2012 Elections
  • Obama’s Bargain: Lower Rates for Higher Spending

    President Obama intends to make one last pitch for a “grand bargain” of new spending and tax policy on Tuesday that will attempt to marry corporate tax reform with funding for jobs to benefit the...

  • Ominous Signs for the GOP in 2014

    By Bruce Bartlett, The Fiscal Times

    The conventional wisdom is that Republicans are in good shape going into next year’s congressional elections. Gerrymandering and the enormous benefits of incumbency virtually guarantee them continued...

  • Trading Tax Write-Offs for Real Growth

    By Andrew Fieldhouse, The Fiscal Times

    Overhauling the tax code is a wonky fixation of the D.C. policymaking elite, for good reason — it’s an area loaded with policy nuance, lobbying intrigue and major ramifications for long-term fiscal...

  • IRS Scandal: How the Brouhaha Went Bust

    By Peter Weber, TheWeek.com

    Rep. Darrell Issa is still banging the scandal drum. Is anyone listening anymore?

  • Beer, Burgers, and a Two-Man Blitz on Tax Reform

    By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

    Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) are keeping hope alive that the tax code can be rewritten. Both peg the odds of successful reform at more than 50 percent, according to a joint lunch...

  • 'Proud' Anti-Tax Pledge Signers Still Bow to Norquist

    By Peter Wallsten, The Washington Post

    At times, it has seemed that GOP lawmakers eyeing a fiscal compromise with President Obama were moving closer to a public split with Grover Norquist, author of the famous no-new-taxes pledge that has...

  • Cliff Deal Turns the Screws on Boehner and the GOP

    By Josh Boak and Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times

    he yearend fiscal crisis may create a challenge for House Speaker John Boehner within his own Republican party— as to where, how, and when they’ll cut spending over the next decade.

  • Geithner: GOP Will Be Blamed If No Cliff Deal

    By Josh Boak and Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times

    During their appearances on Sunday talk shows today, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner betrayed more than a whiff of self confidence that the administration held the upper hand in the stalled talks...

  • Dems Hatch a Hail Mary Plan to Avert Fiscal Cliff

    By Thomas Ferraro, Reuters

    Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday announced a longshot bid to force an early vote on tax hikes to break the stalemate in negotiations over the year-end "fiscal cliff."

  • Caution on the Cliff From a Flat-Tax Flagwaver

    By Maureen Mackey, The Fiscal Times

    Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, who told The Fiscal Times not long ago that he’s “not your typical politician,” says he’s been watching the political action on the looming fiscal cliff – and...