The New York Times, Runner’s World, and a host of other media outlets recently hyped a new study published in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases on the benefits of running. The study asserts that running, if performed regularly, leads to 3.2 additional years of life.
With tax reform hopefully next on the GOP’s agenda, it is important for lawmakers to think about its revenue effects in a sensible way: focus on the long-run budget impact, not the 10-year horizon embedded in congressional rules.
While the UK is generally regarded as having a larger military and is certainly understood to have a larger economy from which to finance its military, its advantage on at least some common sense metrics is modest and its demands greater; the UK has more geopolitical interests around the globe to defend. Spain, on the other hand, while somewhat less equipped would have a proximity advantage in any armed conflict over Gibraltar. In short, the winner from such a hypothetical encounter is far from obvious to a casual observer.
Pundits have posited every imaginable reason for the failure of the GOP to get their health care reform bill through the first big hurdle: passage on the House floor. As we all know too well, Speaker Ryan pulled the bill just minutes before a vote was scheduled, when it was absolutely clear that a majority of support could not be reached. But would success have ushered in a new health care paradigm? I doubt it.
If the House Republican plan for a border adjustment tax were adopted, many large U.S. multinationals and others net exporters would receive more tax subsidy on their exports than tax owed on their other business activities. Without refundable credits, a 20% border adjustment tax would actually yield $260 billion in revenue beyond the expected $1 trillion.
President Trump’s proposal to cap itemized deductions would cause a drop in charitable giving. For those giving above the cap, the net cost would jump from $0.60 per $1 of giving to an unsubsidized $1 per $1 of giving. Because a 1% increase in the price yields a 1% drop in giving, $17.6 billion in annual giving could evaporate.
