budget deficit would total $7.1 trillion over the 2010-2019 decade-under current law. That outcome would require the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress to stop "patching" the...