A story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal , “Cost of Business Tax Cuts Underestimated,” argues that the revenue estimates of the business tax cuts included in the tax stimulus bill are low-balled because the tax relief is spread over a number of years and so the time value of money would raise the true deficit cost. The article has three big holes. The piece erred first because government must finance not only the business tax cuts, but the rebate checks as well. There’s no reason to focus on the mote …
The federal government is doing all it can to revive the economy and prevent the United States from dipping into a recession. Most notable is the stimulus package focused on tax rebates which, in effect, won’t actually stimulate the economy. As Roy Innis, chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, illustrates, every attempt made by politicians to jump start the economy is generally offset by painful energy policies that will drive up prices for years to come. Innis sums it up nicely saying: Oil, gas, coal and other resources on …
When the National Intelligence Estimate announced that, “We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program,” it was the lead story in the nation’s biggest newspapers. But following congressional testimony from Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell that only the “least significant” parts of Iran’s nuclear program had been halted, the nation’s paper’s either did not mention Iran’s nuclear threat, or buried it deep in the story. McConnell’s retreat on the NIE’s conclusions validates many of the exact criticisms leveled against the report. Specifically …
Except for the Wall Street Journal and Sydney Morning Herald, none of the paper’s covering President Bush’s budget proposal want to mention the fact that $150 billion of the $400 billion projected deficit for 2008 is going to come from the economic stimulus package now being debated by Congress (and if the Senate gets its way, those numbers will be even worse). Instead most coverage of budget proposal focuses on “major cuts in payments to healthcare providers” referring to the President’s $178 billion savings in Medicare spending over the next …
Super Tuesday is on the horizon and Heritage’s Brian Darling takes a look at the big issues at stake as voters head to the polls in 24 states tomorrow. Citing a recent National Review Online piece by Mike Franc, Darling says conservatives should elevate a few issues above the others: winning the war on terrorism, confronting the coming fiscal crisis, and making the case for pro-growth economic policies and smaller government. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sa4Ir9er-E[/youtube] Darling also touches on President Bush’s threat to veto spending bills that do not cut the number of …
Among the many provisions of the Senate Finance Committee’s stimulus package is a legislative proposal to allow states to issue as much as $10 billion in new “mortgage bonds” to raise money to refinance the mortgage loans of troubled borrowers. States are already permitted limited use of such tax exempt bonds to provide new mortgages to moderate income buyers, but this plan would expand the privilege to refinancings. Because the interest earned on these bonds would be exempt from federal taxes, they involve a significant federal taxpayer subsidy to investors, …
All eyes are on the Senate this week as politicians in both parties seek to wrap up work on an economic stimulus package. With a deal already reached between President Bush and House leaders, it’s up to the Senate to work through several additional provisions lawmakers would like added to the agreement. Energy policy is one area of dispute. The Senate package includes a host of tax incentives to encourage the production and use of alternative energy sources like wind and solar power as well as the manufacture of energy …
Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Rae Hederman reacts to the Senate’s recently passed stimulus package: In a period of a sluggish economy, it’s disappointing that the Senate has placed special interests over what is good for the economy. While the stimulus bill passed by the House has many problems, the House bill does not have unnecessary spending and is refreshingly clean of goodies handed to the preferred industries of politicians. The Senate Bill contains billions of wasteful spending that is targeted to industries in the home state of certain Senators …
Tomorrow the Senate Finance Committee is considering a step toward openness and transparency for committee meetings but there are still some big loopholes in the draft rules. Namely, the proposed rule would establish a 21 business day deadline for posting meeting records, which translates into more than a calendar month. If the goal is transparency, why should the public have to wait so long? Often bills go through committee and pass the Senate in less than a month! The stimulus package, for example, is going to be voted on in …
President Bush is correct in saying “the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth.” Despite the current economic slowdown, productivity remains healthy and most economic fundamentals are strong. The U.S. economy will recover from this slowdown. However, tax rebates and more government spending will not accelerate any recovery. Every dollar Washington “injects” into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. Such handouts should not be confused with policies that create more growth by encouraging working, saving, and investing. Rebates did not succeed …
