TaxVox: Federal Budget and Economy

RSS

The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Federal Budget and Economy

Bank Bonus Taxes are a Bad Idea

December 14, 2009 –
The UK recently instituted a 50% tax on bankers' bonuses and France is reportedly about to follow suit. German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is said to like the idea, but would prefer to institute a tax on financial transactions. Even economist Paul Krugman said that, at first blush, the bonus tax "looks entirely reasonable." Sure, it might drive the best and the brightest out of the finance business, but that would be a good thing.
Individual Taxes

Obama’s Stimulus II

December 8, 2009 –
At Brookings today, President Obama laid out his vision for Stimulus II. At first glance, this seems to be a collection of odds-and-ends, only some of which will help the economy grow and create jobs.
Individual Taxes

Paul Ryan’s Consumption Tax

October 29, 2009 –
Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), one of Congress’ most interesting members, was the guest at this morning’s session of TPC’s Tax Reform 2.0 series. He came to talk about his Roadmap for America’s Future—a comprehensive plan for dramatically restructuring both entitlement spending and the tax code. Ryan is nothing if not ambitious.
Federal Budget and Economy

The Homebuyer Tax Credit: When Will They Ever Learn?

October 22, 2009 –
The early returns are coming in on the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit. And it appears to be a bigger boondoggle than even I thought it would be. At a House Ways & Means Oversight subcommittee hearing today, the Internal Revenue Service inspector general reported that the IRS is auditing more than 100,000 of the roughly 1.4 million returns that included a claim for the credit. This is a staggering audit rate for an agency that usually reviews only about 1 percent of returns.
Federal Budget and Economy

Whither Revenues?

October 19, 2009 –
Federal taxes in fiscal year 2009 claimed the smallest share of GDP since 1950—14.9 percent according to the Congressional Budget Office (see top figure). The revenue drop has many causes: tax reductions in this year’s economic stimulus, the collapse of the economy, and the Bush tax cuts from earlier in the decade.
Federal Budget and Economy

Disappearing Revenues

October 16, 2009 –
Last week the Congressional Budget Office quietly released its October Monthly Budget Review showing preliminary 2009 budget numbers. The $1.4 trillion deficit more than tripled the previous record of $459 billion set just last year (see top table). More than half of the increase was due to a $530 billion jump in outlays but 44 percent came from a 17 percent drop in revenues. That decline resulted in the federal government collecting a smaller share of taxes than at any time in the last half century.
Federal Budget and Economy

Will A Jobs Credit Create Jobs and Save Democrats?

October 13, 2009 –
Just abut every conversation I’ve had with a Democratic elected official or staffer in the past few weeks came around to the same urgent question. And, no, it was not about health reform. It was about jobs. When, they ask with more than a hint of panic in their voices, will the jobs come back?
Federal Budget and Economy

The Real Death Panel

October 6, 2009 –
I’ve just spent 90 minutes listening to five Washington hands discuss “the financial and economic consequences of an exploding debt.” The prognosis, they agree, is grim. The chances of policymakers acting any time soon to address the looming fiscal crisis are remote. As one audience member asked the panelists during the Urban Institute discussion, “Which anti-depressant should I take?”
Federal Budget and Economy

Why Are Republicans Opposing Medicare Cost Controls?

September 29, 2009 –
Democrats are proposing to control future Medicare costs, and Republicans are trying to stop them. Who knew? This could have been the perfect “Nixon in China” moment. Democrats—who created Medicare and for decades resisted GOP moves to curb the program—control Congress and the White House. A Democratic President has embraced modest efforts to slow the program’s unsustainable rate of growth. Drug makers, doctors, and hospitals all swallow hard and buy into the idea. It could be the perfect moment for a bit of desperately needed fiscal responsibility.
Individual Taxes

Big Government and Housing

September 24, 2009 –
We’ve been hearing an awful lot lately about big government taking over the health insurance business. But there may be no commercial transaction in the country more heavily subsidized than housing. And now, many of the very people who are in a panic over government interference in medical care want to increase Washington’s role in home ownership.