Taxes

Bernie Sanders Says He’s Running Again. Why 2020 Will Be Different Than 2016.

By Yuval Rosenberg

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced Tuesday that he’s making another run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Among the items on the 77-year-old democratic socialist’s 2020 agenda: enacting a...
Elizabeth Warren Proposes Universal Child Care, Paid for by Taxing Millionaires

By Yuval Rosenberg

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who’s running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, on Tuesday unveiled a universal child care plan that would cap families’ expenses at 7 percent of income...
Trump on the $22 Trillion National Debt: 'Growth Will Straighten It Out'

By Michael Rainey

President Trump was asked at his wide-ranging press conference Friday about the roughly $2 trillion increase in public debt during the first two years of his administration: Question: Let me also ask...
Poll of the Day: Democrats and Taxes

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Democrats and Republicans receive roughly equal grades when it comes to the question of which party is best suited to handle taxes, according to an analysis by Navigator , a polling and research...
Amazon Pulls the Plug on NYC Headquarters

By Michael Rainey

Amazon is canceling its plan to build a corporate campus in New York City, the company announced Thursday. The decision comes following months of local criticism of the project, in which the company...

The Great Debt Debate: How Dangerous Is It?

By Michael Rainey

MIT economist Olivier Blanchard caused a stir in fiscal circles last month with an academic paper suggesting that current levels of public debt may be less worrisome than many experts think (see our...
Why Smaller Tax Refunds Could Ding the Economy

By Michael Rainey

Although tax season has only just begun, early data from the IRS shows that the average individual tax refund is 8.4 percent smaller so far this year. Some critics have been quick to blame the...
Shutdown Makes a Bad Situation Worse at the IRS

By Michael Rainey

A new report from National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson says that the 35-day government shutdown just before the start of the tax season produced “real harm” for taxpayers as the IRS struggled to...
Goldman Sachs Projects Deficit Will Top $1 Trillion Next Year

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office projected last month that the federal budget deficit for this year would be about $900 billion , up 15 percent from last year but about $84 billion less than it had...
Taxpayers Getting Smaller Refunds in First Week of 2019 Filing

By Michael Rainey

The average tax refund is down so far this year, according to IRS data covering the first week of the 2019 filing season. Last year, returns generated an average refund of $2,035, while this year the...

Is the ‘Era of Tax Reductions’ Over?

By Michael Rainey

If Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments, is correct, Wall Street should be worried about the rise of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). In a note to clients Wednesday,...
The Ongoing Fight Over Ocasio-Cortez’s 70% Top Tax Bracket

By Michael Rainey

The lively debate over the proposal by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to raise the top marginal tax rate to 70 percent continues, as it no doubt will for many months to come, with former...
Tax Cuts Still Not Paying for Themselves

By Michael Rainey

The latest budget data shows, once again, that the tax cuts are not paying for themselves. “It’s time to put to rest any notion that President Trump’s signature tax cuts are paying for themselves...
Ocasio-Cortez’s Tax Bombshell: Is a 70% Top Rate Too High, or Not High Enough?

By Michael Rainey

Political Rorschach test Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) sparked a lively fiscal debate this week after suggesting in an interview that the top marginal tax rate in the U.S. should be as high as...
Deficit Jumped Over First Months of Fiscal 2019, on Pace to Top $1 Trillion for the Year

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal deficit jumped $92 billion in the first three months of fiscal 2019, up 41 percent from the same period in 2018, according to estimates published by the Congressional Budget Office on...