2012 Elections
  • Obama’s Bargain: Lower Rates for Higher Spending

    President Obama intends to make one last pitch for a “grand bargain” of new spending and tax policy on Tuesday that will attempt to marry corporate tax reform with funding for jobs to benefit the...

  • Ominous Signs for the GOP in 2014

    By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

    The conventional wisdom is that Republicans are in good shape going into next year’s congressional elections. Gerrymandering and the enormous benefits of incumbency virtually guarantee them continued...

  • Trading Tax Write-Offs for Real Growth

    By Andrew Fieldhouse, The Fiscal Times

    Overhauling the tax code is a wonky fixation of the D.C. policymaking elite, for good reason — it’s an area loaded with policy nuance, lobbying intrigue and major ramifications for long-term fiscal...

  • IRS Scandal: How the Brouhaha Went Bust

    By Peter Weber, TheWeek.com

    Rep. Darrell Issa is still banging the scandal drum. Is anyone listening anymore?

  • Beer, Burgers, and a Two-Man Blitz on Tax Reform

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) are keeping hope alive that the tax code can be rewritten. Both peg the odds of successful reform at more than 50 percent, according to a joint lunch...

  • The Fed Won’t Fire Until the Enemy is at the Door

    By Merrill Goozner, The Fiscal Times

    The uncertain winds blowing from Europe and Capitol Hill clearly weighed on monetary policymakers’ minds Tuesday and Wednesday as they contemplated further action to deal with an economy that slowed...

  • Senate Reaches Agreement to Extend Tax Breaks

    By Kim Dixon and Roberta Rampton, Reuters

    A bipartisan group of Senate tax-writers clinched a tentative deal on Wednesday to renew dozens of business tax breaks that have expired or will lapse at year-end, two top senators said, with further...

  • 10 ‘Kicked Cans’ That Can Send the U.S. Over the Cliff

    By Josh Boak and Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times

    Amid all the mania about the government driving off the fiscal cliff early next year, there is the usual complaint about Washington putting off the kinds of reforms that would stop the federal budget...

  • Offshore Accounts on the Rise and Costing Taxpayers

    By Kenneth Thomas, Business Insider

    A new report by the Tax Justice Network, "The Price of Offshore Revisited," shows that the amount of wealth held in tax havens has increased enormously since 2004, and confirms what I previously...

  • Dismal GDP Adds Desperation to a Divided Congress

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    The economy grew at a dismal 1.5 percent in the second quarter, a cruel reminder that nearly everything tried so far—tax cuts, deficit spending, austerity at the state level, slashed interest rates—...