Budget Basics Archive

The Medicare Advantage allows beneficiaries enrolled in both Part A and Part B to receive benefits from private plans.
Here are the top ten spending categories for the federal budget.
The fairness of our federal tax system is a hotly debated issue. Too often, however, those debates confuse or misrepresent important facts because they focus on one type of tax in isolation rather than the various taxes that people face in aggregate.
Although the need for serious, long-term changes to the funding structure of the Highway Trust Fund is clear, there is disagreement over the approach to do so.
Tax expenditures can come in the form of exclusions, exemptions, deductions, and credits.
The economy goes through cyclical movements over time, with periods of growth followed by downturns. To help improve responsiveness to fluctuations in the business cycle, a number of important programs in the federal budget automatically increase or restrain spending depending on economic conditions.
Most working Americans are subject to payroll taxes, which are usually deducted automatically from an employee’s paycheck. Employers are also often subject to these types of taxes.
Unemployment insurance (UI) is a joint state-federal program that was established in 1935 to provide temporary financial assistance to workers who become unemployed by no fault of their own.
Public schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade are financed through a combination of local, state, and federal dollars in proportions that vary across and within states.
This budget explainer describes what Medicaid is, how it is financed, and who benefits from it.