Inconvenient Tax Truths

Nobel Peace laureate Al Gore believes global warming is "an inconvenient truth." Here are some economic truths that America's liberal leadership finds too inconvenient to support. Click here to read …

The Coming Tax Tsunami

Over the next 25 years American taxpayers will face a fiscal tsunami.  The first of the baby boomers will be eligible for early retirement beginning next year, and will be eligible for Medicare in 2011.  The last of the Baby Boom generation, born in 1964, will reach normal retirement age (67 years) in 2031.  Most baby boomers are approaching their peak earning years when they have the greatest capacity to save for retirement. 

The Surtax: Worse Than the Alternative Minimum Tax

The individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally designed to tax wealthy households who paid little income tax due to deductions and credits they claimed.  However, today's AMT is hitting more and more middle-class households in spite of temporary fixes (such as raising the threshold of income not subject to the AMT).  The last temporary patch expired at the end of 2006. 

A Clean Air Regulation Hazardous to Health

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new federal standard for ozone air pollution that is much stricter than the current limit.  If the proposal is adopted, the EPA will reclassify most regions of the United States as “nonattainment” areas.  This means they violate the EPA standard and will be required to implement costly measures to comply with the new limits.  Cities unable to meet the new standard could face federal restrictions on development, road-building and construction of new commercial and industrial facilities.

Tax Increase Not Needed For Bridge Repairs

In the wake of the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse, Congress is considering a 5-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gas tax in the name of bridge repairs.  Yet while there are legitimate concerns about the safety of the nation's bridges, higher gas taxes are unnecessary, according to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).

Repairing Bridges without Raising Gas Taxes

In the wake of the August 1, 2007, Minneapolis bridge collapse, Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, proposed a 5-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline.  Oberstar believes the hike would raise $25 billion over three years for critical bridge repairs across the United States.  But his proposal flies in the face of growing public concern over sustained high gas prices. 

Michael Barone

Michael Barone is Senior Writer, U.S. News & World Report. Barone grew up in Detroit and Birmingham, Michigan. He was graduated from Harvard College (1966) and Yale Law School (1969), and was an editor of the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal.

U.S. Cancer Care Is Number One

During this presidential election season, candidates are urging Americans to radically overhaul our “broken” health care system. Before accepting the premise that the system is broken, consider the impressive evidence from the largest ever international study of cancer survival rates.  The data show that cancer patients live longer in the United States than anywhere else on the globe.