Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| Why the Government Needs to Budget over the Infinite Horizon Social Security's infinite horizon gap has risen 74 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis since 2003, says Laurence Kotlikoff, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| It's Time to Reform Farm Subsidies The federal government spends approximately $100 billion per year on farm bill programs; of this, $23 billion goes to farm subsidy programs... |
| Government Subsidizes Unions through "Official Time" In 2011, the federal government paid over $156 million for some of its employees to work as representatives for government unions, up from $139 million in 2010 and $129 million in 2009... |
| Public-Private Partnerships Could Revolutionize American Roads Ninety-two percent of public-private partnerships studied finished early or on time, while 83 percent were built on budget... |
| Congressional Budget Office Report: Flawed The Congressional Budget Office released a report on the distribution of tax expenditures that some are wrongly using to push for additional tax increases... |
| A Tax on Christmas Spirit: The Christmas Tree Tax A new federal program would include a 15 cent "assessment" on fresh cut Christmas trees, which could eventually rise to 20 cents per tree... |
| United States Can Cut Defense Spending without Threatening National Security As by far the largest portion of discretionary spending, Pentagon expenditures must not escape scrutiny when examining methods for reducing our staggering debt... |
| Denmark's Fat Tax Harms Economy Denmark's fat tax had a very limited impact on the consumption of "unhealthy" foods -- only 7 percent of the population reduced the amount of butter, cream and cheese they bought... |
| College Graduates Face Uncertainty with Social Security On average, individuals between the age of 25 and 59 expect to receive only 60 percent of the Social Security benefits that they have been promised... |
| Eurozone Debt Crisis: The United States Is Next In 2007, total gross public debt in America was already very close to the average for the Eurozone -- 67 percent versus 72 percent... |
