President Obama released his fiscal year 2014 budget almost two months after it was due by law. With all that extra time, the President had plenty of opportunity to clearly account for his tax increases. But like his budgets from previous years, this year’s effort hides the total tax increase he proposes.[1] For example, rather than put it with the other major tax…

President Obama proposes to cap the total value of taxpayers’ defined-contribution retirement savings accounts—such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s—according to the maximum benefit permitted under defined-benefit plans. In 2013, that would be around $3.4 million.[1] This proposal would be a step backwards for savings policy, because it would increase…

Congress continues to work toward badly needed fundamental tax reform, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R–MI) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D–MT) are leading the way. Chairman Camp in particular is carefully and methodically laying the necessary groundwork. As the congressional tax writing committees move forward on broad structural…

Right now, Americans are enduring the pain of filling out confusing tax forms before the April 15 deadline for completing their 2012 income taxes. The frustration they feel today will be even worse next year, however. That is when they will feel the sting of recent tax increases resulting from the fiscal cliff deal Congress struck earlier this year[1]: Higher…

The first round of what have come to be known as the Bush tax cuts went into effect 12 years ago. Now that a more than decade-long debate has mercifully ended, like a story on where the stars of popular 1980s sitcoms are today, it is instructive to look back and see what happened to the Bush tax cuts. Their Origin Back in 2001, President George W. Bush had just entered…

Congress and President Obama hurriedly agreed to a “fiscal cliff” deal on January 1, after the New Year’s Eve deadline. Given the hasty vote, a summary of what the deal did and did not do is in order. Permanence a Victory for Taxpayers The deal did not extend all the tax policies that made up the “Taxmageddon” portion of the fiscal cliff, but it did extend most of…

Tax reform proposals like Heritage’s New Flat Tax, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp’s plan, and Governor Mitt Romney’s plan are susceptible to unfair attacks by the media, think tanks, and politicians. President Obama, for example, completely misstates the facts regarding Governor Mitt Romney’s tax reform proposal by citing an unfair think tank analysis.[1]…