TaxVox

The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Federal Budget and Economy

Debt Limit Madness

July 14, 2011 –
Let me see if I have this right: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has effectively embraced the debt limit plan first offered months ago...
Federal Budget and Economy

Balanced Budget Amendments Are Not Always What They Seem

July 13, 2011 –
A constitutional amendment that would require a balanced federal budget has again gained favor, especially among Republicans. The proponents should be forced to answer an...
Federal Budget and Economy

John Boehner’s Moment of Truth

July 12, 2011 –
In July 2000, under immense pressure from President Clinton, the Israeli government made Yasser Arafat a remarkable offer: It would recognize a Palestinian state that...
Individual Taxes

Tax Dodge Makes for Great Vacationing

July 8, 2011 –
I’ve been collecting shells on the beaches on the beautiful barrier island Assateague and marveling at those famous marsh-dwelling ponies for about fifteen years. Until...
Federal Budget and Economy

Should Congress Cut the Deficit By Changing the Way it Indexes Taxes for Inflation?

July 7, 2011 –
Should Congress use a new measure of inflation to index the tax code? It sounds awfully technical—and it is—but shifting to what most economists believe...
Federal Budget and Economy

A Big Error in the Senate Republicans’ Balanced Budget Amendment

July 6, 2011 –
Senate Republicans made a striking error in the balanced budget amendment they introduced last week . As written, the amendment would limit federal spending far...
Individual Taxes

Hiking Taxes on Corporate Jets: Obama’s Version of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

July 5, 2011 –
President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on corporate jets is the Democratic version of “waste, fraud and abuse”—a political attack on a target of opportunity...
Individual Taxes

A Tax By Any Other Name

June 30, 2011 –
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." William Shakespeare If I understand correctly, Congressional...
Federal Budget and Economy

Spending in Disguise

June 29, 2011 –
Republicans are demanding a deficit-reduction package that’s entirely spending cuts. Democrats insist that revenues must also be included. Are these positions completely irreconcilable? Not if...
Federal Budget and Economy

Financial Markets Snooze Though the Deficit and Debt Debate

June 28, 2011 –
Fiscal hawks (including me) often warn about what would happen to financial markets if Washington doesn’t get the deficit under control, and, worse, can’t manage...