News
Market Watch | Taxpayers still on hook for $119 bln in TARP funds
Taxpayers are still owed $119 billion in outstanding Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, a watchdog for the government crisis response program said Wednesday in a quarterly report to Congress.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | A Payroll Tax Cut Could Help Social Security
After decades of delay, Congress and the next president will need to take steps to restore Social Security's finances and improve Americans' retirement income security. Although it might seem counterintuitive, one positive step toward achieving both goals is to cut the 12.4% payroll tax for workers nearing retirement, say, at age 62.
Real Clear Markets | What If We Had Overhauled Our Tax Code?
One of the biggest economic policy decisions facing our nation this year will be whether to extend the Bush tax cuts come December 2012. Ominously labeled "Taxmageddon," a host of tax policy changes are set to occur at year-end, and there truly is much at stake: $3.67 trillion of additional tax revenue over 10 years from the Bush tax cuts alone.
WSJ | Obama's Budget Means a Tax Increase on Everyone
The defeat in the Senate of the so-called "Buffett Rule"—that targets millionaires for a tax increase—marks one more step in the election-year discussion about raising taxes on higher-income individuals to close the nation's yawning budget gap.
CBO | Federal Support for State and Local Governments Through the Tax Code
My testimony focuses on two particular aspects of current policy: (1) the use of tax-preferred bonds by state and local governments for subsidizing investment in capital-intensive projects for such things as highways, water resources, and school buildings and (2) the deductibility of state and local taxes.
Blogs
Tax Foundation | Nobel Laureate Economist: Prices Don’t Matter
In today's Wall Street Journal, Nobel laureate Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez write "High Tax Rates Won't Slow Growth". This is certainly out of the box thinking - the box that defines the foundation of economics.
The American | 7 reasons why higher tax rates hurt economic growth (A response to Diamond and Saez)
Diamond and Saez argue that high tax rates tend to “go with higher economic growth.” As evidence, they note that per capita GDP growth averaged 1.68% between 1980 and 2010 when top tax rates were “relatively low,” while growth averaged 2.23% between 1950 and 1980 when rates were at or above 70%. In addition, they find “no clear correlation between economic growth since the 1970s and top tax-rate cuts across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.”
Heritage Foundation | Of Course Higher Taxes Slow Growth — A Response to Diamond and Saez
In The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez present a rambling defense of higher taxes on the rich to fund an engorged federal government. That they needed to throw out so many tired and errant arguments shows their entire argument is so much hot air.
The American | Actually, the Diamond-Saez op-ed in the WSJ is even worse than I first thought
Why would Diamond and Saez start from 1970s instead of 1980? Margaret Thatcher didn’t take office until 1979, Ronald Reagan until 1981? If you run the numbers from 1981-2010, you find out, for instance, that the U.S. economy grew by 62% vs. 46% for France. And the UK grew by 78% vs. 57% for Germany.
