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A variety of criteria should be used when evaluating proposals to stimulate the economy:
Relief packages for people facing hardships due to economic downturns should be temporary and well-targeted.
Public-benefit programs should ensure that families headed by grandparents and other caregiver relatives receive sufficient support for economic security and well-being.
Policymakers should broaden the tax base by limiting tax preferences that do not efficiently achieve important policy goals.
Policymakers should limit the increasing number of taxpayers subject to the taxation of Social Security benefits to better protect the benefits of people who have no or limited additional retiremen
A progressive income tax is the preferred method of raising revenue at the federal and state levels. Other sources, such as a consumption tax, may be needed.
Due to their regressive nature, raising state and local sales taxes should not be the first choice for increasing tax revenues.
States and localities should include services in the taxable base to reduce regressivity and improve neutrality.
Exemptions from state retail sales taxes should be narrowly designed to reduce their regressive nature and avoid pyramiding.