TaxVox: Federal Budget and Economy

RSS

The voices of Tax Policy Center's researchers and staff

Federal Budget and Economy

How the Budget Baseline Favors Spending: Continued

July 10, 2008 –
My blog on “How the Budget Baseline Favors Spending” stimulated numerous thoughtful comments. Some implied that my proposal would reward those who wish to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and ignore the fact that dubious accounting was used to get them passed in the first place. Those arguing this point did not pay sufficient attention to my last paragraph which implied that baseline reform would have to await the disposition of the Bush cuts. Further, I alluded to the possibility that whatever portions of the Bush policy are extended, the extension will again be temporary, thus making it difficult to finally settle the point.
Federal Budget and Economy

Deficit Hawk Redux: Can McCain Balance the Budget by 2013?

July 8, 2008 –
Unlike many bloggers, I am not going to bash John McCain’s renewed interest in balancing the budget. It is nice to see his on-and-off love affair with fiscal responsibility heating up again. There is just one problem with his vow to balance the budget by 2013. He can’t do it. Or, to be more precise, he can’t do it while extending the Bush tax cuts, cutting other taxes of his own, and maintaining a costly military presence in Iraq.
Individual Taxes

Sovereign Wealth Funds and Taxes

July 1, 2008 –
Lots of buzz lately about sovereign wealth funds—those huge investment pools run by foreign governments that are becoming an increasingly important source of capital for U.S. companies. The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Phillips reports that foreign investors bought nearly $1 trillion in U.S. securities in 2007. And a small but growing share was acquired by sovereign wealth funds operated by dozens of countries, including China and the oil-soaked nations of the Middle East.
Individual Taxes

Off Base: How McCain and Obama Hide Trillions in Debt

June 17, 2008 –
Barack Obama’s tax plan will either raise $262 billion over the next 10 years or increase the national debt by $2.7 trillion. John McCain would add either $615 billion or $3.6 trillion to the debt. What’s going on? Don’t everyone turn your computer off at once, but we need to talk about budget baselines.
Federal Budget and Economy

High Wire and Hospital: Two Books You Should Read

June 10, 2008 –
I've just finished two terrific new books: High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families by long-time LA Times reporter Peter Gosselin, and Hospital by Julie Salamon. In quite different ways, each illuminates some of the critical social policy issues of our time.
Federal Budget and Economy

Tax Extenders and Fiscal Responsibility

May 29, 2008 –
For another take on my debate with George Yin on whether temporary tax breaks are a good idea George) or not (me), take a look...
Federal Budget and Economy

Paul Ryan’s Fiscal Roadmap

May 27, 2008 –
Kudos to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, for proposing an ambitious plan aimed at bringing government spending under control over the next 75 years. Actually, Ryan would do even more than that. He’d also restructure the tax code, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Individual Taxes

Temporary Laws and Fiscal Restraint

May 27, 2008 –
Howard Gleckman continues to think that temporary tax cuts are no better than permanent ones from the standpoint of enhancing political accountability and fiscal restraint (“Tax Extenders and Fiscal Restraint,” May 22, 2008). So here’s some data.
Individual Taxes

Forget Death and Taxes, How About Health and Taxes?

May 15, 2008 –
Like it or not, health care and taxes are inextricably linked in the U.S. The employer-sponsored health system that covers most of the non-elderly is largely built on nearly $200 billion in income tax breaks. The biggest: employer-sponsored insurance which is tax-free to workers. Perversely, this structure provides the biggest tax breaks to the highest income workers who get the most expensive plans.
Federal Budget and Economy

Mission Accomplished: The Tax-Free War

May 1, 2008 –
It is the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s dramatic landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln where, in front of that massive “Mission Accomplished” banner, he declared “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” They have not, of course. And it has me thinking about how those of us who do not have loved ones in combat operations are sacrificing nothing for this conflict.