View Research by Author - Leonard E. Burman

Ph.D., Economics, University of Minnesota

1998-2000, Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis
1989-1997, senior analyst at Congressional Budget Office

Areas of expertise: Federal tax and budget issues; AMT; estate tax; retirement tax incentives; health insurance tax incentives; taxes and social policy

read more at Burman's Institute Fellow bio

Publications

Leonard Burman's testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on tax reform options affecting high-income taxpayers.

Continuation of current U.S. fiscal policy will lead to an enormous accumulation of debt with potentially disastrous economic consequences. Exacerbated by the recent economic turmoil and fueled by the willingness of creditors to lend at very low interest rates, there is signifi cant risk that necessary fi scal reform will be put off. In this paper, we consider the causes, mechanisms, and macroeconomic fallout of a catastrophic budget failure — a situation in which markets’ perception of the credit worthiness of the U.S. government rapidly deteriorates, leaving it unable to access credit markets at any reasonable rate of interest and generating a high probability of the previously unthinkable: the U.S. government defaulting on its debt obligations.

Leonard Burman's testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on whether and how to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

This article, written for a lay audience, discusses the causes and consequences of “catastrophic budget failure.” When America’s ballooning federal debt becomes unmanageable, we might simply refuse to honor our obligations, triggering a worldwide financial collapse and an economic downtown that would make the recent unpleasantness seem like a walk in the park. Or we might create enough money to pay back our creditors, domestic and foreign, triggering a hyperinflation reminiscent of failed states like the Weimar Republic in the 1930s (or, more recently, Zimbabwe) that would wipe out the savings of anyone caught holding wealth in dollars.

This year's tax season controversy surrounds the Tax Policy Center's estimate that 47% of households do not owe income tax. The estimate has raised concerns about equity (nearly half of families free-riding on the rest of us) and civic responsibility (can democracy work when half of voters get government for free?). It also just ticked off some people who feel they're bearing more than their fair share of the tax burden.

CNNMoney.com. Len Burman discusses the health insurance mandate.

Leonard Burman's testimony before the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures House Ways and Means Committee on taxes and the federal budget.

President Obama has proposed to freeze most domestic discretionary spending -- a step in the right direction, but not enough. The $250 billion in expected savings over the next decade is chump change compared with deficits that could top $10 trillion if policy doesn't change.

The two Santas came to Washington in 2000 and threaten to never leave. If we don't send them packing, Christmas Future could be very bleak indeed.

The Washington Times. America's days of economic dominance are numbered because we don't save. The government is borrowing like crazy, and households aren't doing much better. The personal savings rate -- the share of after-tax income that people set aside for a rainy day -- has been falling like a stone since the early 1980s.

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