As my Tax Policy Center colleague Donald Marron noted the other day, trying to sort through the various baselines in the Gang of Six’s bipartisan Senate budget plan is amusing, but not necessarily helpful. So, I’m going to take a different look: How much money would the government collect over the next decade under the [...]

The bipartisan deficit reduction plan proposed by the so-called “Gang of Six” senators includes very few specifics. Oddly, one would repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. CLASS, a national, voluntary long-term care insurance program, was included as part of the 2010 health reform. Despite its obscurity, it is the only provision [...]

Here’s a quick multiple choice quiz about the Gang of Six’s new budget proposal. Over the next ten years, would the proposal: a. Cut taxes by $1.5 trillion b. Increase taxes by $2.0 trillion c. Increase taxes by $1.2 trillion d. All of the above. If you answered (d), you have a fine future as [...]

The Senate’s bipartisan on again/off again Gang of Six has proposed an ambitious tax and spending package that closely follows the plan offered six months ago by the chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. Their plan is not so much a budget as a framework. In some cases it is quite [...]