Author Archive | Brian Riedl

As the April 15 tax deadline edges closer, taxpayers frantically completing their 1040s may be wondering just what their hard-earned federal tax dollars pay for, anyway. Washington will spend $23,760 per household in 2006 — the highest inflation-adjusted total since World War II, and $6,500 more than in 2001. The federal government will collect $20,044 [...]

This year, Washington will spend an eye-popping $22,039 per household. That is the highest inflation-adjusted total since World War II, and $5,000 per household more than Washington spent just four years ago. With difficult decisions ahead, government waste should be the easiest place to begin bringing spending under control. Amazingly, Congress hasn’t undertaken any serious [...]

The April 15 tax deadline provides taxpayers the opportunity to examine how their elected officials will spend their hard-earned tax dollars. Washington will spend $22,039 per household in 2005 — the highest inflation-adjusted total since World War II, and $4,000 more than in 2001. The federal government will collect $18,248 per household in taxes. The [...]

The Congressional Budget Office’s latest budget projections should serve as a wake-up call to fiscal conservatives in Congress and the White House. Unless they restrain spending, they’ll see budget deficits jeopardize the tax-relief agenda and imperil much of the hard-fought progress achieved over the past three years. The CBO projects deficits of $401 billion in [...]

Should our tax dollars fund our troops fighting in Iraq, or the Smithsonian’s national worm collection? If it’s business as usual up at the Capitol, then this is the type of question Congress will grapple with in the coming weeks. And if history is our guide, the outcome is too close to call. On March [...]

There they go again: Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., calls it “immoral.” Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says it would be a “painful sacrifice.” The war in Iraq? Try the budget recently passed by the House Budget Committee, which seeks to increase government spending by only 4 percent next year. This is slightly slower growth than [...]

State capitols are abuzz with nervous activity. In 31 states, legislatures are working to close a combined budget gap of $17.5 billion. What created these crises? Overspending by politicians. Even after two years of what many call “the worst fiscal crisis since World War II,” state tax revenues are up almost 40 percent over 1990 [...]

“If we don’t