TaxVox: Federal Budget and Economy

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The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Federal Budget and Economy

Does the President's Budget Raise Taxes or Cut Them?

February 15, 2011 –
Here’s a quick multiple choice quiz about President Obama’s new budget. Over the next ten years, would the budget: a. Increase taxes by $819 billion...
Federal Budget and Economy

Obama’s Sideshow Budget Will Yield Little Real Fiscal Progress

February 14, 2011 –
The Obama budget confirms what we already knew—neither tax reform nor significant increases in revenues are on the table. Neither are major entitlement programs such...
Individual Taxes

Fannie, Freddie, and the Mortgage Interest Deduction

February 10, 2011 –
Tomorrow, the White House will release its ideas for overhauling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While there is little agreement in Washington over...
Individual Taxes

The Paradox of Thrift, or What to Do with My Payroll Tax Cut?

February 9, 2011 –
A major goal of last December’s Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 (aka extending the Bush-era tax cuts) was to...
Federal Budget and Economy

Seven Ideas to Guide Tax Reform

February 2, 2011 –
This morning I appeared at a Senate Budget Committee hearing, "Tax Reform: A Necessary Component for Restoring Fiscal Sustainability." My full testimony, "Cutting Tax Preferences...
Individual Taxes

Bigger Deficits, More Debt

February 1, 2011 –
Washington has gotten deficit religion, or at least that’s what you’d infer from recent rhetoric. From the president to congressional leaders to the newest representative...
Federal Budget and Economy

The U.S. Fiscal Imbalance and the Challenge for Tax Policy

January 27, 2011 –
Three related issues dominate budget talk in Washington these days: eliminating the deficit, cutting spending, and reforming the tax system. Achieving the first will require...
Federal Budget and Economy

Obama’s State of the Union: What I Heard, And What I Did Not

January 26, 2011 –
On a purely rhetorical level, President Obama gave a terrific State of the Union address last night. He delivered the usual laundry list of promises...
Federal Budget and Economy

Geithner Won't Default on the Public Debt

January 19, 2011 –
In a guest column at CNN Money , I argue that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner won't allow us to default on the public debt even...
Federal Budget and Economy

Handicapping the Debt Ceiling Debate

January 14, 2011 –
Sometime this spring, Congress will vote to increase the debt ceiling. That vote won’t come easy. Newly ascendant House Republicans will threaten to withhold needed...