Mercatus Center

Washington has long used the federal tax code to advance objectives ranging from increasing "fairness" to granting a competitive advantage to favored businesses or industries. But riddling the code with special provisions has a price beyond the revenue lost from the tax breaks themselves.…

As the nation narrowly averts the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” can Americans finally exhale with the knowledge that Washington’s last-minute deal is a good deal for them?  …

Sigmund Freud is famously misquoted as saying, “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.” While Freud’s pronouncement may have shed some light on the issue of oral fixations, a similar approach is less illuminating when it comes to America’s tax code and the looming negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff.  Yes, sometimes a tax increase is just a tax increase.…

Although the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it’s still unclear whether we can truly afford the provisions in the law. Congress passed, and the President signed, the ACA with the promise that it wouldn't add to the federal deficit. Even after the Supreme Court decision, however, the only true debate now is over how much it will add to the deficit.…