off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
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This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, the economy, unemployment insurance (UI), state budgets and taxes, and health policy.
Greenstein also showed that Senator Pat Toomey’s tax plan would raise taxes on people making under $200,000, despite his claim to the contrary.
We updated our analysis of Governor Mitt Romney’s budget proposals, showing that they would require massive cuts in nondefense programs.
Richard Kogan explained why discussions of deficit reduction need to take into account the steps that policymakers have already taken in this area.
Hannah Shaw explained that negotiations over continuing the program were the wrong venue for major UI reforms and showed why the resulting agreement was a good deal for the unemployed.
Leachman also listed six reasons why requiring a supermajority vote to raise taxes is a bad idea, and Oliff praised a Maryland proposal to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to help offset the impact of regressive tax increases.
Erica Williams cited a new Kansas proposal as evidence that cutting taxes at all costs threatens to weaken a state’s economy.
Michael Mazerov pointed out the benefits of broadening state sales taxes to cover more services.
In other news this week, we released a statement on the impact of the President’s 2013 budget on the deficit and a report on the President’s proposal to eliminate separate funding caps for defense and nondefense programs. We also released reports on state supermajority requirements for tax increases, why Congress should not repeal the excise tax on medical devices, estimating the revenue impact of taxing services, and the agreement to extend federal emergency UI.