Tax Policy Center

Medicare

: TaxVox

The COVID-19 Crisis Reveals The President’s Misplaced Budget Priorities

Presidential Budgets reveal much about the priorities of an administration. President Trump’s fiscal year 2021 budget, released in early 2020, proposes almost no additional resources...
June 9, 2020C. Eugene Steuerle
: TaxVox

TPC Launches A New Resource For Understanding Tax Expenditures

Would you be surprised to learn that in addition to the $1.3 trillion the federal government will spend on Medicare, Medicaid , and related health...
January 28, 2020Frank Sammartino
: TaxVox

The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Reduced Tax Expenditures But By Much Less Than The 1986 Tax Reform Act

For years, tax reformers have advocated reducing marginal tax rates, broadening the tax base, and eliminating provisions that provide special benefits to select forms of...
December 10, 2019Eric Toder
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Why Government Budget Estimates Are Often Wrong

Government budget and tax analysts who estimate future federal revenues and spending are among the most talented people I know. They probably are a lot...
June 5, 2018C. Eugene Steuerle
: TaxVox

Who Will Pay for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act?

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will cut taxes by almost $1.5 trillion over the next decade, largely benefiting corporations, pass-through businesses such as...
January 2, 2018William G. Gale
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Gimmicks Galore Litter the Boehner/Obama Budget Deal

There is a lot less than meets the eye to the budget deal agreed to last night by outgoing House Speaker John Boehner and the White House. The plan’s proposed new spending is real enough, but many of the spending reductions or new revenues in the plan are wishful thinking at best. Overall, the
October 27, 2015Howard Gleckman
Individual Taxes: TaxVox

How Many Americans Get Government Assistance? All of Us

The other day, the Census Bureau put out a new report that concluded about one-in-five Americans received government benefits in 2012. But the study, called Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Participation in Government Programs, 2009–2012: Who Gets Assistance, takes a far too narrow view about who
June 4, 2015Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

The Medicare “Doc Fix” That Isn’t

As you listen to House Democrats and Republicans sing kumbaya over their bipartisan agreement to fix the Medicare physician payment syste m, keep one thing in mind: The doc fix doesn’t fix much, and what it does repair likely will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt in coming years. The
March 26, 2015Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

CBO’s Spending Projections Map the Coming Fiscal Battle

Without changes in the law, health care, Social Security, and interest on the debt will eat up 85 percent of all new federal government spending over the next 10 years, according to the latest estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. By contrast, CBO expects most of the rest of government,
August 28, 2014Howard Gleckman
Federal Budget and Economy: TaxVox

Fiscal Reality Check: Will Congress Pay for the Tax Extenders and the Doc Fix?

After it returns from Spring Break next week, Congress may face two big fiscal reality checks. It will have to decide whether to temporarily extend...
March 20, 2014Howard Gleckman