Daily Policy Digest
Tax and Spending Issues
| Public-Private Partnerships: A Solution for Infrastructure In 2011, private investment accounted for $1.818 trillion in infrastructure spending compared with the government's expenditure of $480 billion... |
| New Tax Hikes Eyed for Roads, Transit The American Society of Engineers estimates the country needs to spend $2.7 trillion on total infrastructure between now and 2020, but is falling more than $1 trillion short of that... |
| Tax Increases Are Futile When taxes are raised, many wealthier Americans will renegotiate their wages and salaries with their employers... |
| Recent Congressional Research Service Study Provides Inaccurate Information to Congress A recent study by the Congressional Research Service that examines the effect of the top statutory tax rates on economic activity fails to provide accurate research that reflects the best information and scholarship available... |
| Federal Dollars: Here, There, Everywhere! More than 1,700 federal grants in fiscal year 2011 accounted for $515 billion in infrastructure, health and other program spending, a 160 percent increase from 1990... |
| Double Taxation of Capital Gains Must End Single taxation would encourage savings and investment, which are necessary to supply capital to investors... |
| VA Overpaid Disabled Vets The Department of Veterans Affairs overpaid 12,800 veterans $943 million from 1993 to 2009; if the error isn't corrected, another $1.1 billion could be wasted by 2016... |
| Amtrak: The Bottomless Pit Amtrak posted a $361 million operating loss in 2012, its smallest operating loss since 1975... |
| Cigarette Smugglers Profit from Disparity in State Cigarette Taxes With a state cigarette tax of $4.35 per pack, the highest in the country, New York's increase in cigarette smuggling since 2006, 170 percent, has mirrored the 190 percent rise in its tax rate... |
| The Fiscal Cliff Deal Does Not Limit Itemized Deductions Under the new fiscal cliff deal, the incentive for high-income earners to donate to charity will increase as the tax reward rises from 35 percent to 39.6 percent on each dollar... |
