All Tax VOX
Resurrecting the Ryan budgetWhile the Romney camp is sure to argue their candidate's fiscal policy is of his own making, his new running mate Paul聽Ryan鈥檚 more comprehensive and controversial plans will likely be a major campaign issue.
Low taxes, smaller government, but not a balanced budget?Our tax expert crunches the numbers of the Paul Ryan financial plan. end result? While Romney's pick for vice president is often called a deficit hawk, in fact balancing the budget is not one of his high priorities.
Romney tax plan 'conceptually' close to Simpson-Bowles? No way!Romney tax plan avoids several key Simpson-Bowles proposals that would raise taxes overall and reduce the deficit. Instead, Romney tax plan relies solely on mostly unspecified spending cuts to trim deficit.
In France, high-frequency traders now get taxed for fictitious ordersOne technique for high-frequency traders is to enter multiple fictitious trades for a stock and then cancel them. France now taxes those 'non-transactions.'
Tax-exempt Olympic medals? That's silly.The idea that Olympic medals should be tax-exempt is one of the few things Republicans and Democrats can agree on. And they're both wrong.- New plan expands EITC benefits for families with childrenThe Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is getting an overhaul. The plan can be a huge boost to low-income single parent families, but carries a severe penalty if that parent gets married. A new plan in place of the EITC would address the problem while expanding the benefits.
Mitt Romney's tax plan doesn't add upMitt Romney's tax plan may not hike taxes for the middle class, as the Obamam camp claims. Still, the plan is so full of contradictions that Mitt Romney won't be able to do everything he promises.
State and local budget cuts hurt the recoveryWeak government spending continues to hamper the economy, according to a recent study.
Should charities still be tax-exempt?Tax-exempt organizations won鈥檛 be immune from the debate over tax reform, and their special聽treatment may be jeopardized as Congress looks for ways to broaden the tax base. The growing commercial activity of many charities should make us rethink their status.
Do higher education tax credits make sense?Higher education is a good investment, and getting kids through school should be a top priority. But how should the government pay for it?
Dueling tax bills: What each Senate proposal means for youSoon, the Senate will vote on the first of two聽competing efforts to temporarily extend tax cuts聽passed between 2001 and 2010. Neither the Democratic nor Republican measures will pass in the hyper-partisan Senate, but it is instructive to see how the measures stack up.
Even Senate Democrats may keep dividend taxes lowVoting this week to let tax cuts expire for the wealthy, Democratic senators are likely to make a curious exception for taxes on dividends. 聽
How the government hinders the American Dream of upward mobilityWith a budget that encourages consumption rather than savings, the gap between the American Dream and reality will only widen, some at the Tax Policy Center fear. One solution: Rethink those tax subsidies that too often hinder mobility in the name of enhancing it.
How to jump off the fiscal cliff into a tax cutBy jumping off the fiscal cliff, Congress can magically turn a tax increase into a tax cut. All it has to do is let existing tax cuts expire.
Keeping perspective: Taxes do not always drive the economyThe presidential campaign would like Americans to think the very fate of the country rests on what happens to the Bush tax cuts. But the Congressional Budget Office reminds us there is actually a lot more going on in the economy besides taxes.
Trimming tax breaks to cut rates is a lot harder than it looksIt's not impossible for pay for individual tax rate reductions by cutting tax expenditures. But it is very hard. Congress could fix that huge distribution problem by聽 raising tax rates on capital gains and dividends 鈥� but it is a very unpopular platform.
Obama plays it safe on taxes. Too bad.Obama had an opportunity to at聽 least tie an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts to tax reform and deficit reduction next year in his address to Congress yesterday. But instead of using his platform to demand such a linkage, Obama offered little more than a rehash of past, unproductive arguments.聽
Will enough people buy into Obamacare?The Affordable Care Act鈥檚 tax on those who do not have health insurance will be modest and difficult to collect. But will it be enough to get people to buy coverage? 聽If not, healthy people may opt out until they get sick, driving up premiums for those who do buy in.
Obamacare's 'tax' is mostly bark, not biteThe Affordable Care Act鈥檚 tax was the essential final piece of the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to聽uphold the law鈥檚 constitutionality. But in reality, the tax itself is modest, at least to start. It will affect relatively few people be hard to enforce.
Medicaid and the states: An offer they (still) can't refuse?Medicaid was on center stage last week when the Supreme Court ruled the government did not have the authority to pull federal Medicaid funds from states refusing to extend eligibility to low-income, non-elderly adults.
