Taxes

The Fiscal Challenge for the Next Recession

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 was nearly $1 trillion. “In the next downturn, don’t be surprised if this number hits $2 trillion,” writes Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal’s...
Investors Eye Volatility from ‘Fiscal Dysfunction’

By Michael Rainey

Reviewing its outlook for 2020, the investment team at New York fund manager Neuberger Berman recently discussed the economic risks associated with “fiscal dysfunction” – the government’s inability...
Biden: Trump Tax Cuts ‘a Disaster for the Middle Class’

By Michael Rainey

Joe Biden has been criticized by his fellow Democrats for insisting that as president he would be able to work with the Republican Party – the same party that rejected much of the Democratic economic...
After Trump’s Cuts, US Taxes Are Fourth Lowest in the Developed World

By Michael Rainey

Total U.S. taxes as a share of the economy fell to 24.3% last year, thanks in large part to the tax cuts signed into law by President Trump in 2017, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and...
Biden Unveils $3.2 Trillion Tax Plan Targeting Corporations Like Amazon

By Yuval Rosenberg

Joe Biden rolled out a plan Wednesday to raise $3.2 trillion in additional taxes over 10 years, with the wealthy and corporations paying more to cover the cost of spending proposals on health care,...

Bad News for Charity on Giving Tuesday

By Michael Rainey

“Despite Giving Tuesday and despite all the charitable appeals that almost certainly landed in inboxes, charitable donations by individuals declined by slightly more than 1 percent in 2018, according...
Only One Demographic Group Opposes Warren’s Wealth Tax

By Yuval Rosenberg

The idea of a wealth tax like the one proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren is popular with a broad swath of voters, Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley of The New York Times report . A new nationwide poll...
Chart of the Day: Record Low Poverty Rate

By Michael Rainey

The extensive array of government assistance programs — including Social Security, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, nutritional aid, rental assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit —...
Public Investment Is the Key to Avoiding Economic Stagnation: Report

By Michael Rainey

Economic stagnation on a global scale is a growing threat, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The group’s November economic outlook...
Pushing Back Against the Wealth Tax at the Dem Debate

By Michael Rainey

Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended her proposed wealth tax at the Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night: “I’m tired of freeloading billionaires,” Warren said . “I think it's time that we ask...

Bernie Sanders Wants to Undo Trump’s Corporate Tax Cut – and Much More

By Michael Rainey

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to raise the top corporate income tax to 35%, the same level it was before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered it to 21 percent. In a sweeping...
Trump’s Tax Cuts Cost Homeowners $1 Trillion: Analysis

By Michael Rainey

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has cost millions of homeowners a collective $1 trillion in lost property values, says Allan Sloan, a former senior editor at Fortune and now an editor at large at...
Are We Asking the Wrong Question About Trump's Tax Cuts?

By Michael Rainey

Most economists say it will take years to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but Greg Leiserson, director of tax policy at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, isn’...
2019 Deficit Was Just Under $1 Trillion, Highest in 7 Years: CBO

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2019 grew to $984 billion, or 4.7% of GDP, the highest since 2012, the Congressional Budget Office estimated on Monday. The total for 2019 is 26% higher...
The Incredible Shrinking Tax Rate for the Rich

By Michael Rainey

The highest-income households in the U.S. have seen an enormous reduction in their overall tax burdens since 1950, a development highlighted Sunday by The New York Times’ columnist David Leonhardt,...