Daily Policy Digest
| The Pitfalls of Internet Sales Tax Collection A consumption tax, such as a flat-rate income tax, would reach all consumption spending, whereas sales taxes reach only half of all consumption, says Irene Switzer, a legislative assistant with the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| Congressional Budget Office Report Paints Overly Rosy Picture The new economic projections by the Congressional Budget Office do not account for lower revenue under a higher capital gains tax... |
| Disclosing Recent Grad Wages May Help Prospective Students With a large number of recent graduates unemployed, providing more information may be a way to ensure that students know what return on investment they can expect from their college education... |
| Fixing the Public Sector Pension Problem States have unfunded liabilities totaling almost $1.4 trillion, stemming from obligations to pay for public employees' pensions, retiree medical insurance and other retirement benefits... |
| Health Insurance Exchanges Create State Problems The health insurance exchanges create the appearance of private-sector delivery but instead create politically favored monopolies... |
| The Incentive to Work Past the Full Retirement Age Working later in life, assuming a higher yearly income than in younger years, will allow individuals to raise their Primary Insurance Amount and receive larger Social Security checks, says National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow Laurence Kotlikoff... |
| Long-Term Care System in Crisis Sixty-three percent of long-term care funding originates from government programs... |
| Millions Defraud Federal Phone Subsidy Program Forty-one percent of Lifeline subscribers, a service that provides phones to low-income Americans via subsidies from phone service customers, could not demonstrate eligibility or did not respond to requests to determine eligibility... |
| High-Speed Rail: A Track to Nowhere It makes little sense for a passenger to opt for an estimated 18 hour train ride from Los Angeles to New York when a plane can make the same trip in roughly six hours for less cost... |
| State and Local Tax Rates in 2013 In Alaska, some localities charge high local rates but not enough to give Alaskans a higher combined tax rate than any state that charges a statewide rate... |
