If we are going to make real progress on deficit reduction, politicians will, sooner or later, have to stop talking in code. The “adult conversation” they pine for will have to be candid and explicit.  So far, it is not. Two weeks ago, a bipartisan group of 64 senators signed a letter urging President Obama [...]

While there seems to be growing agreement in Washington that the U.S. needs to cut its tax rate on corporations, there is (surprise) no consensus at all on how to pay for this. One way: Raise taxes on capital gains and dividends.    This idea was one element of the broad tax reforms proposed last year by the chairs of [...]

Remember President Obama’s 2012 budget—the fiscal framework he released in February. You’d be forgiven if you’ve forgotten. After all, Washington can’t seem to stop squabbling over what to do about the budget for this fiscal year, now almost half over. Still, once Congress finally crawls out of the muck of 2011, Obama’s budget will be the focus [...]

To the Obama Administration, tax reform means corporate tax restructuring. Both the president and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have argued that at least the first tranche of reform would scale back tax preferences, cut corporate rates, and, in all, raise the same money that the tax code does today.  In Obama’s vision, redesign of the individual tax [...]

Ideological heresy may not quite be breaking out all over Washington, but in the growing debate over the burgeoning debt, there are helpful hints of apostasy. And hope of a bipartisan consensus for responsible deficit reduction may lie atop those tiny waves of dissent. The latest whiff of hopeful heterodoxy comes from three Republican senators– Saxby Chambliss of [...]

The latest Republican talking point is that President Obama is “punting” on his fiscal responsibilities by not proposing deep cuts in Medicare and Social Security. It is true that Obama’s 2012 budget was exceedingly timid when it came to deficit reduction. But Obama’s GOP critics ooze hypocrisy when they accuse him of fiscal irresponsibility. This, [...]

Here’s a quick multiple choice quiz about President Obama’s new budget. Over the next ten years, would the budget:      a. Increase taxes by $819 billion      b. Cut taxes by $2 trillion      c. Increase taxes by $1.6 trillion      d. All of the above. If you answered (d), you have a fine future [...]

The Obama budget confirms what we already knew—neither tax reform nor significant increases in revenues are on the table. Neither are major entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. The coming budget debate will be fought over a small sliver of spending. This is ground where Republicans feel quite comfortable and Democrats do not. [...]

Tomorrow, the White House will release its ideas for overhauling mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  While there is little agreement in Washington over just what to do, there is broad bipartisan support for big changes. In large part that’s because when the implicit government guaranty behind Fan and Fred turned explicit in the [...]

In his speech yesterday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, President Obama doubtless pleased many in his audience by repeating the business community’s favorite mantra about U.S. taxes:  “Another barrier government can remove,“ he said, “is a burdensome corporate tax code with one of the highest rates in the world.” Now, what the president said [...]