No issue has stumped policymakers more than how to provide healthcare to its citizens in an efficient and fair manner. Every recent health "fix" has involved trying to buy health reform by devoting even more dollars to it. In simply throwing more money into the system, they add to, rather than...
When President Bush announced his appointment of Henry Paulson of Goldman Sachs as Treasury Secretary, the press quickly popped the obvious question to former Treasury officials like me: "Why would he want to be secretary, especially this late in a president's tenure?"
In this commentary, Len Burman offers a radical proposal: use the tax system to bring in tax revenues and spending programs to provide the social safety net.
The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 will extend the low tax rates on capital gains and dividends through 2010, grant temporary relief from the individual alternative minimum tax through 2006, and extend several expiring business tax breaks. To prevent Senators from raising...
The United States raises less tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2003, taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP,...
Citizens pay an overall marriage penalty when their combined social welfare benefits less taxes are lower when they are a married couple than when they are two single individuals. Because marriage is optional, marriage penalties or subsidies are assessed primarily for taking wedding vows, not...
Using dynamic scoring to weigh the effects of tax and spending proposals poses a high risk that ideological biases will pollute the analysis, senior fellow Rudolph Penner warns in a Ripon Forum commentary. The former director of the Congressional Budget Office also points out that...
Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic...
Anyone familiar with tax and expenditure legislation knows full well that interest groups constantly win special favors from federal and state legislators. For a long time I have struggled with how to make better use of the principle of equal justice to restrain or eliminate bad policy. Here are...
Work may be a four-letter word to some citizens in slow-growing Western European economies, but Americans know better. Senior fellow Eugene Steuerle explains why our work habits are suddenly so important.
Can We Buy Our Way to Health Reform?
No issue has stumped policymakers more than how to provide healthcare to its citizens in an efficient and fair manner. Every recent health "fix" has involved trying to buy health reform by devoting even more dollars to it. In simply throwing more money into the system, they add to, rather than...
Paulsonibilities
When President Bush announced his appointment of Henry Paulson of Goldman Sachs as Treasury Secretary, the press quickly popped the obvious question to former Treasury officials like me: "Why would he want to be secretary, especially this late in a president's tenure?"
Tax and Spend
In this commentary, Len Burman offers a radical proposal: use the tax system to bring in tax revenues and spending programs to provide the social safety net.
Roth Conversions as Revenue Raisers: Smoke and Mirrors
The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 will extend the low tax rates on capital gains and dividends through 2010, grant temporary relief from the individual alternative minimum tax through 2006, and extend several expiring business tax breaks. To prevent Senators from raising...
The U.S. Tax Burden Is Low Relative to Other OECD Countries
The United States raises less tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) than most other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2003, taxes in the United States, including all levels of government, amounted to 25.6 percent of GDP,...
The Widespread Prevalence of Marriage Penalties
Citizens pay an overall marriage penalty when their combined social welfare benefits less taxes are lower when they are a married couple than when they are two single individuals. Because marriage is optional, marriage penalties or subsidies are assessed primarily for taking wedding vows, not...
Dynamic Scoring: Not so Fast!
Using dynamic scoring to weigh the effects of tax and spending proposals poses a high risk that ideological biases will pollute the analysis, senior fellow Rudolph Penner warns in a Ripon Forum commentary. The former director of the Congressional Budget Office also points out that...
New Estimates of the Budget Outlook
Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic...
Reform and Equal Justice
Anyone familiar with tax and expenditure legislation knows full well that interest groups constantly win special favors from federal and state legislators. For a long time I have struggled with how to make better use of the principle of equal justice to restrain or eliminate bad policy. Here are...
Working to Fix our Fiscal Woes
Work may be a four-letter word to some citizens in slow-growing Western European economies, but Americans know better. Senior fellow Eugene Steuerle explains why our work habits are suddenly so important.