TaxVox: Federal spending

Children Deserve More than Shutdown Threats and Continuing Resolutions

November 16, 2023 –

The House and Senate passed a bill to keep the federal government funded through early next year. This avoids a shut down and all the...

Federal Budget and Economy

Government Shutdown Employment Effects By State

November 14, 2023 –

With Congress unable to secure an agreement on border security, Ukraine aid, and other issues, the federal government is headed toward a shutdown starting the...

Federal Budget and Economy

The President’s Budget Priorities Still Don’t Change Its Long-Term Trajectory

April 4, 2023 –

Like all presidential budgets, President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 proposals reflect the priorities he would set for the nation. As in prior years, Biden would...

Are Current Hill Tax Plans Enough To Fund A Scaled-Back Climate And Social Spending Bill?

March 10, 2022 –

In a 50-50 Senate where every vote counts, President Biden’s “Build Back Better” (BBB) fiscal agenda has a new name and—if it wants the vote...

Federal Budget and Economy

How Today’s Unsustainable Budget Is Stopping a Marshall Plan for Vaccines

August 30, 2021 –

In 1948, Congress and President Truman adopted the Marshall Plan that at its peak provided about 2 percent of total US gross domestic product to...

Searching for Supply-Side Effects of The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

July 6, 2021 –

The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) was built on the idea that lower business and corporate tax rates, new domestic investment incentives, and...

Could Better Government Have Lowered Pandemic Deaths by 100,000 or Reduced Costs by a Trillion Dollars?

March 1, 2021 –

It never is easy for government to respond to crises, especially one as big and far-reaching as the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, a better policymaking process...

Business Taxes

What We Are Learning About Firms That Received PPP Loans in 2020

February 18, 2021 –

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was considered essential to last year’s bipartisan COVID-19 relief packages, and many policymakers initially hailed the CARES Act version as...

Federal Budget and Economy

Congress Could Make COVID-19 Relief Payments Fairer, Less Costly, and More Stimulative

February 11, 2021 –

Republicans and some leading economists have raised concerns about the cost, fairness, and stimulative effects of proposed cash payments in the pandemic relief legislation Congress...

Federal Budget and Economy

How Could the United States Pay for Reparations?

February 3, 2021 –

A few years ago, Ta-Nehesi Coates wrote a powerful essay, “The Case for Reparations” for The Atlantic . Reparations, he affirmed, would help close the...