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Is Obama Tax Hiker in Chief? Not Exactly
Conservatives like to say that President Obama has been responsible for massive tax increases. It is wonderful rhetoric that plays to the big tax image Democrats have been saddled with for...
View ArticleRomney’s Tax Plan: Big Benefits for the Wealthy and Higher Deficits
A new Tax Policy Center analysis finds that Mitt Romney’s tax plan would cut taxes for millions of households but bestow most of its benefits on those with the highest incomes. At the same time, it...
View ArticleThe Santorum Plan: Tax Cuts for (Nearly) All
Rick Santorum, who may have won the Iowa caucuses after all, favors a huge broad-based tax cut that would massively increase the budget deficit. According to new estimates by my colleagues at the Tax...
View ArticleHow Will Romney Pay for His Tax Cuts?
Mitt Romney has proposed massive new tax cuts and promised to balance the federal budget. How will he achieve these seemingly contradictory goals? For now, he isn’t saying. And, in fact, his campaign...
View ArticleRyan’s Mystery Meat Budget
I am weary of mystery meat. The latest serving was dished out today by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), who released a fiscal plan that airily promises both trillions of dollars in...
View ArticleThe Budget Message Paul Ryan Really Sent
Paul Ryan may not have intended it, but his 2013 budget is the strongest argument I’ve seen for why any serious fiscal plan must include new revenues. It’s far more convincing than partisan Democratic...
View ArticleTaxes Don’t Always Drive the Economy–Sometimes the Economy Drives Taxes
Don’t tell my Tax Policy Center colleagues I said this, but it isn’t always about taxes. If you listened to the presidential campaign this week, you’d think the very fate of the nation rests on what...
View ArticleSenate Democrats Would Keep Dividend Taxes Low, But Why?
Senate Democrats, who will vote this week to allow most of the 2001/2003 tax cuts to expire for high-income households, are likely to make an exception for capital gains and dividends. Under their...
View ArticleWhat the Dueling Senate Bills on Expiring Tax Cuts Would Mean for Taxpayers
As early as today, the Senate is likely to vote on the first of two competing efforts to temporarily extend tax cuts passed between 2001 and 2010. Neither the Democratic nor Republican measures will...
View ArticleWhy Romney’s Tax Agenda Doesn’t Add Up, Even if it Isn’t a Middle-Class Tax Hike
A new paper by Brookings Institution scholars and Tax Policy Center colleagues Bill Gale, Adam Looney, and Samuel Brown is generating lots of media buzz. Even Barack Obama has put his spin on it with a...
View ArticleWill Romney Scale Back Rate Cuts If Congress Won’t Curb Tax Breaks?
Yesterday, Kevin Hassett, an American Enterprise Institute economist and informal adviser to Mitt Romney, insisted that Romney would not raise taxes on low- and middle-income households in order to...
View ArticleCan Romney Cut Taxes for the Rich Without Reducing Their Share of Taxes? Yes,...
President Obama says Governor Romney will cut taxes for high-income households by $250,000. Romney counters that under his plan, the rich will pay the same share of taxes they do today. Who’s right? It...
View ArticleFive Things You Should Know about Mitt Romney’s “$5 Trillion Tax Cut”
You’ve probably heard claims that Mitt Romney wants to cut taxes by $5 trillion. Here are five things you should know about that figure: 1. $5 trillion is the gross amount of tax cuts he has proposed,...
View ArticleA Disappointing Presidential Campaign Comes to an End
With the U.S. facing huge domestic policy challenges, one might have hoped for a serious debate on fiscal issues between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. One would have been deeply disappointed. Rather...
View ArticleGive Now or Pay Later: The Ever-Changing Estate and Gift Tax
For over a decade, the federal estate and gift tax has been in constant flux with its exemption rising, its rates falling, and its near-death experience in 2010 followed by resurrection in a reduced...
View ArticleHouse GOP Would Need $5.7 Trillion in Tax Hikes to Offset Ryan Rate Cuts
House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) fiscal plan promises to balance the federal budget in 10 years, make major cuts in income tax rates for both individuals and corporations, and raise the...
View Article“Common Sense” Aside, What Do We Really Know About Capital Income Taxes and...
If you’re discussing tax policy with someone who asserts that his or her point is “just common sense,” this could indicate one of two things: Either no deep thought is required—as the person would have...
View ArticleIn the Midwest, Across the Pacific, and Down Under
Looks like there’ll be tax cuts in Ohio. The state’s legislature has produced a compromise bill that heads to Republican Governor John Kasich’s desk this week. Ohio had passed a 10-percent...
View ArticleHighways, Pensions, Deficits and Reform: A Long and Winding Road
“Are we there yet?” It’s just a little (or a lot) further for the federal Highway Trust Fund. Congress just left for a week-long recess, leaving the Highway Trust Fund nearly empty. The Senate Finance...
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What’s The Matter With Kansas And Its Tax Cuts? It Can’t Do Math
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and his state legislature have embarked on a wonderful natural experiment. Once again we are testing the question: Can tax cuts pay for themselves? The answer-- yet...
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