Federal Budget and Economy Archive

Lessons from the 2009 Recovery Act for an Inclusive Recovery from the Pandemic
December 14, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares The federal government and many state and local governments are placing equity at the forefront of their pandemic relief efforts. But to effectively follow through on this important goal, policymakers can learn from initiatives undertaken in response to the Great Recession. In a new research brief, we described lessons from the 2009 American

The Short Run Growth and Inflation Effects of Build Back Better Are Likely to Be Very Modest
November 17, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares A key issue in the congressional debate over President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan is how it would affect the economy over the next couple of years. Identifying precise effects is unusually difficult due to the economic circumstances stemming from the pandemic. But the bill’s overall short-run effects on both growth and

The Short Run Growth and Inflation Effects of Build Back Better Are Likely to Be Modest
November 17, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares A key issue in the congressional debate over President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan is how it would affect the economy over the next couple of years. Identifying precise effects is unusually difficult due to the economic circumstances stemming from the pandemic. But the bill’s overall short-run effects on both growth and

It’s Long Overdue for Public Finance Scholars to Study Racism in the Tax Code
November 4, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares The murder of George Floyd, in May 2020, sparked a national reckoning and renewed attention to issues of racial equity and justice. This long-overdue awakening led me to read extensively about racism and to think about interactions between race and tax policy. In a new paper, “Public Finance and Racism” I explore some

Settling the Dust of the Coal Industry
November 3, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Coal miners increasingly are victims of a cruel paradox. Even as production declines, more are suffering from deadly black lung disease. Yet falling production and growing efforts to combat climate change will slash the federal funds to support sick workers and their families. This problem can be resolved, but it will require policymakers

What is Dynamic Scoring? TPC’s Ben Page and John Buhl Discuss the Basics
November 1, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares With Congress in the midst of an intense debate over a big new tax and spending bill, policymakers are battling over the costs and economic benefits of many proposals. One way to measure those is dynamic scoring—a tool that makes it possible to better understand how policy changes affect the overall economy, and

Why Progressivity in Tax Policy Is Not A Simple Matter
October 20, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Policymakers and even policy analysts often consider the progressivity of specific proposals independently from the broader systems in which they operate. Consequently, they often leave the public with a misleading impression of how those proposals affect various income groups. Here are four examples of how specific programs might appear to be regressive yet

What Should the President Do When Debt Limit Inaction Forces Him To Violate The Law?
September 29, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares When Congress increases spending and cuts taxes then fails to extend the nation’s debt limit, it effectively orders the president to run deficits while prohibiting him from borrowing the money needed to support those deficits. It requires the executive to defy the laws of logic and arithmetic, as well as the law of

TPC: The Ways & Means Reconciliation Bill Would Raise Taxes On High Income Households, Cut Taxes On Average For Nearly Everyone Else
September 28, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares All major provisions of the House Ways & Means Committee’s budget reconciliation tax bill would cut 2022 taxes on average for households making $200,000 or less. At the same time, the bill would raise taxes substantially for those making $1 million or more, according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center.

Congress’s Fiscal Drama Isn’t What It Seems
September 24, 2021
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TweetShareSharePin0 Shares Welcome to Fall. The season where, predicably, the weather gets cooler, the leaves change color, and Congress puts on its annual fiscal crisis. This year, we all get to watch a quadruple-header: Will Congress pass a $1 trillion—or perhaps $552 billion– infrastructure bill? Will Congress approve a massive social spending bill including major