In testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, senior fellow C. Eugene Steuerle explained how, in recent decades, the government has wound a straightjacket around federal spending and tax subsidies. The main culprits have been in the broad areas of retirement, health, and taxation. Left...
The recent fiscal situation and the intermediate-term budget outlook may appear relatively benign, Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer told the Senate Budget Committee, but deficits and debt will gradually grow to unprecedented and unsustainable levels if current tax and spending...
With rapid increases in entitlement spending just over the horizon, now is the time to get deficits down and national saving up, senior fellow Edward Gramlich told the House Budget Committee.
The paper describes the basic features of the President's plan and evaluates the extent to which it would meet its stated goals of expanding health insurance coverage and restraining healthcare spending. The basic approach would improve the market for health insurance, but inadequate attention...
The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed from those original goals and under current law the tax will affect over 23 million...
In this commentary for public radio's Marketplace program, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explains why automatically adjusting the minimum wage for inflation benefits more than just low-wage workers.
Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child...
In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.
In 2004, workers ages 51 to 56 reported a 33 percent chance of working past age 65--up from 27 percent for workers that age in 1992. Expected full-time work after age 62 increased as well. Lower rates of retiree health insurance offers from employers, higher levels of educational attainment,...
States and their local governments vary both in their needs to provide basic public services, and in their abilities to raise revenues to pay for those services. A forthcoming joint study by the Tax Policy Center and the New England Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, uses the...
Defining Our Long-Term Fiscal Challenges (Steuerle)
In testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, senior fellow C. Eugene Steuerle explained how, in recent decades, the government has wound a straightjacket around federal spending and tax subsidies. The main culprits have been in the broad areas of retirement, health, and taxation. Left...
Defining Our Long-Term Fiscal Challenges (Reischauer)
The recent fiscal situation and the intermediate-term budget outlook may appear relatively benign, Urban Institute President Robert Reischauer told the Senate Budget Committee, but deficits and debt will gradually grow to unprecedented and unsustainable levels if current tax and spending...
Why Deficits Matter
With rapid increases in entitlement spending just over the horizon, now is the time to get deficits down and national saving up, senior fellow Edward Gramlich told the House Budget Committee.
The President's Health Insurance Proposal - A First Look
The paper describes the basic features of the President's plan and evaluates the extent to which it would meet its stated goals of expanding health insurance coverage and restraining healthcare spending. The basic approach would improve the market for health insurance, but inadequate attention...
Options to Fix the AMT
The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to limit the amount of tax sheltering and to assure that high-income filers paid at least some tax. The current AMT, however, has strayed from those original goals and under current law the tax will affect over 23 million...
It's All About How You Raise Minimum Wage
In this commentary for public radio's Marketplace program, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explains why automatically adjusting the minimum wage for inflation benefits more than just low-wage workers.
Tax Credits, the Minimum Wage, and Inflation
Two primary wage-support policies help low-income families: the minimum wage and targeted tax credits. Since 1997, when Congress last raised the minimum wage, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen about 20 percent because of inflation, while the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child...
Doing Nothing's a Good Thing
In this Marketplace commentary, Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, says that extending temporary tax measures enables Congress to avoid serious tax reform and hide deep problems.
Why Do Boomers Plan To Work So Long?
In 2004, workers ages 51 to 56 reported a 33 percent chance of working past age 65--up from 27 percent for workers that age in 1992. Expected full-time work after age 62 increased as well. Lower rates of retiree health insurance offers from employers, higher levels of educational attainment,...
Fiscal Capacity of States, Fiscal 2002
States and their local governments vary both in their needs to provide basic public services, and in their abilities to raise revenues to pay for those services. A forthcoming joint study by the Tax Policy Center and the New England Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, uses the...