Congressional Action
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Two Sequestrations
December 28, 2012
This report has been updated to reflect new data. A prominent part of the “fiscal cliff” is the automatic, across-the-board funding reductions known as sequestration. Required under the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), these automatic cuts will occur in both defense and non-defense programs on January 2, 2013 — absent action by the … -
Correcting Misunderstandings About Obama’s Latest Tax Offer Vs. Boehner’s “Plan B”
December 20, 2012
On the tax side of the “fiscal cliff” talks between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, the differences between Obama’s latest offer and Boehner’s “Plan B” proposal are far greater than much of the news coverage has suggested. The same holds true for the differences between … -
Chart Book: The Bush Tax Cuts
December 10, 2012
To provide context for the debate about addressing expiring tax provisions and reducing long-term deficits, we’ve collected some of our charts related to the Bush tax cuts, which show that the tax cuts (1) are costly, (2) have worsened inequality, and (3) should be allowed to expire on schedule for incomes over $250,000. 1. The Bush Tax Cuts Are Costly … -
Media Briefing: Peter Orszag Joins CBPP’s Robert Greenstein to Discuss Tax Rates, Tax Deductions, and the "Fiscal Cliff"
December 6, 2012
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing to address growing interest among policymakers in a cap on itemized deductions as a way to achieve a substantial revenue contribution to deficit reduction while maintaining or lowering current tax rates. -
Fact Sheet: Reducing Federal Deficits Without a Significant Revenue Increase Would Shift Substantial Costs to States
December 6, 2012
If it fails to include significant new revenues, a major legislative package to shrink federal deficits would almost certainly make substantial cuts in federal funds that support states and localities. These cuts likely would force states and localities to reduce the quality and reach of their basic public systems — schools, clean … -
Non-Defense Discretionary Programs Will Face Serious Pressures Under Current Funding Caps
Revised December 6, 2012
President Obama and Congress achieved $1.5 trillion in discretionary program cuts over the next ten years primarily by setting tight caps on annual discretionary funding in the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011.[1] Congress adhered to those caps in 2012 in writing its appropriations bills for that year, but has yet to enact final … -
Deficit-Reduction Package That Lacks Significant Revenues Would Shift Very Substantial Costs to States and Localities
Updated December 5, 2012
If it fails to include significant new revenues, a major legislative package to shrink federal deficits would almost certainly make deep cuts in federal funds that support states and localities as they perform many basic public functions, including educating children, building roads and bridges, protecting public health, and providing law … -
Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, in Response to Republican Budget Offer
December 4, 2012
House Republican leaders portray the deficit-reduction offer that they issued yesterday as a fair middle ground. It isn’t. On the crucial issue of revenues, the new Republican offer proposes $800 billion over ten years. Contrast that with the plan that Erskine Bowles, Alan Simpson, and some members of their commission issued in December 2010, … -
Deficit Reduction Deal Without Substantial New Revenues Would Almost Certainly Force Deep Cuts in Housing Assistance
November 26, 2012
The figures in Tables 1a and 1b showing the estimated effects of sequestration on housing assistance and community development programs have been updated and posted here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3892 Any major legislation to reduce federal budget deficits that does not include substantial new revenues would almost certainly require … -
Congress Has Cut Discretionary Funding By $1.5 Trillion Over Ten Years
Revised November 8, 2012
Policymakers and budget experts generally agree on the need to reduce projected deficits and put the federal budget on a sustainable path. They have focused less attention, however, on the amount of deficit reduction that the 112th Congress and the President have enacted. Reductions in funding for discretionary (i.e., … -
Are Low-Income Programs Enlarging the Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Problem?
Revised November 2, 2012
Several conservative analysts and some journalists lately have cited figures showing substantial growth in recent years in the cost of federal programs for low-income Americans. A recent report the Congressional Research Service prepared for Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) provides one such set of figures.[1] These figures can create … -
$2 Trillion in Deficit Savings Would Achieve Key Goal: Stabilizing the Debt Over the Next Decade
November 1, 2012
Some budget watchers are urging the President and Congress to enact $4 trillion in savings over the next ten years in order to address the deficit problem. The $4 trillion figure has assumed something of a life of its own. In fact, there is no single magic number. For example, policymakers could achieve the most essential … -
The Tension Between Reducing Tax Rates and Reducing Deficits
October 26, 2012
Over the past few months, a number of analyses have highlighted the difficulty of cutting income tax rates deeply, producing a significant revenue contribution to deficit reduction (as part of a larger deficit-reduction package), and maintaining the progressivity of the tax code.[1] Most recently, the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) … -
Payroll Tax Cut and Emergency Unemployment Insurance Still Needed to Support the Recovery
October 16, 2012
Among the various tax and spending measures scheduled to expire at the end of this year, the temporary payroll tax cut enacted in 2010 and emergency federal unemployment insurance (UI) are among the most cost-effective at supporting the economic recovery without endangering efforts to control long-term deficits and debt. Given the state … -
Moving “Dual Eligibles” Into Mandatory Managed Care and Capping Their Federal Funding Would Risk Significant Harm to Poor Seniors and People With Disabilities
October 10, 2012
As policymakers seek to reduce federal budget deficits, they may face proposals to reduce spending on low-income Medicare beneficiaries who also are eligible for Medicaid (the “dual eligibles”) by 1) requiring them to receive both their Medicare- and Medicaid-covered services through a single managed care plan that would operate … -
What Was Actually in Bowles-Simpson — And How Can We Compare it With Other Plans?
October 2, 2012
Many policymakers have said that they “support,” “endorse,” or otherwise look favorably on “Bowles-Simpson” — the budget plan that Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson issued in December 2010 as co-chairs of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.[1] But … -
Misguided “Fiscal Cliff” Fears Pose Challenges to Productive Budget Negotiations
Updated September 24, 2012
The sooner policymakers enact legislation to put the budget on a sustainable long-term path without threatening the vulnerable economic recovery, the better. But, as they prepare for an almost certain post-election "lame duck" session of Congress, policymakers should not make budget decisions with long-term consequences based … -
Romney Budget Proposals Would Necessitate Very Large Cuts in Medicaid, Education, Health Research and Other Programs
Updated September 24, 2012
Governor Mitt Romney’s proposals to cap total federal spending at 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and boost defense spending to 4 percent of GDP would require very large cuts in other programs, both entitlements and discretionary programs. This update of an earlier analysis is based on updated economic and budget … -
Proposed “Tax Reform” Requirements Would Invite Higher Deficits and a Shift in Taxes to Low- and Moderate-Income Families
July 31, 2012
Republican legislation that was introduced in the Senate by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and in the House by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) would establish requirements for tax-reform legislation that could generate higher deficits and substantially shift tax burdens … -
History Shows Spending Cuts in Deficit-Reduction Packages “Stick”
June 27, 2012
Some opponents of including any revenue increases in a deficit-reduction deal — no matter how outweighed by spending cuts — argue that such cuts never “stick.” They claim — as Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform recently did — that “when bipartisan deals are struck promising to … -
Budget Plans Should Not Rely on "Dynamic Scoring"
Revised June 21, 2012
Some Members of Congress and outside groups are calling for the use of "dynamic scoring" to estimate the budgetary effects of major legislation, notably tax reform proposals. In February, for instance, the House passed a bill (H.R. 3582) requiring the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) … -
How Tax Reform Could Become a Trap:
June 8, 2012
Policymakers are increasingly discussing the need for tax reform, with a number of them calling for large cuts in tax rates — to levels well below the Bush tax rates — as a core element of reform. They contend that sweeping but unspecified cuts in tax expenditures (credits, deductions, and other tax preferences) will offset … -
Joint Tax Committee: Raising Threshold for Bush Tax Cuts from $250,000 to $1 Million Would Lose $366 Billion — Nearly Half the Revenue
May 30, 2012
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's proposal to extend President Bush's income tax cuts for households making up to $1 million a year would lose nearly half of the revenue that President Obama's proposal to extend the tax cuts only for households making up to $250,000 would raise, according to new estimates from Congress' Joint Committee on … -
Statement by Robert Greenstein, President, on Speaker Boehner's Recent Remarks Concerning the Debt Limit
May 16, 2012
No one should underestimate the significance of House Speaker John Boehner's declaration yesterday that he will block an increase in the debt limit next winter unless policymakers match each dollar of debt limit increase with at least a dollar in budget cuts, with no revenue increases. This … -
Romney Budget Proposals Would Require Massive Cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Other Programs
Revised May 12, 2012
This report has been superseded by a new version, dated September 24, 2012, that reflects updated data and other information. Click to view the new analysis. Governor Mitt Romney’s proposals to cap total federal spending, boost defense spending, cut taxes, and balance the budget would require extraordinarily large cuts in other programs, both … -
House Budget Bills Would Target Programs for Lower-Income Families While Breaking Last Summer's Bipartisan Deal
Updated May 10, 2012
The House Budget Committee approved on May 7 a package of two bills that would alter the bipartisan deal between President Obama and congressional leaders that was reflected in last summer’s Budget Control Act (BCA). It would eliminate the “sequestration” (automatic cuts) in discretionary programs scheduled for 2013 as … -
Toomey Budget Similar to House-Passed Ryan Budget
May 9, 2012
The Senate may take up, as early as this week, a budget proposal from Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA)[1] that is similar in most important respects to the budget resolution from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which the House passed on March 29. [2] Like the Ryan budget, the Toomey plan (S. Con. Res. 37) would protect and extend tax cuts that … -
A Closer Look at Chairman Ryan's "Sequestration" Proposal
May 8, 2012
On May 7, the House Budget Committee approved a bill designed by Chairman Paul Ryan to alter three aspects of the debt-limit agreement that the President and congressional leaders reached last summer. The bill would produce a total funding level for discretionary programs in fiscal year 2013 that exactly matches the amount in the … -
Eliminating Social Services Block Grant Would Weaken Services for Vulnerable Children, Adults, and Disabled
May 3, 2012
To help generate the savings required by the House-approved budget, the House Ways and Means Committee voted on April 18 to eliminate the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), a uniquely flexible funding source that helps states meet the specialized needs of their most vulnerable populations, primarily low- and moderate-income children and people who are … -
How the Across-the-Board Cuts in the Budget Control Act Will Work
Revised April 27, 2012
A successor piece to this paper is “The Pending Automatic Budget Cuts”, which was published on February 26, 2013, ahead of the March 1st sequestration. Note: OMB issued a report on September 14 that provides initial estimates and settles some legal issues with respect to the sequestration discussed in this analysis. We intend to update this … -
President's Budget Would Reduce Pell Grant Shortfall; Ryan Budget Would Nearly Triple It
April 26, 2012
Even though its costs are expected to remain flat over the next decade,[1] the Pell Grant program, which helps students from low-income families pay for college, faces an $8 billion funding gap in fiscal year 2014 and a $58 billion shortfall through 2022 because the way Congress has funded it in recent years has made its cost appear … -
Media Briefing: The Effect on the Economy of Raising Tax Rates on High-Income Households as Part of a Balanced Effort to Reduce Deficits - What the Evidence Shows
April 25, 2012
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing on Wednesday, April 25 to discuss the Center’s new, comprehensive analysis of recent findings on the economic effects of raising federal income taxes on upper-income taxpayers.
The panel featured leading authorities on tax policy, Leonard E. Burman, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and William G. Gale, Co-Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, and Chye-Ching Huang, Tax Policy Analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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House Bill Would Cut Medicaid Funding for Puerto Rico by About $5.5 Billion Through 2019
April 25, 2012
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to pass legislation on April 25 that would cut federal Medicaid funding for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by about $5.5 billion through 2019, relative to current law. The provision is part of legislation that House Republicans are assembling, and plan to bring to the House floor in … -
Recent Studies Find Raising Taxes on High-Income Households Would Not Harm the Economy
April 24, 2012
Many policymakers and pundits assume that raising federal income taxes on high-income households would have serious adverse consequences for the economy. Yet this belief, which has been subject to extensive research and analysis, does not fare well under scrutiny. As three leading tax economists recently concluded in a … -
Medicaid Maintenance-of-Effort Requirement Does Not Stop States from Fighting Fraud
Updated April 24, 2012
Affordable Care Act provisions requiring states to maintain their eligibility standards and procedures for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program do not impede states’ efforts to ensure program integrity and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, contrary to claims of House members who seek their repeal. Moreover, … -
Media Briefing: Understanding the Annual Reports of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees
April 23, 2012
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing on Monday, April 23 at 4:00 pm (ET) to discuss the 2012 reports of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees.
Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow at the Center and one of Washington’s leading experts on both Social Security and Medicare, and Robert Greenstein, President of CBPP discussed what the reports say about the long-term financial status of Social Security and Medicare.
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Statement of Paul Van de Water, Senior Fellow, on the 2012 Medicare Trustees’ Report
April 23, 2012
The new report from Medicare’s trustees shows little change from last year’s report in the near-term outlook for the program, while indicating that the program continues to face significant financing challenges in the long run. The projected date of insolvency for Medicare’s … -
The False Choice of National Defense Versus Helping the Poor
April 20, 2012
House committees this week approved sharp cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), the elimination of the Social Services Block Grant, and other cuts that would harm large numbers of low- and moderate-income Americans.[1] Proponents claim the cuts are needed to generate enough savings … -
What if Chairman Ryan’s Medicaid Block Grant Had Taken Effect in 2001?
April 20, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicaid to a block grant, which the House recently passed as part of Chairman Ryan’s overall budget plan, would have cut federal Medicaid funds to most states by more than 35 percent by 2010 — and to several of them by more than 50 percent — if it had been … -
Statement by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on Pending House Tax Cut and House Committee SNAP Benefit Cuts
April 18, 2012
The House majority is pursuing legislation this week that makes no economic sense. The full House will pass a $46 billion tax cut that’s advertised as a “job-creating” measure, while the House Agriculture Committee approved a plan today to save $36 billion by cutting the … -
House Agriculture Committee Proposal Would Cut 2 Million Off Food Stamps, Reduce Benefits for More Than 44 Million Others
April 18, 2012
The House Agriculture Committee, which the House-approved budget requires to quickly produce $33 billion in savings over the next decade, approved a proposal today that would obtain the entire amount from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.[1] The cuts — which would come … -
Ryan Budget Would Slash SNAP Funding by $134 Billion Over Ten Years
Updated April 18, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan includes cuts in SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) of $133.5 billion — more than 17 percent — over the next ten years (2013-2022),[1] which would necessitate ending assistance for millions of low-income families, cutting benefits for millions of such … -
New Tax Cuts in Ryan Budget Would Give Millionaires $265,000 on Top of Bush Tax Cuts
Revised April 12, 2012
Even as House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget would impose trillions of dollars in spending cuts, at least 62 percent of which would come from low-income programs,[1] it would enact new tax cuts that would provide huge windfalls to households at the top of the income scale. New analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) … -
Blog Post: Ryan Plan Unlikely to Balance the Budget for Decades
March 28, 2012
Despite its massive spending cuts, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget (which the House is considering this week) would still have a deficit of $287 billion in fiscal year 2022. And the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it wouldn’t produce a surplus until 2040. Chairman Ryan disagrees, saying in … -
Draconian Republican Study Committee Budget Would Cut Federal Medicaid Funding Nearly in Half by 2022
March 28, 2012
The House Republican Study Committee has proposed an alternative budget to the plan designed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan; both will be considered on the House floor this week. As part of its budget, the RSC proposes to end Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and also to repeal the … -
Medicare in the Ryan Budget
March 28, 2012
The budget resolution developed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) would make significant changes to Medicare. It would replace Medicare’s current guarantee of coverage with a premium-support voucher, raise the age of eligibility from 65 to 67, and reopen the “doughnut hole” in Medicare’s coverage of … -
Cooper-LaTourette Budget Significantly to the Right of Simpson-Bowles Plan
March 28, 2012
Reps. Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH) unveiled a budget plan on March 27 that they call the “Simpson-Bowles Budget.” It departs significantly, however, from the Bowles-Simpson commission plan in key respects — raising taxes much less, cutting much more from non-security discretionary programs and less from defense and … -
Blog Post: Another Quarter-Million for Millionaires Under Ryan Tax Plan
March 28, 2012
Our new report shows that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s tax plan would provide $265,000-a-year tax cuts to the nation’s highest-income households. Here’s an excerpt: Even as House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget would impose trillions of dollars in spending cuts, 62 percent of which would come from … -
Blog Post: Chairman Ryan’s Misleading Chart
March 27, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan recently summarized his new tax proposal this way: [W]e’re saying get rid of all the special interest loopholes and tax shelters that are disproportionately used by those higher income earners, get rid of those tax shelters, so you can lower tax rates for everybody, and make us better wired for economic growth and job creation. Chairman Ryan has also said that most tax-expenditure benefits go to high-income people. The lead tax chart in Chairman Ryan’s budget document seems to support his statement, suggesting that the tax code includes a series of egregious loopholes (or “tax expenditures”) that mostly flow to very rich individuals. It gives the impression that we can easily eliminate tax … -
Ryan Medicaid Block Grant Would Cut Medicaid by One-Third by 2022 and More After That
March 27, 2012
The Medicaid block-grant proposal in the Ryan budget that the House of Representatives will vote on this week would cut federal Medicaid funding by 34 percent by 2022 (on top of repealing the health reform law’s Medicaid expansion) because the funding would no longer keep pace with health care costs or with expected Medicaid … -
Blog Post: Chairman Ryan’s Misleading Chart
March 27, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan recently summarized his new tax proposal this way: [W]e’re saying get rid of all the special interest loopholes and tax shelters that are disproportionately used by those higher income earners, get rid of those tax shelters, so you can lower tax rates for everybody, and make us better wired for economic growth and job creation. Chairman Ryan has also said that most tax-expenditure benefits go to high-income people. The lead tax chart in Chairman Ryan’s budget … -
Blog Post: Ryan Roundup, 2012: Everything You Need to Know About Chairman Ryan's Budget
March 23, 2012
Below is a compilation of the CBPP blog posts to date on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget. Check back here frequently, as we will update this list as we put out new material. http://bit.ly/RyanPosts Overview/General Greenstein Statement March 21, 2012 "The new Ryan budget is a … -
Blog Post: Low-Income Programs Would Bear the Brunt of Ryan Cuts
March 23, 2012
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Chairman Ryan Gets 62 Percent of His Huge Budget Cuts from Programs for Lower-Income Americans
March 23, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan would get at least 62 percent of its $5.3 trillion in nondefense budget cuts over ten years (relative to a continuation of current policies) from programs that serve people of limited means. This stands a core principle of President Obama’s fiscal commission on its head and … -
Blog Post: Ryan Budget Takes Big Bite out of Food Stamps
March 22, 2012
Read on Off the Charts Blog Millions of people would lose part or all of their SNAP (food stamp) benefits under House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget, a new CBPP analysis shows. The Ryan plan would cut SNAP — the nation’s most important anti-hunger program — by $133.5 billion or more than 17 percent over the next ten years. (Click here for the state-by-state impact.) Since more than 90 percent of … -
Ryan Budget's Claim to Finance Its Tax Cuts for the Wealthy By Curbing Their Tax Breaks Does Not Withstand Scrutiny
March 22, 2012
Despite warning that the nation faces the “perils of debt,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan introduced a budget on March 20 whose tax proposals would be extremely costly and would disproportionately favor the nation’s highest-income households and large corporations.[1] His budget would cut the top … -
Blog Post: Chairman Ryan and the Medicare Part D Myth
March 21, 2012
Read on Off the Charts Blog House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan claims that his troubling proposal to convert Medicare into a premium support system — where beneficiaries would receive a voucher to buy private coverage or traditional Medicare — would control costs. He notes that the Medicare Part D drug benefit, which private insurers provide, has cost much … -
Blog Post: Greenstein on the Ryan Budget
March 21, 2012
We’ve issued a statement from Robert Greenstein on the budget from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. Here’s the opening: The new Ryan budget is a remarkable document — one that, for most of the past half-century, would have been outside the bounds of mainstream discussion due to its extreme nature. In essence, this budget is … -
Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, on Chairman Ryan's Budget Plan
March 21, 2012
The new Ryan budget is a remarkable document — one that, for most of the past half-century, would have been outside the bounds of mainstream discussion due to its extreme nature. In essence, this budget is Robin Hood in reverse — on steroids. It would likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S.… -
Blog Post: Ryan’s Rx for Medicaid Would Add Millions to the Uninsured and Underinsured
March 20, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget again proposes to radically restructure Medicaid by converting it into a block grant and to slash federal funding by about one-fifth over the next decade (as well as to repeal health reform’s Medicaid expansion). All told, it would add tens of millions of Americans to the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured. Repealing the … -
Blog Post: A First Look at the Ryan Budget
March 20, 2012
We’ve issued a brief analysis of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget plan. Here’s the opening: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget plan specifies a long-term spending path under which, by 2050, most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would cease to … -
CBO Shows Ryan Budget Would Set Nation on Path to End Most of Government Other Than Social Security, Health Care, and Defense By 2050
March 20, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget plan specifies a long-term spending path under which, by 2050, most of the federal government aside from Social Security, health care, and defense would cease to exist, according to figures in a Congressional Budget Office analysis released today. [1] The CBO report, prepared at Chairman … -
What You Need to Know About Premium Support
March 19, 2012
The budget resolution that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) will unveil this week is expected to include a Medicare premium support proposal fashioned by Ryan and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). Although billed as a kinder, gentler form of premium support, the Ryan-Wyden plan has the same basic features as earlier premium … -
Claimed State Savings from Rhode Island’s Medicaid Cap Heavily Overblown, Report Shows
March 16, 2012
Rhode Island has operated its Medicaid program since 2009 under a waiver that caps the federal financing available to the state. Some proponents of converting the Medicaid program nationally to a block grant have argued that the waiver — and its Medicaid funding cap — have generated substantial savings for Rhode Island, … -
Can Governor Romney’s Tax Plan Meet Its Stated Revenue, Deficit, and Distributional Goals at the Same Time?
March 2, 2012
Unveiling his tax plan on February 22, Governor Romney's campaign said it would: 1) make permanent President Bush's tax cuts (but not those enacted under President Obama, which are scheduled to expire at the same time and which expanded several refundable tax credits for low- and middle-income families); 2) then cut individual … -
Administration’s Corporate Tax Reform Framework a Promising Start but Falls Short on Raising Revenue
Revised February 28, 2012
The Administration has advanced a coherent framework for corporate tax reform that could lead to a more efficient corporate tax regime. [1] The framework's main weakness is that it seeks no deficit-reduction contribution from corporate tax reform, aiming only for revenue neutrality. Given the nation's serious long-term budget problems and the … -
Six Tests for Corporate Tax Reform
Updated February 24, 2012
Congress may consider major changes to the corporate tax code this year. In light of the nation's significant economic and budgetary challenges, a well-designed corporate tax reform proposal should: Contribute to long-term deficit reduction. Corporate tax revenues are now at historical lows as a share of the economy, at a time when the … -
Chained CPI Can Be Part of a Balanced Deficit-Reduction Package, Under Certain Conditions
February 22, 2012
A proposal included in several deficit-reduction packages — those from fiscal commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the Domenici-Rivlin panel, and the Senate "Gang of Six" — would shift from the regular or official Consumer Price Index (CPI) to the "superlative" or "chained" CPI when … -
President’s Budget Would Eliminate Separate Funding Caps for Defense and Nondefense Discretionary Programs
February 17, 2012
The President's budget proposes to alter the structure, although not the overall level, of the "discretionary caps" that limit annual appropriations bills. It would combine the existing caps — which separately constrain total defense and total nondefense appropriations — into a single overall cap on all discretionary … -
How Does the Obama Budget Do In Meeting Deficit Reduction Goals?
Revised February 16, 2012
The President’s budget would, if enacted, make significant progress in reducing deficits, although policymakers would have to take further steps, especially for future decades. Under its economic assumptions, it would achieve what most budget analysts, and all recent bipartisan commissions or panels, have identified as the crucial fiscal goal … -
House Spending-Cap Bills Would Enact Radical Ryan Budget Into Law
February 6, 2012
The House may soon consider two bills (H.R. 3576 and H.R. 3580) that would limit federal spending to levels similar to those in the House-passed budget resolution, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI). These bills are part of a package of ten bills that Chairman Ryan and other committee members recently … -
Testimony of Jared Bernstein Before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
February 1, 2012
Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and members of the Committee, I thank you for the opportunity to testify today and applaud you for holding this hearing on the issue that matters most to most Americans right now: opportunity, jobs, and the living standards of the broad middle class. Introduction: Current Conditions and the American Middle … -
Video: A Discussion with Jared Bernstein and Chye-Ching Huang on Capital Gains Tax
January 31, 2012
“There are lots of good reasons to get rid of” the preferential tax treatment of capital gains, Chye-Ching Huang tells Jared Bernstein in this video.
She notes, for instance, that “at the same time that capital gains income has been growing really rapidly, and growing at the very top of the income distribution, we have been cutting the rates. That is one of the major reasons why the tax system hasn’t been doing as much to push against income inequality as it used to.”
Chye-Ching and Jared discuss what capital gains are and the tax advantages they receive compared to ordinary income.
Duration: 4:52
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“Baseline Reform Act” Is a Step in the Wrong Direction
Revised January 24, 2012
On January 24, the House Budget Committee passed legislation introduced by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), and other members that would require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to assume, in constructing budget “baselines” that project funding levels for … -
Requiring Joint Budget Resolution Could Lead to Gridlock on Appropriations and Shift Power to the Executive Branch
Revised January 24, 2012
Representative Diane Black (R-TN) has introduced a bill (H.R. 3575)[1] that would bar Congress from considering annual appropriations bills — or any other legislation that would affect the budget — until Congress has passed, and the President has signed, a joint budget resolution for the fiscal year, regardless of how many … -
Romney's Charge That Most Federal Low-Income Spending Goes for "Overhead" and "Bureaucrats" Is False
Updated January 23, 2012
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed a proposal to eliminate major federal assistance programs for low-income Americans and turn them over to the states, often with deep funding cuts. But the rationale he offered for doing so in this past Sunday’s “Meet the Press” debate — that the federal bureaucracy … -
Biennial Budgeting: Do the Drawbacks Outweigh the Advantages?
January 20, 2012
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI), and others have introduced legislation (H.R. 3577) that would move the federal budget from an annual to a biennial cycle and make other changes in the congressional budget process. House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier has introduced his own biennial … -
Coming Reductions in Discretionary Funding Will Be Larger For Non-Defense Programs than Defense Programs
January 3, 2012
Advocates of defense funding have issued many public warnings about the severity of the new, lower annual limits on defense funding for 2013-2021 resulting from the combination of the discretionary spending caps set in the Budget Control Act and the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the …
