According to the Tax Foundation, today is Tax Freedom Day: That means Americans have worked about three and a half months of the year, from January 1 to April 13, before they have earned enough money to pay this year’s tax burden at the federal, state and local levels. Thanks in part to both President George Bush’s tax cuts and President Barack Obama’s temporary tax cuts, this year’s April 13 Tax Freedom Day is the earliest it has been since 1967. But do not celebrate yet. The Tax Foundation also …
Last week, after the Congressional Budget Office report showed that the pre-stimulus budget deficit would reach $1.2 trillion in FY 2009, President-elect Barack Obama reiterated his campaign promise to make Social Security and Medicare reform a “central part” of his efforts to control skyrocketing federal spending. Democrats on the Hill are already pushing back against any reform that would lower government spending, but Obama is correct. Spending is the problem. In the coming decades, the cost of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will leap from 8.4 percent to 18.6 percent …
