Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| America's Bridges Are Not Falling Only 26.3 percent of urban interstates were rated as congested in 2010, compared with 52.6 percent in 1989... |
| The Obama Budget's Economic Message To prepare for slower growth, the Obama administration must show spending restraint instead of proposing a budget that leaves gross debt at more than 100 percent of gross domestic product in 2020... |
| Redundant Federal Programs Waste Billions Over the past three years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found 162 areas where agencies are duplicating efforts, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars... |
| The Amount of Hidden Debt Will Stun Taxpayers Collectively, state and local governments are estimated to owe $7.3 trillion and most of this debt was never approved by taxpayers... |
| Tax Freedom Day Five Days Later than Last Year In 2013, Americans will pay $2.76 trillion in federal taxes and $1.45 trillion in state taxes for a total tax bill of $4.22 trillion -- 29.4 percent of total income... |
| Disability: The New Welfare? In 1960, only 0.65 percent of the workforce between age 18 and age 64 was receiving Social Security disability insurance; today, 5.6 percent of the workforce receives a payment, despite reduced physical labor and better overall health... |
| America's Roads Aren't Crumbling Urban interstates with "poor" pavement dropped from 6.6 percent to 5.4 percent between 1989 and 2008... |
| The Case for Across-the-Board Spending Cuts Virtually every government program, from defense to Social Security, has grown by an average of 35 percent between 2008 and 2013... |
| Why Differentiating between Taxes and Fees Is Important By labeling taxes as different things, such as a fee or surcharge, policymakers are avoiding legal protections for taxpayers that have been in place for many years... |
| Debt on the Rise for Seniors Between 2000 and 2011, the median amount of household debt for Americans older than age 65 more than doubled from $12,702 to about $26,000... |
