Heritage Expert

Lawrence Whitman

All Publications by Lawrence Whitman
  • Executive Memorandum posted February 1, 2003 by Lawrence Whitman Three Ways to Make President Bush's Tax Plan Even Better

    President Bush has advanced two sound tax principles: (1) Government should tax income only once; accordingly, policymakers should end double taxation of dividends. (2) Because future tax rate reductions will not help today's economy as much as tax cuts now, provisions of the 2001 tax cut scheduled for the future (particularly income-tax…

  • Executive Summary posted November 22, 2002 by Lawrence Whitman Executive Summary: Making the Tax Cuts Permanent and Fully Effective Now

    The Senate's failure to make last year's tax rate cuts permanent and fully in effect now is hurting America's workers and families, the economy, and the stock market. By fostering uncertainty, the current policy is reducing investment, limiting job growth, slowing the economy, and depressing the stock market. Specifically, the 2001 tax cut…

  • Backgrounder posted November 22, 2002 by Lawrence Whitman Making the Tax Cuts Permanent and Fully Effective Now

    The Senate's failure to act on legislation that would make last year's tax cut package permanent and fully in effect now is hurting individuals, families, the economy, and the stock market. By fostering uncertainty and undermining long-term investment, the current policy is curtailing investment, limiting job growth, slowing the economic recovery, and depressing…

  • Backgrounder posted August 27, 2002 by Lawrence Whitman How the Tax Code Contributed to the Corporate Scandals andBankruptcies

    The recent media and congressional focus on corporate scandals and bankruptcies has overlooked one very important factor: the role of the U.S. tax code. Not only does the tax code encourage companies to finance their operations more through issuing debt (bonds) than by raising equity (stocks), but it also induces them to retain rather than…

  • Executive Memorandum posted February 14, 2002 by Lawrence Whitman Six Truths on How to Get the Economy Moving

    Even though the U.S. economy is underperforming, the Senate recently failed to pass any legislation that could improve matters. In the future, policymakers trying to revive the economy should bear in mind the following six truths about economic policy. Truth #1: The most effective role for government is to decrease barriers…