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.

• On the federal budget and taxes, Chad Stone identified three myths on spending, debt, and taxes that fuel conservative support for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan. We also featured part of our analysis of the Tax Foundation’s misleading “Tax Freedom Day” report, demonstrated that middle-income families are not overtaxed, and highlighted our Policy Basic on where our federal tax dollars go in light of the upcoming tax filing deadline.
• On the economy, Chad Stone noted that the disappointing March employment report points to an all-too-weak economic recovery, and we featured a video of Chad and Hannah Shaw discussing the March jobs report.
• On state budgets, Nick Johnson discussed the problems with the Tax Foundation’s State “Tax Freedom Day” calculations, and Liz McNichol outlined reasons why Texas’ income tax policy is not a good model for other states. Phil Oliff also warned that states levying income taxes or reducing tax credits for low-income families will increase poverty and income inequality and explained why a common claim by proponents of taxing the incomes of low-income families is off-base. Liz McNichol also highlighted the distribution of our state tax dollars, which go largely for education and health care.
• On health, Jesse Cross-Call explained why the Wall Street Journal’s endorsement of Rhode Island’s Medicaid waiver is based on misguided claims.

In other news, we released Chad Stone’s statement on the March employment report and analyses of the Tax Foundation’s misleading “Tax Freedom Day” report, Texas’  fiscal policy and why it should not serve as a model for other states, and the impact of state taxes on low income families.