The Latest

With yesterday’s deadline for filing most individual tax returns, many Americans are again wondering how the overly complex and inefficient federal tax code could be improved. “The place to begin is with a major effort to scale back or eliminate…

Unfunded pension liabilities for state, local and federal governments have grown to $7 trillion, according to a new report by Moody’s Investors Service, a credit-rating agency. With the U.S. population aging, the troubling report says, the federal government has $3.5…

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says problems in financial reporting and management continue to raise questions about the reliability of some federal data and add to uncertainties about the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges. “While significant progress has been made in…

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump recently estimated that he could pay off the nation’s $19 trillion debt within eight years. “This claim demonstrates a basic misunderstanding of the debt and its impact on the economy,” says Robert L. Bixby, executive…

Amid widespread concern about rising tuition rates, top Republican tax-writers appear to be taking a hard look at the ways in which colleges and universities are using -- or perhaps not using -- their tax-exempt endowments. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin…

Without any serious progress on a budget resolution in the House, some pragmatic lawmakers are reportedly considering a “Queen of the Hill” legislative rule to break the gridlock. The rule operates on a simple, common-sense principle: Every lawmaker has an…

Under the president’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2017, the federal deficit would decline in 2017 and 2018 but would grow after that, according to an analysis released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Under the President’s plan, CBO estimates,…

The federal government will spend $660 billion this year on health care for Americans under 65 years old, according to a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study. The report highlights how the government subsidizes health care costs for nearly all…