Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Fiscal Slack (Part 1 of 2)

Part One: Historical Perspective
Senior Fellow discusses a major dilemma facing the nation: best described as the lack of fiscal slack -- the inability to shift resources either to the greatest needs of society, reflected in no small part by the proportion of government revenues available for new domestic initiatives that respond
August 21, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Individual Taxes: Research report

5500 Not-So-EZ, The

Senior Fellow Euegene Steuerle discusses the sensibility of the Schedule 5500 EZ, a form used by so-called "one-participant retirement plans." The taxpayers involved are self-employed, with no employees or leased employees.
August 7, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Individual Taxes: Brief

The Limits of Saving

Like Rip Van Winkle, baby boomers have awoken to find that they have aged. Their retirement is looming, and now it seems that everyone is worried about saving for it. The popular press, with the assistance of the financial services industry, has made saving for retirement a trendy topic. Financial
August 1, 2000Pamela Perun
Individual Taxes: Research report

Summers' Time: Preparing Treasury for the Future (Part 5 of 5)

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election and prepare the Treasury for the future.
July 24, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Individual Taxes: Research report

Summers' Time: The Social Security Opportunity (Part 4 of 5)

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election--specifically with regard to Social Security.
July 17, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
State and Local Issues: Brief

Sources of Data about State Government Revenues and Expenditures

The diversity of state programs makes comparison of fiscal activities across states and over time difficult. This paper compares ongoing surveys that provide data about state revenues and expenditures from the Census Bureau, National Association of State Budget Officers, National Conference of
July 15, 2000David Merriman
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Summers' Time: Promoting Good Tax Policy (Part 3 of 5)

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election--specifically with regard to promoting good tax policy.
July 3, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms: Research report

Summers' Time: The Tax Option (Part 2 of 5)

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election--specifically with regard tax reform.
June 26, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Summers' Time... (Part 1 of 5)

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle gives the Treasury Department tips on how to make the most of their final months before the 2000 election.
June 19, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Individual Taxes: Research report

Tax Cuts or Spending - Does it Make a Difference?

The use of tax incentives instead of direct spending to promote social and economic goals is growing. This paper considers whether it matters if fiscal interventions take the form of direct spending or tax breaks. Tax breaks can, and increasingly do, replace spending programs with the same effects
June 8, 2000Eric Toder
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

How De Facto Optional Filing Demands Marriage Penalty Relief

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle discusses the need for marriage penalty relief in the tax code, concluding that a tax world in which single filing is available to all who share resources and even beds but not to those who happen to believe in marriage vows is too capricious and arbitrary to remain
June 5, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Tax Cutting: Why the Limited Enthusiasm?

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the prospects for a tax cut, and concludes that under the economic conditions at the time, a tax cut would sell mainly if it were believed to be the best use of the money, but overwhelming momentum behind it - or behind any other budgetary change for that
May 29, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Individual Taxes: Research report

Taxing 'Bigness'

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle suggests that there are three major features of the U.S. multi-tiered tax structure that together reveal a fundamental distrust of "bigness:" (1) the graduated rate structure in the individual income tax; (2) the corporate income tax; and (3) the estate and gift tax.
May 15, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Combining Child Credits, the EITC, and the Dependent Exemption (Part 2 of 2)

Part Two: The Various Rationales
In this essay Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle offers reasons to support a more unified structure for administering the EITC, child credit, and dependent exemption.
May 1, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Combining Child Credits, the EITC, and the Dependent Exemption (Part 1 of 2)

Part One: Is a New Momentum Being Created?
In this essay Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle describes various proposals to reform the EITC and other tax programs for low-income people.
April 24, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Telephone Excise Tax: Why Keep a Bad Tax?, The

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines Congressional proposals to repeal the telephone excise tax according to the proposals of public finance.
April 10, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Paying Taxpayers to File Electronically

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to pay tax filers to file electronically, demonstrating how the proposal could save money and improve efficiency.
April 3, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Brief

Tax Benefits for the Elderly

The elderly receive substantial income tax benefits in the form of an extra standard deduction and lenient taxation of Social Security benefits for recipients with modest incomes. States also provide significant tax benefits. Often all Social Security and pension income is tax free and many states
March 31, 2000Rudolph G. Penner
Business Taxes: Research report

Charity Deduction for Nonitemizers: Where Do You Draw the Line?

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines the implications of a Clinton Administration proposal to add a charitable tax deduction for non-itemizers, revealing how the proposal adds an unnecessary complications to the tax code.
March 20, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Nonitemizers Charitable Deduction: The Administration's Floor Plan

In this column Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle examines in more detail the Clinton Administration's proposal to set a separate floor for the nonitemizer deduction, and tries to explain why certain choices were made either for political or technical reasons.
March 13, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Business Taxes: Research report

Right Way to Extend Charitable Deductions to Nonitemizers, The

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle discuss how the extension of a charitable deduction to nonitemizers, if designed carefully, can increase giving moderately, while avoiding losses in revenues, increases in administrative burdens for taxpayers, and compliance problems for the IRS.
February 28, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

Budget: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle explains his biggest concern with federal budgets of late -- their ugliness: they contain policy suggestions that, from the starting gate, almost everyone agrees could be better designed, won't work, or should be avoided in favor of higher priorities. Steuerle argues
February 21, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

A Budget for Baby Boomers

Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle assesses President Clinton's 2001 budget proposal, and concludes that it primarily supports a sound short- and intermediate-run fiscal or macro policy, continues currently and into the future the abandonment of most functions for nonelderly, and remains on an
February 14, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

And Equal (Tax) Justice for All? (Part 8 of 8)

Part Eight: Still the Standard
In the first in a series of essay, Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle reviews tax justice by beginning with a strong endorsement of equity principles and their powerful influence on the development of policy.
January 31, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle
Federal Budget and Economy: Research report

And Equal (Tax) Justice for All? (Part 7 of 8)

Part Seven: Adjustments to the Tax Base
In this essay, as part of a series on tax justice, Senior Fellow Eugene Steuerle discusses adjustments to the tax base.
January 24, 2000C. Eugene Steuerle