C. Eugene Steuerle's Blog: The Government We Deserve, page 2

Did Adding Trump’s Name Slow Down The Mailing of Stimulus Checks? Of Course It Did

Did the Treasury Departments decision to put President Trumps name on the coronavirus stimulus checks slow the mailing of those checks? Of course it did, despite Administration claims to the contrary. The decision surrounding Trumps name triggered a series of time-consuming steps. The White House consulted with top Treasury officials who, in turn, talked to […]

Recession Recovery: Using Purchases to Both Reduce Unemployment and Increase Demand

The current recession derives from two sources: demand and supply. On the demand side, consumers are purchasing fewer durable goods (e.g., automobiles) and spending much less on services, such as all forms of transportation. On the supply side, there has been a massive decline in supply of goods and services as workers stay home and […]

Massively Expanding Testing: A Late and Still Very Inadequate Beginning

For both social and economic reasons, people will soon begin to re-congregate even while awaiting the availability of a vaccine that itself may be less than foolproof. In fact, if estimates of a 15 or 20 percent unemployment rate prove correct, that means that still over 80 percent of workers have remained employed, often in […]

Who Should Pay for the Economic Relief from the COVID-19 Crisis?

As Republicans and Democrats joined hands to provide the most recent of what might be several stages of relief from our national pandemic crisis, almost everyonefiscal hawks and doves alikeagrees that this isnt the time to think about who should pay for the recovery. The conclusion may be correct as a political matter but not […]

Charitable Giving Appears To Have Fallen In 2018, Despite Treasury Claims

On March 3, the Treasury Department put out a press release saying  that 2018’s charitable giving “appeared largely unchanged from previous years,” despite a “concern that … TCJA [the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017] reforms would lead to less charitable giving.”  In fact, the underlying data confirm  predictions  by the Tax Policy Center and other independent […]

What Do The Sanders-Biden Fights Over Protecting Social Security Mean?

Social Security is back in the headlines. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders attacked his rival for the nomination, former Vice-President Joe Biden, for his past support of some relatively small cuts in Social Security’s growing long-term costs. Then, President Donald Trump hinted that he might back some unspecified changes in entitlements, perhaps including Social Security. At […]

Three Largely Ignored Tax Policy Issues When Taxing The Wealthy

The current debate over wealth taxes mostly focuses on whether the very rich are undertaxed, but gives little attention to the most efficient and fairest ways to tax them and capital income more generally. Here are three specific questions that any well-designed effort aimed at raising taxes on the wealthy should answer: How do the changes address […]

On Giving And Getting In This And All Our Holy Seasons

I must confess my misgivings about much that surrounds Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other celebrations near the Winter Solstice. I certainly applaud and am rejuvenated by the spiritual preparation, gathering of family and friends, and joy in a season that extends from Thanksgiving through the New Year. Most of all, hope rises as our souls […]

Paul Volcker Taught Us How Tax And Monetary Policy Can Work Together To Enhance Growth

The recent passing of former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker serves as an important reminder of his critical role in ending stagflation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But while most attention is being paid to how his aggressive efforts to raise interest rates broke the back of accelerating inflation, Volcker’s interest rate hikes […]

Government Trust Funds Are Selling America Short

Federal lawmakers have found many ways to shift the responsibility for today’s spending to tomorrow’s taxpayers. But among the most important is their habit of abandoning the fiscal discipline that should accompany government trust funds. A new bill, the Bipartisan Trust Act, may focus new attention on this issue. Sponsored by Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) […]