In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, the economy, state budgets, and health policy.

• On the federal budget and taxes, Richard Kogan debunked the myth that federal spending is out of control.  Chye-Ching Huang explained why corporate tax reform must be fiscally responsible not just in the early years, but over the long term as well.  We also highlighted our new analysis of Governor Romney’s tax proposal.

• On the economy, Chad Stone pointed out the need to help workers adjust to losing jobs that will never return.

• On state budgets, we featured Michael Mazerov’s testimony before Maryland lawmakers on the benefits of corporate tax reform.  Phil Oliff noted that our latest survey of state budget shortfalls shows that states still face a long and uncertain recovery, and he connected the dots between some states’ cutbacks in training programs and their failure to raise adequate revenues.

• On health policy, Dave Chandra warned that states that wait too long to decide whether to form their own health insurance exchanges will end up with federal exchanges.  He also pointed out that a number of states have passed legislation to set up exchanges and that even more have received federal funding to design and implement them.

In other news, we released reports on Governor Mitt Romney’s tax plan and projected trends in federal spending over the next decade.