From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. … Read more
Curtis Dubay discusses the payroll tax debate. … Read more
How a nation treats its veterans says a great deal about the kind of nation it is. To provide an adequate defense, America has to achieve three vitally important objectives with respect to compensation and benefits for those who serve and have served in the armed forces: … Read more
Chairman Conrad, Ranking Member Sessions, Members of the Senate Budget Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is J.D. Foster. I am the Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are… Read more
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. Raising people's taxes is a bad idea, especially in a down economy. But making tax cuts… Read more
The August jobs report showing exactly zero net job creation and an unemployment rate hovering above 9 percent have reinforced the imperative among Washington policymakers to focus on job creation policies in the waning months of 2011. The focus is certainly right, but most of the policies under consideration would… Read more
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. People in Washington keep twisting words to leave false impressions that make them look good. … Read more
Saving the American Dream is The Heritage Foundation’s plan to fix the debt, cut spending and, above all, restore prosperity. It balances the nation’s budget within a decade—and keeps it balanced. It reduces the debt and cuts government… Read more
Abstract: The hodgepodge of new taxes that have already or will soon take effect as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may not all show up in the income tax tables, but their huge cost is still very real. This… Read more
Like a Roman Legion advancing against its enemy, Social Security's future problems approach slowly, but their arrival is inevitable. Rome's legions lined up behind a wall of shields that moved slowly across battlefields with a discipline that few others possessed. Enemies did not know the exact moment when the legions would reach them, and the… Read more
Gas prices have been soaring. According to the Energy Information Administration at the U.S. Department of Energy, gas prices--which have increased by as much as 50 percent in the past year--are likely to continue to rise into the summer, if not beyond. This price increase is hitting many Americans hard, and they… Read more
The nonprofit group Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) recently published a report titled “Corporate Income Taxes in the Bush Years.”[1] The study examines the annual financial reports of a group of large U.S. corporations and purports to show “the federal income taxes paid or not paid by 275… Read more
Regardless of whose numbers you use, Social Security needs to be fixed. This makes Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) promise to deal with the program's coming deficits early in his administration, as well as Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) understanding of the program's fiscal situation, welcome news. While updated Congressional Budget Office (CBO)[1]… Read more
Depending on how they are structured, add-on accounts in Social Security would either force workers to pay twice for the same benefit or end up hurting the very people who most need additional retirement security. These accounts are the direct opposite of President George W. Bush's plan to establish personal retirement accounts in Social Security… Read more
An economy floundering and an election looming have President Obama thrashing about for a viable jobs policy. Obama has spent the nation into unsustainable deficits, leaving little room for additional policy. And as Senator Michael Bennett (D–CO) correctly pointed out, “We have nothing to show for it.”[1] The… Read more
Abstract: The Economic Freedom Act, proposed by Representative Jim Jordan, would terminate the ineffective Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and substitute a proven way to stimulate the economy: tax relief—from permanent repeal of the capital gains and death taxes to significant reductions in payroll… Read more
Abstract: The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act could be considered an excellent piece of legislation--if, that is, the goal of the legislation was to ensure massive Social Security deficits without creating a single new job. Yet another attempt by the federal government to coerce companies into hiring more… Read more
President Bush's budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2009 restrains domestic discretionary spending, halves earmarks, extends the tax cuts, and reforms Medicare to contain its surging costs. Unfortunately, Congress is not likely to address major entitlements or tax cuts in an election year. Instead, Congress will most likely shorten the… Read more
This week, House Democrats released their preemptive response to the retirement security bill that House Republicans have been crafting over the past several months. "AmeriSave: A Democratic Plan for Retirement Security" consists of a modest series of recycled good ideas that would mainly help middle- and upper-class workers to save for retirement. The proposal completely… Read more
The political battle over extending the payroll tax holiday is understandably confusing for many Americans, so it is...… Read more
On the front page of the White House's website, a clock slowly ticks away, second by second, counting down to the day,...… Read more
As the clock counts down toward Christmas, Congress still has major unfinished business to attend to. Not that we...… Read more
House Republicans return to Washington today to vote on a two-month payroll tax extension. If news reports are...… Read more
On Friday, December 9, 2011, Representative Dave Camp (R-MI), with several cosponsors, introduced H.R. 3630, the "Middle...… Read more
President Obama and Republicans in Congress continue to wage war over an extension of the payroll tax cut. But missing...… Read more
In an exclusive interview with The Heritage Foundation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sharply...… Read more
In preparation for today’s bipartisan Health Care Summit, President Obama released his own version of health care...… Read more
The latest attempt by Congress to wrestle the high unemployment rate is the HIRE Act, which is little more than a tax...… Read more
The White House recently released President Obama’s health care reform proposal. The plan incorporates a mixture of the...… Read more