Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| How Much Does the Federal Government Owe? In 2011, a conservative estimate of the amount the federal government owes totaled $84 trillion -- more than four times what the federal government admits it owes, according to a new study by seniors fellows with the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| Taxation Goes Global The general principle that government is better when it is closer to the people faces a movement without precedent in scale: the movement for the globalization of taxation from organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization... |
| The Real Cost of Public Pensions Many public-sector pension plans assume an 8 percent discount rate; while this is a feasible outcome, it must be recognized that performance at that level carries substantial risk... |
| The Taxpayer and Economic Welfare Costs of Shallow-Loss Farming Programs Effectively, the funds provided through a shallow-loss system would allow farmers to take advantage of record high prices without exposure to subsequent dips... |
| Dedicating Tax Revenue: Constraining Government or Masking Its Growth? New research indicates earmarking has inherently deceptive qualities that, among other things, work to expand the role of government... |
| The Empty Playground and the Welfare State When a pension system expands by 10 percent of gross domestic product, the average number of children per woman drops by 0.7 to 1.6... |
| True Entitlement Reform Will Hit Upper and Middle Classes Medicaid, together with related health subsidies, is slated to expand by 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035; this pales in comparison to 4.3-percent-of-GDP expansion of Medicare and Social Security... |
| Politicians and Team Owners Snooker Sports Fans and Taxpayers Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys performed an exhaustive study of sports franchises in 37 cities between 1969 and 1996 and found no measurable impact on per-capita income... |
| Territorial Tax System Would Improve Global Competitiveness Germany has had a territorial tax system for years and remains one of the world's top exporters... |
| We Can Cut Government: Canada Did Canada privatized about two dozen "crown corporations" in the late 1980s and early 1990s... |
