Welcome to Our Research Archive
Search and filter by content type, issue area, author, and keyword
March 7, 2024
Growing Congressional Dysfunction Will Worsen Our Fiscal Problems
…this frustration is not to pretend that deficits don’t matter or ignore the challenge they pose — it’s for Washington to finally take deficits seriously and act to rein them in. Absent progress on bringing government spending…
February 29, 2024
Recalling Pandemic Lessons on “Self-Certifying” Eligibility
Sometimes what is left unmentioned can be far more important than what is said. A good example is obscure guidance issued last week by the US Department of Labor (DOL) encouraging workforce…
February 27, 2024
Options for Improving the Child Tax Credit Provisions in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024
H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, passed the House on January 31, 2024 and now faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. The…
February 9, 2024
Resolving to Learn Lessons from Record Pandemic Fraud
Congress doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions, but if it did, digesting our new report on pandemic fraud would be a good one. Released last week, the new report (“Pandemic Unemployment Fraud in…
February 8, 2024
CTC Expansion Rooted in Desire to Roll Back Work-based Welfare
Modifications to the child tax credit (CTC) are included in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, which the House of Representatives approved on…
January 29, 2024
Pandemic Unemployment Fraud in Context: Causes, Costs, and Solutions
Key Points The nation’s unemployment benefits system, which was significantly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, suffered unprecedented losses to fraud and improper payments. Official—and still partial—estimates of improper payments approach…
January 19, 2024
The Work Incentive and Employment Effects of Eliminating the Child Tax Credit’s Annual Income Requirement
Abstract Senior House and Senate tax committee leaders agreed to a framework for modifying the Child Tax Credit on January 16, 2024. The most consequential reform would eliminate the Child…
January 12, 2024
Small-Dollar Demonstration Projects Can’t Hide That a National Guaranteed Income Program Would Cost Trillions
Abstract While some have declared that short-term guaranteed income demonstrations (patterned on universal basic income schemes) are working almost universally, such cheerleading misses a major drawback: the enormous costs that…
January 11, 2024
Tax Credit Nation — Politicians Are Casting New Spending As ‘Tax Cuts,’ Hiding Their True Cost
With the national debt soaring past $34 trillion, liberal politicians hoping to expand the federal leviathan face a conundrum. How can they convince Americans wary of the effects of runaway…
January 11, 2024
To Better Promote Work, Stop Subsidizing More Benefit Collection
…and work incentives), that would only exacerbate the growing tilt toward benefit collection over work. Current legislative proposals would make matters far worse by permanently ignoring significant new taxpayer-provided benefits…