Twenty-five years ago today, President Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 into law. Happy silver anniversary, tax reform! Over at the Tax Policy Center, Len Burman and Gene Steuerle, both Treasury staffers at the time, and Howard Gleckman, who covered the proceedings for BusinessWeek, offer personal reflections on how TRA86 happened and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Happy Anniversary, Tax Reform
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Politics, Taxes on October 22, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Taxes and Energy Policy
Posted in Budget, Energy, Environment, Politics, tagged Energy, Environment, Politics, Taxes on September 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Last week I had the opportunity to testify before two Ways and Means subcommittees–Select Revenue Measures and Oversight–about the way our tax system is used as a tool of energy policy. Here are my opening remarks. You can find my full testimony here. As you know, our tax system is desperately in need of reform. It’s needlessly complex, economically [...]
Debt Limit: Routine or the End of the World?
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Debt, Debt Limit, Humor, Politics on July 29, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Well, it certainly isn’t routine this time. Life was much simpler on the West Wing: This is a repost from May.
Why Do Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax?
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Budget, Income, Politics, Taxes on July 27, 2011 | 66 Comments »
You may have heard the claim that about half of Americans pay no federal income tax. That’s a true fact. My Tax Policy Center colleagues estimate, for example, that 46% of households either will pay no federal income tax in 2011 or will receive more from the IRS than they pay in. Today, TPC released a new study that [...]
A Big Error in the Senate Republicans’ Balanced Budget Amendment
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Budget, Debt, Deficit, Politics on July 6, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Senate Republicans made a striking error in the balanced budget amendment they introduced last week. As written, the amendment would limit federal spending far more than those senators realize or, I suspect, desire. The Republicans want the budget to be balanced by keeping spending down rather than by raising tax revenues. They thus propose limiting [...]
The Cost of Sunshine: Hugo Chavez Edition
Posted in Politics, tagged Politics on July 5, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Campaign systems often rely on disclosure (e.g., of campaign contributions and petition signing) to limit corruption and inform the voting public. Such sunshine provides important benefits, but, as I’ve noted before (here and here), it can also have costs. For example, disclosure makes it easier for politicians to identify their supporters and opponents and, if they are [...]
Spending in Disguise
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Budget, Debt Limit, Politics, Taxes on June 29, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Republicans are demanding a deficit-reduction package that’s entirely spending cuts. Democrats insist that revenues must also be included. Are these positions completely irreconcilable? Not if both sides are willing to attack the spending hidden in our tax code. I explore this idea for finding common ground in a new essay in National Affairs, “Spending in [...]
Don’t Fall for a Repatriation Holiday
Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged Politics, Taxes on June 27, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Recent weeks has brought much chatter — from both Republicans and Democrats — about offering companies a temporary tax holiday for repatriating foreign earnings. A typical proposal would effectively tax any repatriated earnings at 5.25% this year, rather than the usual rates which can be as a high as 35%. Proponents tout this as a [...]
Playing with Fire with the Debt Limit
Posted in Budget, Finance, Politics, tagged Debt, Debt Limit, Finance, Politics, Treasury on June 24, 2011 | 3 Comments »
My latest column in the Christian Science Monitor: America sometimes takes its exceptionalism too far. Case in point: We are the only major economy that talks openly of default. Government debt has ballooned throughout the developed world in the aftermath of the Great Recession. France and Britain are as deep in debt as the United States, [...]
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