Where is the Money Going?

Can a VAT Reduce Payroll or Corporate Taxes?

There might be some advantages for the United States to use a value added tax (VAT), similar to a sales tax, to reduce other types of taxes, such as those levied on payrolls or corporate profits. Currently, the United States is the only country in... read more

Wall Street-Friendly Senators Chosen to Prepare Final Regulation Bill

The final form of the financial regulation bill in Congress is in the hands of a conference committee that must reconcile competing versions of the legislation. Appointed from the Senate to the committee are 12 senators who have received $57 milli... read more

Financial Reform Lite: No Glass-Steagall This Time Around

If it becomes law, the financial reform legislation in Congress will impose a number of significant changes affecting how Wall Street operates. It would establish a new agency to oversee consumer financial products, create a council to monitor sys... read more

Defense of Military Health Insurance System Backfires, as Families Left Out of New Benefit

Thanks to the new healthcare reform law, Americans will have the choice of keeping their children on their insurance plans until age 26—unless the policyholder happens to be in the military, where adult child coverage stops at 21, or 23 if the chi... read more

Obama Asks $59 Billion in Extra Spending for Disaster Relief, Haiti, Agent Orange Disabilities and…War

Using a tactic he criticized when his predecessor employed it, President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve “emergency” legislation to cover costs associated with disaster relief, assistance for Haiti and the military campaigns in Afghanis... read more

Financial Reform: We May Be Stuck Paying for the Breaks Banks Bought

One clear indication that the financial industry reform plan adopted by the Senate can’t be that tough is the reaction coming from Wall Street. A longtime investment banker anonymously told The New York Times that there was “a sigh of relief” from... read more

Make Goldman Sachs Give Back $13 Billion to the American People: Cenk Uygur

The mess that Wall Street made of itself two years ago wasn’t as complicated to understand as you might think, writes Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, a daily web television talk show. A lot of the trouble was caused by side bets—high-sta... read more

Wealth Gap between Whites and Blacks Widens

Wealth inequality between white and black Americans has continued to widen since the 1980s. The Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University examined economic data gathered from a group of 2,000 families from 1984-2007 and conclude... read more

Oil Industry Scooped Up Offshore Leases at Bargain Rates

When Norway leases its offshore territory to oil companies, the government receives more than 75% of the revenues. The United States, however, takes in less than 20%, making coastal petroleum opportunities a fantastic bargain for the industry. ... read more

Taxing Soft Drinks to Pay for Their Cost to Society

In need of new revenue sources to pay for education and healthy eating programs for children, local and state politicians are setting their sights on taxing soft drinks. In Washington, DC, local politicians are considering a plan to impose a 1... read more

Only 3 House Incumbents Receive Half of Campaign Funds from Small Donors

Less than 1% of all lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives manage to support their re-election campaigns with donations mostly from small contributors (defined as those who give $200 or less). Three representatives, in fact, is the total: ... read more

Transocean Announces $1 Billion Dividend to Shareholders

Having its oil platform blow up and release millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was not enough to dissuade Transocean Ltd, owner of the Deepwater Horizon, from meeting with shareholders to inform them that a $1 billion payout in div... read more

Inflation Hits…Tax-Related Paperwork

Once upon a time, 74 years ago to be precise, the instructions accompanying the 1040 tax form were only two pages in length. Today, those same instructions have turned into a book that’s 174 pages long, and counting. The National Taxpayers Uni... read more

Almost Half of U.S. Households Receive Government Benefits

During the middle of the recent recession, Americans increasingly turned to the government for assistance, with nearly half of all households receiving some kind of support. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 45% of the country during the ... read more

Obama Loan Modification Program Backfires

More than 100,000 Americans who entered into a home mortgage modification program created by the Obama administration have found themselves kicked out of the relief effort, making their lives worse than if they had never bothered to get involved i... read more

The Trillion-Dollar Drug War: Was It Really Worth It?

Forty years and $1 trillion later, the United States is at a crossroads in its war on drugs. Many critics have long complained that treating the drug problem first and foremost as a law enforcement issue has been a mistake, and the Obama administr... read more