Marketplace Commentaries

• Jan. 19, 2009 - "Experiment to get best stimulus results," Marketplace, commentary
  Lawmakers are still debating President-elect Obama's stimulus package and what will work best to boost our economy. Commentator Len Burman says "experimenting" by assigning different "treatments" to different states will help get the best results from the stimulus and maybe even help in the future.

• Apr. 17, 2008 - "McCain's gas-tax plan is on empty," Marketplace, commentary
  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain wants to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer travel season. Truckers say they like the idea. But commentator and tax expert Len Burman says McCain's proposal won't get us where he wants to go.

• Jan. 8, 2008 - "Huckabee Tax Plan Would Be A Disaster," Marketplace, commentary
  Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center, explains why presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's FairTax proposal is misnamed.

• May 1, 2007 - "Back to taxing the rich," Marketplace, commentary
  Democrats say they're close to an agreement to roll the AMT off the middle class and back to its original intent: to tax the very wealthy. Republicans have promised to fight such a move, but that could push swing voters away these days, Bob Moon reports.

• Mar. 21, 2007 - "What's the alternative to the AMT?," Marketplace, commentary
  Lawmakers meet on Capitol Hill on Thursday to search for an alternative to the alternative minimum tax. Getting rid of it won't be easy. The federal treasury depends on it.  Bob Moon reports.

• Jan. 9, 2007 - "It's all about how you raise minimum wage," Marketplace, commentary
  The federal minimum wage hasn't been touched in a decade, but it looks like it'll finally be bumped up to $7.25 an hour. Commentator and economist Len Burman says we oughta be doing this more often.

• Dec. 8, 2006 - "Doing nothing's a good thing," Marketplace, commentary
  Commentator Leonard Burman says that while convential wisdom considers it'll be bad if Congress fails to extend tax breaks for education, corporate R&D and other things, he thinks it's great.

• May 16, 2006 - "Tax-Cut politics works, system doesn't ," Marketplace, commentary
  Commentator and economist Leonard Burman says the tax-cut bill President Bush will sign this week is actually not the best way to go about reducing the tax load.

• Dec. 20, 2005 - "Under the sheltering lie," Marketplace, commentary
  Lawmakers will be taking up capital gains and dividend tax breaks right after the New Year. The White House says lowering those taxes will create jobs and opportunity. Tax analyst and commentator Len Burman thinks not.