Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

Estate Tax a Killer for Family-Owned Businesses and Their Workers

Congress should repeal the estate tax once and for all to remove an unfair burden from the backs of American family-owned businesses and their workers.

Bipartisan Entitlement Commission Needed to Control Spending and Debt

A fiscal reform commission is essential to tackling the coming tsunami of entitlement spending and deficit red ink that threaten the economy.

Seven Reasons Why Congress Should Repeal, Not Fix, the Death Tax

Policymakers should do what their voters want them to do: They should repeal the death tax and kill it, once and forever.

Obama's $250 Bonus Turns Social Security into Welfare

President Obama wants to give each Social Security recipient $250. But this would start converting the program to a welfare program.

Social Security's Unexpected Deficits Show Urgent Need for Reform

Social Security's deficits are likely to be permanent, and the only way out of this cash crunch is to fix the program.

Congress's Health Care Bills Would Increase Spending and Federal Budget Deficits

Both the House health care reform bill (H.R. 3200) and the bill authored by Senator Baucus would increase government spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, even after assuming massive "savings" from cutting waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid. If lawmakers can easily cut nearly $1 trillion in waste from Medicare and Medicaid over the next 20 years, they should do so to reduce Medicare's $36 trillion unfunded obligation, not to fund massive new health care benefits.

President Obama's Agenda Would Bring $13 Trillion in Budget Deficits, Not $9 Trillion

President Obama's budget will likely produce $13 trillion in deficit spending over the next 10 years--nearly $4 trillion more than forecast. The White House figures are based on unrealistic estimates of discretionary spending, interest payments, and interest rates. The White House also used budget gimmicks to hide the full cost of certain entitlements and failed to account for the full costs of cap-and-trade energy legislation and health care reform.

Congressional Spenders Ignore Deepening Government Waste

To get a handle on how out of control federal spending has become, consider this: It surged to $30,000 per household in 2009. That's up from $21,000 (adjusted for inflation) in the 1980s and '90s. Yet rather than cut back, Congress plans to spend even more.

New Priorities Require New Budget Process

As federal spending soars past $30,000 per household, America finds itself at a fork in the road. Realistic budget estimates show unsustainable trillion-dollar budget deficits as far as the eye can see.

A Tale of Two $250s

This fall, as American families anticipate the holiday season and an uncertain economy in 2010, they're likely to decide to cut back. Maybe they'll stay home for Thanksgiving instead of flying to Grandma's house. They'll put fewer gifts under the Christmas tree.

Turning Social Security into Welfare

Seems simple: Social Security recipients will get no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year, so President Obama wants to give each of them $250. The Republican House and Senate leadership support the move in principle.

Tax the Wealthy Even More? That's Rich

Your parents probably told you that you can't get something for nothing. But your government is sending a very different message. For now, at least. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center recently released a report finding that almost half (47 percent) of American households will pay no income taxes this year.

Obama Would Create $13 Trillion Deficit

President Obama's budget office recently caused a stir when it projected that his tax-and-spend agenda would leave more than $9 trillion in new budget deficits over the next decade - doubling the national debt. Now, it appears even that figure was too low.

Where Government Fails, Room for Private Charities to Thrive

According to a recently released federal government report, the U.S. poverty rate is at its highest level since 1987. Some 13.2 percent of Americans -- 39.8 million -- live in poverty.

Understanding Poverty in America: What the Census Bureau doesn't count

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual poverty report. The report is expected to show an increase in poverty in 2008 due to the onset of the recession. It is no surprise that poverty goes up in a recession. What is surprising is that every year for nearly three decades, in good economic times and bad, Census has reported more than 30 million Americans living in poverty.