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Pre-2005 Content Archive

Blog

Why Closing the S Corporation Loophole Is a Good Move

June 16, 2010 |
The House-passed tax extenders legislation, which the Senate is now considering, would partially close a loophole that allows shareholder-employees of S corporations to avoid paying payroll tax. These people receive both wages from the firm and a share of the firm’s profits, but they pay payroll tax only on their wages, which gives them a huge incentive to underreport the share of their income that consists of wages in order to reduce their payroll tax liability.
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Blog

Lawmakers Fiddle While the Unemployed Get Burned

June 16, 2010 |
As Congress dithers over the latest jobs bill, unemployed workers throughout the country face another week of uncertainty about their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. A needed extension of the temporary UI benefits and subsidized COBRA health insurance in last year’s Recovery Act is being “held hostage” (as the New York Times puts it) to misguided budgetary concerns and wrangling over how big a tax break wealthy investment fund managers should have.
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Report

Podcast: New Ingredients Raising Costs for “WIC” Program

June 15, 2010

Zoë Neuberger, Senior Policy Analyst, discusses the federal food and nutrition program for women, infants and children known as WIC, and the increase in the program’s costs because manufacturers are adding expensive but unproven ingredients to formula and other foods that the program provides.

Duration: 4:09

 

 

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Blog

In case you missed it…

June 11, 2010 | CBPP
This week on Off the Charts, we covered the jobs bill making its way through the Senate, a provision of the health reform law that will help young adults, a tax loophole, the origins of the deficit, and possible improvements to the WIC nutrition program for low-income mothers and children.
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Blog

Whose Deficit Is It, Anyway?

June 11, 2010 |
A number of policymakers and pundits — most recently House Minority Leader John Boehner — blame Obama Administration policies for the large deficits we confront.  But the numbers tell a very...
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Blog

Are New Ingredients Adding More Than Cost to WIC Foods?

June 9, 2010 |
Update 7/13/10: New post on the topic here. The federal WIC program, which provides foods and nutrition services to 9 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women and young children, spends about $90 million extra each year on higher-priced infant formula with ingredients that supposedly boost children’s health and development. But it has no idea whether these ingredients work, and no way to find out.
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Report

Podcast: The Recovery Act is Working

June 8, 2010

The latest information showing that the Recovery Act is creating jobs and the need to extend more aid to states is discussed by Senior Policy Analyst, Michael Leachman.

Duration: 3:29

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Blog

David Broder: “Unconscionable” Cuts to Education

June 7, 2010 |
“[W]e cannot commit to raising [educational] standards in one breath and turn around and issue layoff notices to thousands of teachers in the next,” columnist David Broder wrote yesterday, terming it “unconscionable” for Congress to fail to help states avert these layoffs. I couldn’t agree more.
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Blog

In case you missed it…

June 4, 2010 | CBPP
With Congress in recess this week, in Off the Charts we focused on a top legislative issue for next week when lawmakers return: the jobs bill.
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Blog

Today's Jobs Report in Pictures

June 4, 2010 |
Today's jobs report shows a labor market that has turned the corner and is creating jobs but one with a long way to go toward a full recovery from the devastating job losses of 2008-09. Below are some charts to show how the new figures look in historical context; see our statement for analysis.
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Blog

Has Congress Turned Its Back on State Budget Problems?

June 3, 2010 |
As I explained in my statement this morning, today’s report on state budget conditions from the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers shows why it’s so important to restore the state fiscal relief the House suddenly dropped from jobs legislation last week.
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Blog

We Still Need a Robust Jobs Bill

June 2, 2010 |
As David Leonhardt explains in today’s New York Times, Congress shouldn’t let the need for long-term deficit reduction prevent it from passing a jobs bill to address today’s historically high unemployment rates. Or as I put it last week, the current deficit to worry about is the jobs deficit.
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Blog

Congressional Failure on State Aid Would Carry Heavy Cost

May 28, 2010 |
At the last minute, the House yesterday dropped an extension of Recovery Act assistance for cash-strapped states from jobs legislation, which it then passed, in order to help satisfy congressional critics who complained about the legislation’s impact on the deficit. These critics are effectively saying that the cost of increasing today’s budget deficits outweighs the benefit of helping states avert massive cuts in services and tax increases.
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Blog

What About the Jobs Deficit?

May 27, 2010 |
Members of Congress who are opposing the pending jobs legislation on the grounds that it isn’t fully paid for and will increase the current deficit are focusing on the wrong deficit. Yes, we have a long-term budget deficit that we need to take very seriously. But the current deficit to worry about right now is the jobs deficit.
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Blog

President’s Budget Commission Veering Off Course on “Debt” Measure?

May 26, 2010 |
President Obama’s budget commission which is supposed to craft a plan by year-end to significantly reduce budget deficits and debt in the coming years, showed signs of veering off course this morning on the question of what kind of “debt” needs controlling. That may sound technical but it could prove important, focusing attention on a measure of our fiscal situation that makes little economic sense.
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Blog

Carried Interest Doesn’t Deserve a Special Tax Break

May 26, 2010 |
The private equity industry has descended on Capitol Hill to preserve the lower tax rate for something known as “carried interest,” as compared to the tax rate Americans normally pay on the income they earn. While many interest groups try to convince lawmakers that they deserve special treatment, the proponents of this lower tax rate make a particularly unconvincing case.
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