One moment during yesterday’s gubernatorial debate struck me as odd. Jon Keller asked the question: if you absolutely had to raise a significant amount of revenue quickly, what tax would you use? Reilly offered a nonanswer (I wouldn’t do it), but Gabrielli made the point that he wasn’t sure, but he would look for a […]
I like counterintuitive studies. Everyone knows or thinks they know that Massachusetts taxes are high? The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center runs the numbers and finds out that
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that total state and local taxes in Massachusetts amounted to 9.6 percent of personal income in fiscal year 2002 (the latest […]
I’m sure I’ve stated this before, but one of the most annoying tax credits out there is the one that allows employees to set aside pre-tax dollars for transportation expenses… which sounds like a great pro-environmental measure until you realize that either public transit or parking expenses qualify. What policy purpose could this possibly serve? […]
Matt Yglesias leans toward the conclusion that conservative policy is more accident than conspiracy:
Mark Schmitt wrote a post almost two years ago called "Why is the President Determined to Destroy the Private Health Insurance System?" I thought it was a good question then, and it’s still a good question now. The dynamic Bush is trying […]
I’ve written a bit on the housing bubble here, and why, if anything, it’s more a macroeconomic danger than anything else. But there’s a greater, more easily identifiable problem: our currently low savings rate. Kash at Angry Bear considers capital flows and savings behavior and provides a useful chart comparing the savings rate of several […]
Kevin Drum decides to get constructive and offer a couple of “frames” liberals could adopt - nice, pithy summations of policy in everyday language. Far be it for me to shun this project, as I wish I were better at thinking like that. But let’s think a second before we adopt Kevin’s measure #1:
Here’s an […]
Matt Yglesias warns that we shouldn’t throw out tax progressivity under the guise of tax reform.
Tax code simplification is in the air. And it’s a good idea. Also in the air is the flat tax. This is a bad idea. Importantly, these two ideas have no relationship to one another, mythologizing on the part of […]
William Salatan has a scathing piece in Slate on Bush’s blindness to details which contradict his conviction, arguing that the Democrats shouldn’t attack him because he’s a liar with no principle, but because his principle keeps him from adapting to changing circumstances. He does seem to latch on to a pattern that cuts across domestic […]
In my post yesterday on the difference between pro-business and pro-market impulses of conservative policy, I neglected an obvious point: that Democrats - or more precisely, the swath of the political spectrum that the Democrats represent - vary in the strength of their support for the market. What’s surprising about this presidential primary race so […]
As if to prove that he really shines when the Times gives him more space for his columns, Paul Krugman contributes a great polemic against the tax-cut mania in this weekend’s paper. It takes on the misconceptions about tax burden and also places our tax policy in historical context. The entire article is worth a […]
CalPundit has a few thoughts on Martin Feldstein’s tax proposals:
I often read articles where the author says “We need to do X” and then gives an example of how to accomplish this Â- an example that’s frequently very clever indeed. Unfortunately, it often turns out that the example given is the only one the author […]
David Warsh - who tends to lean conservative in his political orientation - gives a thoughtful and impassioned defense of the New York Times’ coverage (by David Firestone) of the recent legislative battles over the child tax credit:
the power of Firestone’s stories derive from the stark contrast between one of the Republican Party’s central claims […]
I’ve always suspected the dividend tax cut was less about tax efficiency and more about, well, cutting taxes. Floyd Norris confirms my suspicions. Far from taking the liberal line on the issue, Norris supported the Bush plan as originally proposed, for reasons many business and economics commentators seemed to like it, but mainly because it […]
Another reason for the Dems to take up the issue of tax code efficiency: if American Prospect’s Michael Tomasky is to be believed, the Bush administration is eyeing a consumption tax to replace the current income tax. I don’t doubt that the tax scheme is on the short list of Republican dream projects; it will […]
Joe Klein has a great piece in Time outlining what’s wrong with the Democrats right now and what they need to do. The latter is particularly appreciated, as everyone seems to offer their criticisms, but little imaginative as a solution. Here’s Klein’s:
They will have to convince the public that they are as committed to national […]