Budget Battles

Why Pensions Are the Hot New Tax Shelters

How the Tax Cuts Could Raise Wages – and Why They Might Not

Surprise Medical Bills Even for Patients with Insurance

Starting in June, the newly unemployed aren't eligible to get a federal subsidy for health care, while the proposal to extend subsidies to those laid off through the end of the year is languishing in Congress.

States Push Back Against Short-Term Health Care Plans

Newsletter

  • Quote of the Day: Time to Raise Taxes?

    “Tax revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product is expected to be 16.5 percent next year. The long-term average in a full-employment economy is 18.5 percent of GDP; if revenue were at that...

  • Happy Birthday, Social Security!

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 83 years ago today, August 14, 1935. Here are some key facts about the program, courtesy of the Center on Budget and Policy...

  • Quote of the Day: When Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves

    “You … often hear the claim that a lot of tax cuts will ‘pay for themselves,’ that they’ll cause so much additional economic activity that the revenue feedback from that activity will fully offset...

  • Are Tax Revenues Really Rising?

    A Wall Street Journal editorial this past weekend took aim at the idea that the Republican tax cuts have much to do with rising deficits. “Perhaps you’ve read that the federal budget deficit is...

  • A man walks his dog past a mural depicting factory workers in the historic Pullman neighborhood in Chicago November 20, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Nelles/File Photo

    Economic Growth Gets a Downgrade

    The Congressional Budget Office reduced its estimate for the growth rate of the U.S. economy in 2018 to 3.1 percent, down from its estimate of 3.3. percent in April. The CBO’s estimate for 2019...

  • FBI director says all surveillance complies with U.S. law

    The Tax Cuts Aren't Popular, So the GOP Is Talking About This Instead

    Republicans have found that their key legislative accomplishment in the last two years, the tax cuts passed in December, aren’t nearly as popular as they had hoped they would be, and the AP reports...

  • Saving $1.11 a gallon might not sound like much. But if you're filling up a 20 gallon tank, you could save $22. Do that once a week and you'd save $1,150 a year.

    Map of the Day: Gas Taxes

    It’s summertime and the driving is anything but easy if you want to get to your favorite beach or mountain cabin for a well-deserved break. As lawmakers consider a plan to raise federal fuel taxes by...