TaxVox: Federal Budget and Economy

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The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Federal Budget and Economy

Do We Need an Election to Fix the Deficit?

May 17, 2011 –
I spent this morning at one of those Washington institutions: the budget roundtable. Today’s (at the Aspen Institute) gave me a chance to pose a...
Federal Budget and Economy

How Not to Fix the Housing Market

May 16, 2011 –
The American housing market is in trouble. Prices continue to fall, many would-be buyers can’t qualify for mortgages, sales remain sluggish, and the backlog of...
Federal Budget and Economy

Jon Stewart's Fake News on Tax Expenditures

May 11, 2011 –
Dear Jon, The Daily Show is my favorite TV show. I think you’re the smartest policy analyst on television. (Okay, as you prove time after...
Federal Budget and Economy

Spending Caps, Medicare Vouchers, and Magical Thinking

May 10, 2011 –
Want to know why caps on federal spending will never work? Just take a look at proposed Medicare vouchers that are included in the House-passed...
Federal Budget and Economy

Why I Hate Budget Caps

May 3, 2011 –
I hate budget caps. They are arbitrary and beg to be gamed. It is irresponsible to make one that is absolutely unbreakable, even in the...
Federal Budget and Economy

There They Go Again: The ‘People’s Budget’ and High Tax Rates

April 28, 2011 –
Will Donald Trump bring Barack Obama’s birth certificate to the Royal wedding? I have no idea, but now that I’ve made our Web optimization folks...
Individual Taxes

Why Should Taxes Be 18 Percent of GDP?

April 27, 2011 –
“The Path to Prosperity,” Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) solution to federal budget deficits, called for keeping “overall revenue as a share of the economy at...
Federal Budget and Economy

Note to Rep. Bachmann: Hitting the Debt Limit Has Consequences

April 26, 2011 –
The other day, I blogged on the necessity of increasing the debt limit. And I got a remarkable response: The tea party and others on...
Federal Budget and Economy

S&P, the Debt Limit, and Political Risk

April 21, 2011 –
So it has come to this: The biggest short-term risk of the U.S. defaulting on its sovereign debt is not that big spenders will have...
Individual Taxes

S&P Negative Rating: Premonitions of a debt crisis?

April 19, 2011 –
On Monday, Standard and Poor’s pinned a “negative” rating on the United States fiscal outlook. US stock markets reacted poorly. The Dow fell 140 points...