Blogs

House Republican leaders are scheduled to unveil specifics of their tax overhaul plan this week, a plan that Republicans hope to push through Congress in a matter of weeks. While the inefficient, overly complex tax code has long needed reform,…

Policymakers in both parties often want to take credit for responsibly offsetting the costs of popular tax cuts or spending increases, but without actually making the hard choices necessary to do so. That would require higher taxes or lower spending…

At a public forum last week in New Hampshire, former U.S. senators Judd Gregg and Kent Conrad warned of difficult federal budget decisions ahead and urged elected officials to pursue more sustainable fiscal policy solutions. Gregg, a Republican from New…

While elected officials in Washington are considering various proposals that would increase the federal deficit, dozens of Iowa residents demonstrated in a recent budget exercise that they strongly favor moving in the opposite direction -- one that would substantially reduce…

The federal tax code is riddled with provisions that either reduce or eliminate tax liabilities for businesses or individuals. These provisions, which include a variety of tax credits and deductions, are often called “tax expenditures.” (more…)

Almost every politician at the national level has expressed concern at one point or another about the federal government’s budget deficits. But one clear takeaway from the past 25 years is that these concerns are often situational and quickly abandoned…

The Senate Budget Committee has embraced deficit-financed tax cuts in its proposed budget resolution, showing an unwarranted disregard for the growing national debt that has -- in the past -- drawn so many expressions of alarm from committee members and…

Members of Congress often talk about the need to improve government efficiency, but recent testimony from an official with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a reminder that lawmakers could help by simply getting their budget work done in a…