On July 13, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee held a joint hearing on the tax treatment of debt.
A July 13 Gallup poll found that only 20 percent of people favor the Republican policy of reducing the deficit only by cutting spending; 73 percent would accept some increase in taxes.
On July 12, Sen. Orrin Hatch, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, made a statement on the “myth” of tax expenditures.
On July 11, the Joint Committee on Taxation released a report on the tax treatment of household debt, and another report on the tax treatment of business debt.
In a July 11 commentary, Tax Foundation economist William McBride said that a cut in the payroll tax would do nothing to reduce unemployment: “The problem we have is too many people standing in line for a job. We do not need to increase the incentive to stand in line.”
A July 11 Rasmussen poll found that a majority of people oppose an increase in the gasoline tax even if all the money is dedicated to construction and upkeep of interstate highways.
A July 11 FactCheck report found that the Bush tax cuts significantly reduced federal revenues, contrary to what some Republicans have asserted.
In a July 8 commentary, Brookings economist Henry Aaron discussed the changing definition of “tax reform.”
In a July 6 commentary, historian Joseph Thorndike explains how President Calvin Coolidge refused to support efforts to repeal the income tax in the 1920s.
A July 4 Tax Policy Center study found that three-quarters of all corporate income taxes are paid by just four industrial sectors.
I last posted items on this topic on July 7.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
