President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget proposal explicitly claims a $1.561 trillion tax hike over 10 years, as reported by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).[1] This is a vast understatement, because that figure fails to account for all of the President’s tax increases and improperly claims credit for reducing tax receipts from tax cuts that are not…
Abstract: There is little dispute that the current federal income tax is in real need of an overhaul. The heart of tax reform 2011 is to achieve a stronger economy through the adoption of a more economically neutral tax system featuring much lower marginal tax rates. But current discussions of tax reform have been mistakenly caught in the debate over how to cut current…
The FY 2013 version of the Appropriations Tracker is available here. Download a PDF version with hyperlinks to House and Senate Appropriations Committee documents: Appropriations Tracker: FY 2012 Designed to inform American policymakers and citizens, the Appropriations Tracker: FY 2012 monitors the progress of appropriations bills as they move through the…
Supporters of the Dodd financial regulatory bill list as one of its key virtues that it “solves” the problem of financial institutions that are seen as being “too big to fail.” Unfortunately, this is not the case. While the bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee includes a faulty mechanism for closing financial institutions whose failure could damage the entire…
The Senate is expected to take up a proposal, originally authored by Senator Chris Dodd (D–CT), to reform the financial regulatory system in the U.S. The goal is clear: to minimize the chances that another financial crisis—and bailouts—will arise again. The objective is a good one. Unfortunately, the 1,408-page bill includes numerous provisions that would hurt—not…
JD Foster discussing the staffing problems the U.S Treasury Department is having.…
Mike Franc commenting on Tim Geither as Secretary of Treasury.…
With the Senate's rejection of a bailout for Detroit's ailing automakers, there comes word that President Bush is actively considering using funds allocated by Congress for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to prop up the automakers for the time being.[1] Such action would be legally wrong, economically wrong, and counterproductive to turning around…
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently announced yet another change in direction of the "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP), sowing more uncertainty and confusion in the very financial markets the program is supposed to stabilize. Instead of buying mortgage-backed assets as originally intended, Paulson says he is now considering three alternative…
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson discusses the benefits of a rapid move toward a free market economy in China from the Heritage Foundation.…
The recent publication of "A Dynamic Analysis of Permanent Extension of the President's Tax Relief"[1] marks an important and informative departure for the Office of Tax Analysis (OTA) in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It is the OTA's first public attempt to do a dynamic analysis of a major legislative initiative-the President's proposal to make permanent…
The President's fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget submission to Congress includes a number of important initiatives. Among them is a plan to create a Dynamic Analysis Division within the Office of Tax Analysis (OTA) in the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Dynamic analysis gauges the impact on federal tax revenues of the changes in output and incomes induced by changes…
As bad as the political persecution of conservatives by the IRS is—and it is really bad—if the IRS were to replace...…
With the announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder of a criminal investigation of the IRS over the agency’s...…
Over the weekend, the IRS scandal got even more bizarre. Various news organizations got a look at a still-unreleased...…
Reports that the federal government will put a little bit of money toward the massive federal debt for the first time...…
Despite a fiscal cliff and sequestration worries, more than $1.2 billion in cash payments for energy projects (in lieu...…
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently released statistics on U.S. exports for January, but failed to mention...…
So much for basketball diplomacy. Dennis Rodman’s meeting with his new BFF Kim Jong-un didn’t prevent the regime from...…
China has fallen behind Japan as the largest foreign holder of U.S. securities. The Department of the Treasury’s new...…
President Obama has nominated White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to succeed Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary....…
One of the little known costs that taxpayers unwittingly pay is the Judgment Fund administered by the Treasury...…