Marty Sullivan, a frequent commentator on tax policy, has now apparently decided the United States needs a value-added tax (VAT). To advance the cause, he penned a brief column on “VAT Lessons from Canada” [“VAT Lessons From Canada”, Martin A. Sullivan, Tax Notes, May 3, 2010.] However, in trying to …
The President’s deficit commission met yesterday to begin its task to address the mounting fiscal crisis facing the nation. As we show in our 2010 Budget Chart Book, the estimated federal deficit in 2010 will be $1.54 trillion, and spending on entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) and interest …
Remember how public anger over the federal debt reaching new sky-high levels last year drove lawmakers into a flurry of discussions about budget controls? Responding to public and international pressure to do something about permanently spiraling deficits, President Obama established a flawed commission to tackle the spending problem. Congress, doing …
Federal spending is out of control. Even President Obama knows it. To really stop the madness, Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Mike Pence (R-IN), and John Campbell (R-CA) have proposed a simple solution – a constitutional amendment capping federal spending at 20 percent of the economy. Their proposal puts the debate …
The recent debt limit increase passed by Congress has sparked a national debate on how to adequately reverse out-of-control federal spending. After much congressional hand-wringing recently over what budget process reform to attach to the must-pass increase in the debt ceiling, support for a bipartisan commission crafted by Senate Budget …
On Tuesday, February 2, President Obama released his budget forecasting a deficit for 2010 of $1.6 trillion for the year and $9.1 trillion from 2010 through 2020. The next day the Moody’s credit rating agency announced Obama’s budget policies were so profligate and irresponsible as to risk the credit rating …
Who was it who said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? According to the Department of Education, the Obama administration’s budget proposes: “$173 billion in loans, grants, tax credits and work-study programs to help students go to college.” …
This week, Obama showed himself once again to be out of touch with both Americans and with the current debt situation in the United States. He called on the determination, optimism, and fundamental decency of all Americans, but then seemed to suggest that Americans should focus that determination on passing …
We received an email today from Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “By now, I expect you’ve heard the good news,” the Secretary wrote. “…at a time when most government spending is frozen, the President proposed a significant increase in discretionary spending for education in his fiscal year 2011 budget.” We were …
It appears that President Obama will exempt education from his so-called spending freeze. Despite the fact that Obama already doubled the Department of Education’s budget through the Omnibus and Stimulus bills last year, he plans to continue the spending binge. The Washington Post reported yesterday: Administration officials said they could …
