Yesterday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified before the House Appropriations Committee about Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request for the Department of Education. Congressman Andy Harris (R–MD) took the opportunity to question Duncan about a glaring omission from the budget: funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). The …
Outside the President’s general, grow-the-government, increase-the-debt, tax-the-rich budget themes lies a commonsense proposal to use a more accurate measure of inflation when calculating government benefit growth rates and changes in income tax brackets. The purpose of inflation-based adjustments is to account for changes in prices over time. But current inflation …
Like past budget proposals, President Obama’s new budget plan calls—again—for lowering the charitable contribution deduction. The current tax code allows individuals to deduct their giving from their overall tax liability at a rate equal to their tax bracket. Obama wants to cap the charitable deduction at what it would be …
President Obama finally released his budget yesterday—more than two months late. Heritage experts immediately went to work analyzing the mounds of new spending on education, manufacturing, “clean energy,” infrastructure, and small business. But the President didn’t stop at more of the same failed stimulus and Solyndra-type policies. He also piled …
President Obama released his 2014 budget more than 60 days late. Heritage’s team of policy experts spent the better part of yesterday combing through it to discover proposals that impose new taxes on Americans, expand the size of the federal government, and further erode individual freedom and our national defense. …
UPDATE: The official total tax increase in President Obama’s budget is now available in the Treasury Department’s “Green Book.” Treasury scores the total net tax increase from all President Obama’s tax polices at more than $1.1 trillion over 10 years. There was little doubt that President Obama would propose a …
Minimum Wage President Obama’s budget proposes raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This would hurt the very workers the President wants to help. When the price of something rises, people—both consumers and employers—purchase less of it. Americans responded to the higher cost of gas by driving less. Businesses …
When the President’s budget comes out Wednesday, it will complete the last piece of the budget puzzle, as the House and Senate have each duly passed a budget according to law. Never mind that the President’s budget is supposed to lead Washington budget discussions, rather than follow. The key question …
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) recently informed its workforce about sequestration cuts to Voice of America’s (VOA) shortwave and medium-wave broadcasting. Ironically, the Board is cutting the most cost-effective part of its organization: radio. It would be more rational to cut the bloated management and administration of the International …
