Taxes

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...
Revisit the $10,00 Cap on SALT Deductions? Trump Says Maybe, Key Senator Says No

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump on Wednesday said he’d be open to discussing changes to the 2017 GOP tax law’s $10,000 limit on the deductibility of state and local taxes. “There are some people from New York who...
The Trump Tax Law Is Creating Lots of Jobs — for Tax Professionals

By Yuval Rosenberg

The GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may not be working as promised , but it’s certainly helped generate plenty of new jobs for tax lawyers and accountants, The Wall Street Journal’s Richard Rubin reports...

Democrats Unveil Their ‘Green New Deal.’ Here’s What It Does – and Doesn’t Do

By Michael Rainey

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) released their much-anticipated proposal for a Green New Deal Thursday. Framed as a response to the challenges of global warming, the 14...
Are Democrats Really Going ‘Socialist’?

By Michael Rainey

President Trump earned a rousing cheer from Republican lawmakers during his State of the Union address when he proclaimed, “America will never be a socialist country.” His proud declaration echoed...
Foreign Ownership of US Debt Continues to Decline

By Michael Rainey

Foreign demand for U.S. government debt has been declining in recent years but domestic investors have picked up the slack, The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Kruger and Kate Davidson reported...
Cities and States Pick Up Some of the Infrastructure Slack

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Although the federal government still has a lot of work to do with respect to planning and funding infrastructure investment, state and local governments are moving ahead with plans to “fix the damn...
Is It Time to Start Selling 100-Year Bonds?

By Michael Rainey

With the U.S. facing a $12 trillion deficit over the next decade, the Treasury Department is exploring ways to maintain robust demand for American debt. One option being considered is the sale of “...