International-Taxation Scholar Rosanne Altshuler to Become Co-Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
Rosanne Altshuler, a Rutgers University economist specializing in international taxation and the former senior staff economist for President George W. Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, will become codirector of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in January and a principal research associate at the Urban Institute.
How the Income Tax Treatment of Saving and Social Security Benefits May Affect Boomers’ Retirement Incomes
Income tax provisions affect the buildup of retirement assets during workers’ careers and after-tax income following retirement. This paper uses the Urban Institute’s DYNASIM model to simulate how potential changes in the tax treatment of retirement saving, Social Security benefits, and income from assets outside retirement accounts may affect boomers’ retirement incomes. Changes in the income thresholds for taxing Social Security benefits have the largest impact on middle-income boomers, while changes in contribution limits for retirement saving plans and tax rates on capital gains and dividends have the largest impact on the highest-income boomers.
Holiday Cheer?
For a little holiday cheer—or maybe not—here are revised lyrics for “My Favorite Things” that I wrote for the Urban Institute holiday party.
If you don’t know the original song, you can see a clip of the song from The Sound of Music or just the lyrics.
Happy Holidays!
Banks are in trouble, the market’s in tatters.
Red ink is flowing through all fiscal matters.
Housing foreclosures, collapsed IRAs.
We’ve surely known many happier days.
Treasury bails out the biggest of lenders,
Trying to spur all the nation’s big spenders.
Prices are falling, deflation’s a threat.
You’ll want to buys things but don’t buy them yet.
Stock prices crashing, those T bills look great now.
I’d like to retire but can’t figure out how.
Refinancing mortgages might save some folks.
Wall Street high flyers are all now bad jokes.
When my job goes,
When the bank calls,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply recall all those crashing hedge funds,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Billions for Bear Stearns but nothing for Lehman;
We’ll help the Big Three but we just won’t say when.
Fannie and Freddy got loan guarantees
But Merrill Lynch we cut off at the knees.
Harvard’s out billions, endowment’s collapsed now.
Fancy investment’s no longer a cash cow.
Madoff played Ponzi with other folks’ cash.
Everyone got rich before the big crash.
So what do we do with our credit all gone now?
Stimulus might work but we just don’t know how.
Our infrastructure could use patching up.
Each state is begging with its own tin cup.
When my stocks crash,
When my house goes,
When I’m feeling sad,
I think about Wall Street’s big bonuses gone,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Do the Candidates’ Spending Plans Add Up?
On Friday morning, I am going to moderate what promises to be an enlightening discussion of the spending plans of the major Presidential candidates. Panelists will be Rudy Penner of The Urban Institute, Jim Horney of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Maya MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Bill Hoagland of CIGNA (and formerly the top budget guru for ex-Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist).
Deficits and The Future: Other Views
I just finished moderating an Urban Institute panel discussion featuring three confirmed deficit hawks—former CBO directors Bob Reischauer and Rudy Penner, and TPC’s Len Burman. The question on the table: What will the now-official recession and the federal government’s massive deficits mean for Barack Obama’s hugely ambitious domestic agenda?