PUBLICATIONS BY J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
Commentary
Research
Media Appearances
2008 Commentary
June 04, 2008
Soak the Rich, We All Get Wet
By J.D. Foster
A $1 Million 'Surtax’ Would Mean Less Money For NYC
May 05, 2008
Stop the housing bailout before it undoes all of us
By J.D. Foster
Bailouts, subsidies and slush funds: Such are the main ingredients of the housing bill now stewing in Congress.
April 14, 2008
Halt the bailout express
By J.D. Foster
Bailouts, subsidies and slush funds: Such are the main ingredients of the housing bill now stewing in Congress.
Bailouts to irresponsible borrowers, many of whom lied on their mortgage applications and/or bought homes at ridiculous prices hoping to flip them before the party ended. Tax credit subsidies to supplement the down payments of buyers looking for a steal on a foreclosed home. And a little slush fund for state and local governments to reward their favorite local builder or bank by taking empty properties off their hands at above-market prices.
2007 Commentary
November 13, 2007
Higher taxes equal less security
By J.D. Foster and James Jay Carafano
Tax hikes, it seems, are back in vogue. At least in certain quarters.
October 27, 2007
Rangel's Reform
By JD Foster
He billed it as "The Mother of All Tax Reforms." And it's certainly ambitious. But the long-awaited rewrite of federal tax policy, unveiled yesterday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, is going nowhere fast.
September 24, 2007
Reining in the red ink
By JD Foster
Like Noah warning of the pending flood, the latest Medicare and Social Security Trustees' reports were dire, warning the day of reckoning draws nigh. As usual, though, Congress is ignoring the gathering clouds while finding new ways to spend billions more on entitlements.
June 14, 2007
Cutting Corporate Taxes to Save America
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
Prospects for the U.S. economy are bright. Inflation and taxes are moderate; interest rates are low; the S&P 500 is repeatedly setting record highs; and growth is accelerating toward 3 percent despite the housing slump. Both the Bush administration and the Congressional Budget Office forecast the economy to grow at 2.5 percent annually or better for the next five to 10 years.
1995 Commentary
August 11, 1995
ED081195: A Friendly Critique Of The Flat Tax
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
ED081195: A Friendly Critique Of The Flat Tax
2008 Research
July 17, 2008
Oil Speculators: A Marginal (at Best) Cause of High Energy Prices
By J. D. Foster
(WebMemo #1998)
To deflect attention from high energy prices, Congress has joined in the finger-pointing, and the easiest targets are "speculators." Yet surprising voices are rising to set the record straight.
June 25, 2008
AMT Patch Bill Disguises a Tax Hike, Again
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1968)
There they go again. The House of Representatives passed another huge tax increase. Earlier in the year they passed a big, economically harmful tax hike attached to a bill expanding veterans’ benefits. This time, they married a big tax hike to a bill extending the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch for 2009.
June 19, 2008
Courageous Reforms in Ryan's Entitlements Road Map: Where Is the Democratic Response?
By J. D. Foster
(WebMemo #1958)
For years, political deadlock has stymied pressing reforms from health care to taxes to entitlements. Congressman Paul Ryan (R–WI), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, has attempted to break the deadlock, challenging members of both parties to take these serious issues seriously. Leading by example, Ryan has released a collection of bold, comprehensive, and sweeping reforms covering a broad spectrum of issues.
June 18, 2008
The Tax Relief Program Worked: Make the Tax Cuts Permanent
By . D. Foster, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2145)
The 2001 and 2003 tax reduced tax burdens and got the economy growing again: lowering tax rates, reducing the tax bias against saving and investment, phasing out the death tax, and reducing the marriage penalty. Congress should act quickly to make the tax relief permanent and to enact additional tax relief to enhance the international competitiveness of American workers.
June 05, 2008
War Funding Bill: PAYGO Awry, Surtaxing Toward GI Benefits
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1947)
The Congress is readying legislation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and threatening to load up the bill with unrelated related programs and initiatives. The “war supplemental” the House passed on May 15 failed to include funding for the war, but it did include an artificial timeline for troop withdrawal, codification of deployment schedules, billions of dollars in unrelated domestic spending, and the blocking of important cost-saving new Medicaid regulations.
May 13, 2008
Individual Income Tax Reform
By J. D. Foster
(Testimony #9999)
Mr. Chairman, Senator Grassley, Members of the Senate Finance Committee, my name is J.D. Foster. I am the Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation.
March 31, 2008
The Housing and Financial Markets: Congressional Action Could Disrupt Market Correction
By J.D. Foster
(WebMemo #1874)
Congressional action could prolong and exacerbate the current situation.
March 18, 2008
The Fed Engages as Economy Wavers
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D. and David C. John
(WebMemo #1857)
The health of the economy will depend significantly on the actions of the Federal Reserve in the days and weeks ahead.
March 13, 2008
Fair Tax Policy Requires a Fair Revenue Baseline
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1848)
Congress should use the budget resolution to correct the bias toward higher taxes in the CBO's budget projections.
March 11, 2008
Tax Hikes Hiding in Budget Resolutions' Treatment of AMT Patch
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1846)
Congress should include language in the budget resolution to extend the AMT patch without an accompanying tax hike.
March 04, 2008
Tax Cuts, Not the Clinton Tax Hike, Produced the 1990s Boom
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1835)
The 1993 tax increase probably slowed the economy compared to what it could have achieved.
February 26, 2008
No Economic Silver Lining in Tax Hikes
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1826)
A new theory mistakenly suggests that higher taxes may be benign or even beneficial to economic growth.
February 25, 2008
Tax Hikes, Economic Clouds, and Silver Linings: A Review of Deficits and the Economy
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2095)
Recent empirical work using different approaches affirms the traditional view that there is a clear and robust relationship between lower taxes and higher economic output. Federal, state, and local policymakers should therefore look for every opportunity to reduce taxes, especially those that are most harmful to economic growth such as marginal tax rates and taxes on saving and investment.
February 25, 2008
Executive Summary: Tax Hikes, Economic Clouds, and Silver Linings: A Review of Deficits and the Economy
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #2095)
Recent empirical work using different approaches affirms the traditional view that there is a clear and robust relationship between lower taxes and higher economic output. Federal, state, and local policymakers should therefore look for every opportunity to reduce taxes, especially those that are most harmful to economic growth such as marginal tax rates and taxes on saving and investment.
February 06, 2008
Benefits of the President's Proposed Standard Deduction for Health Insurance
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1799)
Correcting the tax treatment of private health insurance would strengthen the consumer-driven market forces that should discipline health care prices.
2007 Research
December 17, 2007
CBO Confirms: Long-Run Fiscal Outlook Remains Grim
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1749)
Congress and the Administration must work together to pass meaningful reforms to entitlement programs and the health care market.
December 13, 2007
The AMT Patch: A Few Months Late and $51 Billion Heavy
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1745)
Congress must prevent an unnecessary tax hike and should reform the budget rules to eliminate the threat of similar tax hikes in the future.
November 07, 2007
AMT Fix Becomes Massive Tax Hike Via Misleading CBO Baselines
By J.D. Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1695)
The CBO's misleading baseline assumptions disguise a massive tax hike as a revenue-neutral proposal.
October 31, 2007
Making Good Policy Out of a Bad AMT
By J. D. Foster, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2082)
The majority party in Congress threatens to use extension of the alternative minimum tax patch as a ruse to raise taxes, which could leave a married AMT filer facing a tax increase of up to $5,026. Policymakers and the public need to expose this ruse, reject the tax hike, and turn to practical, substantive reform to end this pernicious tax.
October 26, 2007
The Rangel Tax Bill: Roses Among the Thorns
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1679)
Although it would hurt the economy with a massive tax increase, this bill also contains laudable features that Congress should pursue in separate legislation.
September 27, 2007
State and Local Tax Hikes Add to Federal Tax Relief Pressures
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1647)
To pay for tax relief and higher-priority spending at the federal level, policymakers should cut back on federal grants to the states.
September 26, 2007
Taxpayers, Beware: Record Tax Burden Is Rising
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1639)
Before launching a new spate of tax hikes, Members of Congress should consider the historical context of overall tax levels and where those levels are headed under current policy.
September 21, 2007
Rising State and Local Tax Burden Crowds Federal Tax Policy
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1628)
Members of Congress looking to raise federal taxes may be in for a surprise.
September 10, 2007
The Subprime Mortgage Crunch: Providing Tax Relief for Ex-Homeowners
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1603)
The President’s package of initiatives, while well intentioned, is misguided. A better approach would be to correct the tax treatment of cancelled mortgage debt.
July 31, 2007
Health Care Tax Credits: The Right Prescription for Expanded Health Care Coverage
By JD Foster
(WebMemo #1579)
Expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would be a step toward a government-run health care system. Instead, Congress should consider tax policy changes that would expand private coverage.
July 16, 2007
The Phantom Economic Benefits of SCHIP Expansion
By JD Foster, Ph.D., and Michael Lumley
(WebMemo #1557)
An advocacy group's study showing economic gains from SCHIP expansion is based on faulty premises.
July 10, 2007
Higher Education for Taxpayers
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1547)
The reauthorization of the federal higher education programs should be used as an opportunity to reprioritize and, where possible, reduce federal spending—not as an excuse to create still more programs.
July 09, 2007
SCHIP Reauthorization: Congress Should Beware of Creating a New Entitlement
By Nicola Moore and JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1540)
Congress ought to focus on addressing the entitlement spending problem it has already created. Expanding yet another federal healthcare program would be reckless, risky, and irresponsible.
April 24, 2007
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report Again—And Again Problems Have Worsened
By JD Foster, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1430)
The financial condition of Medicare and Social Security is terrible and got significantly worse with another year of legislative inactivity.
