E-mail Newsletter
Enter your e-mail address to receive periodic updates on TPC publications and events.
 newsletter archive
|
Publications
Author: Gale, William G.
Fix health care. But fix the deficits, too (Commentary)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
CNNMoney.com, Op-Ed.
Obama and other policymakers need to pay more attention to a fundamental conflict underlying the health care debate: People want the federal government to do much more than they are willing to pay for through their taxes.
Published: 09/09/09
Availability:
HTML
Remove the Return (Article/Tax Facts)
Author(s):
William G. Gale
The Volcker task force on tax reform, part of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, faces a daunting task that is made materially more difficult by ex ante constraints placed on its purview and recommendations. Broad-based reform proposals seem to be out of the question, and distributional constraints appear to eliminate many serious ideas. Nevertheless, I believe that significant tax simplification is feasible despite the task force's constraints, and I will take it as a given that simplification
is desirable.
Published: 09/09/09
Availability:
HTML
| PDF
Activist Fiscal Policy to Stabilize Economic Activity (Research Report)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
Facing the most severe recession since the 1930s, and probably the longest as well, the
U.S. government has adopted an aggressive countercyclical fiscal policy stance, beginning with the “Economic Stimulus Act of 2008” in February of that year, shortly after the recession’s designated starting date, and followed one year later by the much larger “American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009.” These two bills, adopted under different presidents, both contained temporary tax rebates for households and temporary investment incentives for firms, indicating at least limited bipartisan acceptance of these approaches to countercyclical stimulus.
Published: 08/24/09
Availability:
HTML
| PDF
Here Comes the Next Fiscal Crisis (Commentary)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
Los Angeles Times op-ed, July 8, 2009. In the immediate future, policymakers will face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale examine the economic challenges facing the U.S.
Published: 07/10/09
Availability:
HTML
An Update on the Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond (Research Report)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
his paper reviews recent economic events and their impact on U.S. fiscal performance and prospects. We highlight the historic nature of the 2009 budget outcomes, the unsustainability of plausible ten-year budget projections, and the increasingly dire long-term fiscal problem. These conditions leave federal policy makers with difficult choices. Over the next several years, as the recession ends and the economy recovers, policy makers will face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. Even if a successful recovery ensues, however, medium-term and long-term fiscal problems have become increasingly urgent.
Published: 06/25/09
Availability:
HTML
| PDF
The Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond (Research Report)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
In 2009, the federal deficit will be larger as a share of the economy than at any time since the 1940s. After 2009, we project an average deficit of $1 trillion per year for the next 10 years, under optimistic assumptions. The longer-run picture is even bleaker, with a fiscal gap of 7-9 percent of GDP -- between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion annually in current dollars. Recent trends in credit default swap markets suggest that although fiscal policy problems are usually described as medium- and long-term issues, these problems may be upon us much sooner than previously expected.
Published: 02/19/09
Availability:
HTML
| PDF
Taxes under Obama and McCain (Article)
Author(s):
William G. Gale , Benjamin H. Harris
Tax policy has been a major issue in the Presidential election campaign, with both candidates proposing extensive changes. The candidates take very different approaches to tax policy. The main differences are two: first, McCain’s plans would reduce revenues by significantly more than Obama’s; and second, McCain’s would be substantially less progressive, especially among very high income taxpayers. From the standpoint of growth or simplicity, both plans disappoint. It is hard to believe that either set of changes would have significant growth effects on the economy.
Published: 11/03/08
Availability:
PDF
Deficit: What Caused It, Why It Matters (Commentary)
Author(s):
Alan J. Auerbach , William G. Gale
CNNMoney.com op-ed, July 30, 2009. William Gale and Alan Auerbach explain that the government is spending more than it's bringing in, resulting in a deficit. They explain why that gap must be brought under control.
Published: 07/30/08
Availability:
HTML
Facing the Music: The Fiscal Outlook at the End of the Bush Administration (Document)
Author(s):
William G. Gale , Jason Furman , Alan J. Auerbach
With the economy rocked by mortgage defaults, illiquidity in financial markets, a falling dollar, and declining consumer confidence, fiscal matters have been placed on the back burner to some extent by policy makers and commentators. However, the fiscal problems facing the country not only won't go away by themselves, but are actively getting worse with the passage of time and continuing inaction. This paper discusses the most recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline projection, and uses it to examine the causes of the fiscal decline since 2000 and the medium- and longer-term fiscal outlook . The full paper is available on the Brookings web site at http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/0508_tax_gale.aspx
Published: 05/15/08
Availability:
HTML
Individual Taxpayers and Federal Tax Reform: Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Finance (Testimony)
Author(s):
William G. Gale
In the next few years, several factors will push tax issues to the forefront of policy discussions. First, under current law, almost all of the Bush Administration's tax cuts will expire at the end of 2010. A second factor is the rapid growth in the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which will increase the inequity and complexity of the tax system. A third issue is the expected increase in government spending over the next several decades. Despite these pressures on the system, tax changes are not inevitable, and achieving meaningful reform—that is, with substantial design improvements—will require strong political leadership. Gale's testimony focuses on some overarching principles that should guide tax reform efforts.
Published: 05/14/08
Availability:
HTML
| PDF
|
|
by topic