Press Release

It comes as no surprise that CBO officials now estimate that nearly 6 million Americans - most in the middle class - will have to pay an average penalty of about $1,200 starting in 2014 for failing to obtain health insurance, a 50 percent increase than previously estimated.

While reports today indicate the Fed will spend $40 billion per month on bond purchases to boost the weak economy, with no end date set, Dr. Merrill Matthews says it’s not quantitative easing that the economy needs but regulatory easing.

Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) resident scholar Dr. Merrill Matthews lists the greatest flaws and backward incentives of the president's signature legislation, concluding: “It is the wrong policy for the dynamic and fast-paced 21st century, an albatross fit for 1960, not 2012."

Romney’s bold pick of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan as Vice President makes it clear the 2012 election is about the country's financial future, and with Ryan on the ticket, President Obama will be dragged kicking and screaming into the Medicare reform debate.

In an attempt to grab more tax revenue, states are on a course to levy and collect sales tax—the same tax on the same transaction multiple times, and today’s hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will examine the rule established by Supreme Court precedent prohibiting states from collecting sales taxes from digital retailers without a physical presence in their state.

The Marketplace Fairness Act is an attempt to do an end-run around the Supreme Court’s physical presence rulings and would place unfair compliance burdens on small businesses around the country, said IPI Policy Counsel Bartlett Cleland.

Today President Obama said he wants to extend what are known as the Bush tax cuts, which expire at year's end, but only to those whom the president deems worthy.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s refusal to expand Medicaid in the Lone Star State could be an opportunity to set a new paradigm in Medicaid.

“It’s as if Chief Justice John Roberts went out of his way to hand President Obama a victory,” said IPI's Merrill Matthews. "And now that the Supreme Court has upheld Obamacare, let’s see if the public also upholds it come November."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen introduced the Invest in America Now Act this week to extend 100% bonus depreciation through 2012 to encourage capital investments and job growth. A statement cites as background information evidence from IPI's 2001 study that every $1 of tax cuts devoted to accelerated depreciation generates about $9 of GDP growth.