Reports

To address our nation's economic crisis and maintain our nation's fiscal health, the United States desperately needs new sources of federal revenue. Without additional revenues, we as a nation will either have to shortchange long-overdue investments in infrastructure, health, energy, and economic opportunity or leave an unsustainable debt to generations ahead.

The incredible firestorm over the $165 million bonus payout at failed insurance giant AIG has dramatically revealed the depth of the public anger at private companies that enrich themselves at taxpayer expense. Congressional action to recoup these bonuses through taxes would be a positive step, but merely undoing the AIG bonuses will leave in place tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for banks and corporations that routinely overcompensate their executives. This report includes a chart that identifies key taxypayer subsidies for executive excess and the various reforms now pending in Congress that speak to these problems.

This report provides an overview of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — also called the “Economic Stimulus Package.” Its primary objective is to provide federal funds and tax breaks so as to stimulate spending and foster economic growth during this time of deepening recession.

To address our nation's economic crisis and maintain our nation's fiscal health, we desperately need new sources of federal revenue. Without additional federal financial resources, we as a nation will either have to shortchange long-overdue investments in infrastructure, health, energy, and economic opportunity or leave an unsustainable debt to generations ahead. The Institute for Policy Studies has identified a package of practical and politically viable policies that could raise the revenues we need.