The federal government is headed toward a financial crisis as a result of chronic overspending, large deficits, and huge future cost increases in Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare would be big fiscal challenges even if the rest of the government were lean and efficient,...

Substantial variations in the cost of living among regions in the United States are a major impediment to achieving a fair and equitable income tax system. Geographic cost of living differences arise because of disparities in the consumption power of income in different regions. Although the...

This paper presents a simulation model based on the growth rate, the inflation rate, and the consumption tax rate in the future. Future tax revenues and fiscal expenditures are projected using regression models estimated from past data. The fiscal situation is called unsustainable if the...

Taxes and cash transfers reduce income inequality more in France than elsewhere in the OECD, because of the large size of the flows involved. But the system is complex overall. Its effectiveness could be enhanced in many ways, for example so as to achieve the same amount of redistribution at...

While international human rights law promulgates that economic, social and cultural rights (economic rights) be supported just as fervently as civil and political rights, the reality is, they are not. The Greek debt crisis and resulting austerity measures demonstrate how a growing world economy...

The article’s subject is social protection in the Arab world. Giving the example of Egypt, it asks why poverty is so widespread and why – despite the country’s numerous sophisticated social protection systems – social risks are a major contributing factor to it. It concludes that reforms...

Most sub-Saharan African countries are characterized by low tax compliance and low tax productivity. This study tests the effects of a tax lottery under alternative reward designs on compliance as an alternative policy option for addressing the problem of low tax receipts in Tanzania. The lab...

The IRS is in crisis. In recent years, Congress has cut its budget significantly, piled on the workload, and conducted oversight hearings that were often quite partisan. The IRS needs more funding to carry out its mission. For that, it needs Congressional support. Unfortunately, bashing the IRS...

The IRS is still reeling from accusations that it “targeted” Tea Party and other non-profit organizations for delays of their applications for tax-exempt status. Although multiple government investigations found no politically motivated behavior — only mismanagement — Congressional...