Coming into office next year, Donald Trump will face massive budget deficits of $2 trillion a year and rising. Trump and every member of Congress now know that excessive deficits and spending can spike inflation, which is very unpopular with voters. The president and his budget team must find spending cuts to tackle the deficit monster.
Chris Edwards
Beltway Bandits
Next year, the new president will face budget deficits and interest costs spiraling upwards. He or she will need to find spending to cut. How about all the waste and overcharging in federal contracting?
FEMA’s Role in Hurricanes
FEMA is the lead federal agency for natural disaster response, but the American system of disaster response is not a top-down structure imposed by Washington.
VP Picks for Kamala Harris
Media outlets are identifying vice-presidential options for likely presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Many of the VP options are state governors.
Cato grades the governors from “A” to “F” every two years on their tax and spending policies. The “A” governors push for lower taxes and spending, the “F” governors push for higher taxes and spending, and there are many governors in between.
Corporate Welfare Breeds Corruption
President Joe Biden said big corporations should pay their fair share, yet he increased corporate tax loopholes 92 percent. Biden promised to end trickle-down economics, yet he showered big corporations with the largest gusher of corporate welfare ever.
Governor Tim Walz’s Fiscal Record
Kamala Harris selected Tim Walz as her presidential running mate. Let’s look at his record on spending and taxes as Minnesota governor since 2019.
Interstate Migration of High Earners and Retirees
Which states are Americans moving to and which are they leaving?
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released interstate migration data for 2022. The data include the domestic movements of households into and out of each state broken down by income level and age group.
The table shows the net migration for each state and the ratios of in-migration to out-migration for all households, households headed by an individual age 65 and older, and households earning more than $200,000 a year.
Secret Service Spending
The Secret Service has failed at its core mission in a stunning manner. Investigations into the assassination attempt on former President Trump are just beginning, but we’re already hearing some really lame excuses from federal officials
Fiscal Effects of School Choice
School choice reforms are spreading across the nation. Governments in 33 states are now providing financial support for private schooling through 80 different programs, as shown in this figure from EdChoice. About one million students are benefiting from these reforms.
Business Subsidies and State Tax Climates
In researching Cato’s governor report cards, I’ve found that high‐tax states appear to hand out the most special‐interest breaks and subsidies. Let’s look at some supporting data.