Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| Illinois to Spend More on Pensions than on Education The state of Illinois faces at least $83 billion in unfunded liability between its five pension systems, and is on track to spend more on its government pensions than on education by 2016... |
| U.S. Debt Continues to Grow The U.S. fiscal gap, calculated using the Congressional Budget Office's realistic long-term budget forecast -- the Alternative Fiscal Scenario -- is now $222 trillion; last year it was $211 trillion... |
| What Some Investors Are Doing to Anticipate a Tax Increase Tax changes brought about by the expiration of the Bush tax codes, along with new taxes from President Obama's health care law, will heavily alter behavior in America's financial markets and will alter decision making on the part of investors at every level... |
| Social Security Not the Deal It Once Was for Workers People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire... |
| State and Local Sales Taxes at Midyear 2012 Avoidance of sales tax is most likely to occur in areas where there is a significant difference between two jurisdictions' sales tax rates... |
| Old Age Entitlements vs. the Safety Net In 1940 there were 159 workers to each Medicare and Social Security beneficiary; today there are fewer than three... |
| Corporate Welfare in the Federal Budget Corporate welfare in the federal budget costs taxpayers almost $100 billion a year... |
| Internet Taxes The only statewide Internet sales tax that has been fully implemented -- in Rhode Island -- has not gained revenue and has actually resulted in a net loss... |
| Future Marketplace: Free and Fair The Census Bureau estimated that in the third quarter of 2011, retail e-commerce sales were 4.6 percent of all retail sales... |
| Taxing the Uninsured: The Latest Estimates The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a legitimate exercise of Congress' power to tax; the tax it imposes, however, is complicated... |
