This is the eighth and final installment in a series that evaluates tax policy in the Bush Administration, covering the years 2001 to 2004. The paper summarizes our principal findings, and discusses some of the key tax and fiscal issues facing the Administration in its second term.
Bush Administration tax policy has sometimes been defended as a piecemeal approach to fundamental reform. Consistent with fundamental reform, the tax cuts reduced marginal capital income tax rates and flattened rates. But the similarities end there. A well designed consumption tax would (a) be...
Management theory holds that the major goals for an organization need to be clearly specified and few in number. When workers are given multiple goals, it is often hard to distinguish among them. Failure to achieve primary goals also becomes easier when one has the excuse that he was working on...
Almost no one who has served at the Treasury can help but feel pride at the integrity, vitality, and importance of the institution. With a heritage going back to Alexander Hamilton, time after time it has had to grapple with the economic and financial problems facing the nation--and come up with...
In a satirical piece for Public Radio International's Marketplace, Len Burman announces his presidential candidacy built upon one issue: abolishing all taxes. The piece is a humorous attempt to highlight the problems raised by unrestrained deficit spending.
The House of Representatives passed a marriage penalty relief provision that would, ironically, subject three million married couples to the complex and costly alternative minimum tax (AMT). This Marketplace commentary recommends that Congress deal with the real problems in the tax code--...
In his FY2005 budget, released Monday, President Bush proposes a set of new tax-preferred saving accounts (which were first presented in last year's budget). Under the Administration's proposal, two new types of individual accountscalled Lifetime Saving Accounts (LSAs) and Retirement Saving...
Programs for working families and children are scheduled to shrink rapidly over the next few years, squeezed between rising expenditures on programs for the elderly and declines in tax revenues. This scenario will play out even if only modest defense and international needs are factored into the...
Here's one message from the new "bipartisan" Medicare bill being debated in Congress: low-income elderly people are having a hard time paying for their prescription drugs, so we need...another tax cut for rich people! Today's tax cut for rich people—health savings accounts (HSA)—has been all but...
Exempting Dividends, Interest, and Capital Gains From Taxation
This article uses the TPC tax model to examine the direct effect of exempting all dividends, interest, and capital gains from income taxation.
Bush Administration Tax Policy: Summary and Outlook
This is the eighth and final installment in a series that evaluates tax policy in the Bush Administration, covering the years 2001 to 2004. The paper summarizes our principal findings, and discusses some of the key tax and fiscal issues facing the Administration in its second term.
Bush Administration Tax Policy: Down Payment on Tax Reform?
Bush Administration tax policy has sometimes been defended as a piecemeal approach to fundamental reform. Consistent with fundamental reform, the tax cuts reduced marginal capital income tax rates and flattened rates. But the similarities end there. A well designed consumption tax would (a) be...
Let It Snow: Opportunity Time For the Treasury Secretary
Management theory holds that the major goals for an organization need to be clearly specified and few in number. When workers are given multiple goals, it is often hard to distinguish among them. Failure to achieve primary goals also becomes easier when one has the excuse that he was working on...
Let It Snow: Opportunity Time For the Treasury
Almost no one who has served at the Treasury can help but feel pride at the integrity, vitality, and importance of the institution. With a heritage going back to Alexander Hamilton, time after time it has had to grapple with the economic and financial problems facing the nation--and come up with...
Vote for Me!
In a satirical piece for Public Radio International's Marketplace, Len Burman announces his presidential candidacy built upon one issue: abolishing all taxes. The piece is a humorous attempt to highlight the problems raised by unrestrained deficit spending.
Marriage Penalty Relief Throws Millions Onto the AMT
The House of Representatives passed a marriage penalty relief provision that would, ironically, subject three million married couples to the complex and costly alternative minimum tax (AMT). This Marketplace commentary recommends that Congress deal with the real problems in the tax code--...
Key Thoughts on RSAs and LSAs
In his FY2005 budget, released Monday, President Bush proposes a set of new tax-preferred saving accounts (which were first presented in last year's budget). Under the Administration's proposal, two new types of individual accountscalled Lifetime Saving Accounts (LSAs) and Retirement Saving...
The Incredible Shrinking Budget for Working Families and Children
Programs for working families and children are scheduled to shrink rapidly over the next few years, squeezed between rising expenditures on programs for the elderly and declines in tax revenues. This scenario will play out even if only modest defense and international needs are factored into the...
HSAs Won't Cure Medicare's Ills
Here's one message from the new "bipartisan" Medicare bill being debated in Congress: low-income elderly people are having a hard time paying for their prescription drugs, so we need...another tax cut for rich people! Today's tax cut for rich people—health savings accounts (HSA)—has been all but...