TaxVox: Individual Taxes

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The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Campaign Deficits

September 16, 2008 –
In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal budget would maintain rough fiscal balance over the coming decade. Last week, CBO updated that forecast and found that the government would run a cumulative $2.3 trillion deficit. That sharp change reflected a slowing economy and rapid spending growth.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Taxes and Religion

September 11, 2008 –
Should clergy have the right to stand up in their tax-exempt pulpits and endorse political candidates? For a half century, the answer has been no. But The Washington Post's Peter Slevin reported on Sept. 8 that a conservative group called the Alliance Defense Fund wants to change that.
Federal Budget and Economy

The Budget Deficit is Getting Worse

September 9, 2008 –
The deficit is about to get a lot worse, a lot faster. At least that's the latest projection by the Congressional Budget Office. In the past six months, Washington's medium-term fiscal health has deteriorated markedly, and what CBO once projected to be a small surplus beginning in 2012 has now morphed into annual deficits in excess of $100 billion as far as the eye can see (to borrow a phrase).
Federal Budget and Economy

Obama and the Deficit

September 9, 2008 –
I was, to say the least, surprised to read a couple of comments posted last week that claimed FactCheck.org was asserting Barack Obama’s tax-and-spending plans would pay for themselves. I was even more surprised to read that FactCheck was supposedly basing its conclusions on TPC data. So, I looked it up.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Who Is John McCain?

September 5, 2008 –
Listening to John McCain's acceptance speech last night, I found myself asking the question that others have been asking me for the past year: Who is John McCain really? Is he the McCain of 2000-2003, who blasted both wasteful government spending and the unaffordable Bush tax cuts? Or the McCain of 2008, who not only wants to extend President Bush's tax cuts but expand them without coming close to paying for this largess? Is he the supporter of limiting offshore oil drilling and requiring tradable credits for carbon-based fuels--which would sharply raise the price of oil and gasoline? Or is he the new darling of the "drill baby drill" crowd?
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Sarah Palin and Taxes

September 2, 2008 –
When it comes to taxes, Sarah Palin turns out to be an intriguing mix of Barack Obama and John McCain. Like Obama, she favors a tax rebate for consumers funded by a windfall profits tax on energy companies. But, like McCain, she also backs a gas tax holiday.
Federal Budget and Economy

The Audacity of Campaign Promises

August 29, 2008 –
Barack Obama gave four speeches last night. The first was the same optimistic cry for change that has carried him so far in this Presidential season. The second was a tough, frontal attack on the economic and foreign policies of both George Bush and John McCain. The third was a (Bill) Clintonesque bit of social policy triangulation—we can all work together to find solutions to such hot button issues as abortion, guns, gay marriage, and immigration. The fourth was a recitation of his economic agenda—a long list of promises that is familiar to readers of TaxVox by now.
Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms

Obama's Stimulus Plan: $115 Billion and Counting

August 27, 2008 –
Barack Obama has raised the ante on economic stimulus. Just two weeks ago, when I left for vacation, the Illinois Senator was talking about a $50 billion plan. I barely unpack (and yes, I had a nice time, thanks for asking) and learn he is now considering a $115 billion boost. That, at least, is what an Obama aide told the Wall Street Journal yesterday.
Individual Taxes

Who Really Pays the Corporate Income Tax?

August 26, 2008 –
After the Government Accountability Office reported last month that two-thirds of corporations in the U.S. pay no corporate income tax, critics vented their disdain. "It's shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country," railed Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) in a press release.
Individual Taxes

Je Ne Regrette Rien

August 21, 2008 –
Five years ago, gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger made this lament about Californians' tax burden: "From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed. When they go and get a coffee, they're taxed. They get into their car, they're taxed. They go to the gas station, they're taxed. They go for lunch, they're taxed. This goes on all day long. Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. Even when they go to bed, you can go to bed in fear that you are going to be taxed while you're sleeping, that there is a sleeping tax."