The vast majority of tax breaks in the U.S. tax code would be hard to cut because they promote important social goals or are “hugely popular” with voters, according to a new congressional analysis that casts doubt on Republican promises to substantially lower tax rates without adding to budget deficits. Read full article > >

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Tax breaks would be tough to cut, congressional research says

Italy’s Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a package aimed at eliminating Italy’s budget deficit by 2013 and stimulating its economy as part of a broader plan to stabilize the euro.

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Senators in Italy Pass Plan for Budget

Comments by a Chinese vice minister suggested that Beijing was in no hurry to help European countries finance their budget deficits.

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China Signals Reluctance to Rescue E.U.

The IRS commissioner has warned Congress that plans to cut the tax collector’s budget would add to the nation’s budget deficit and seriously hurt customer service. Legislation proposed by Senate appropriations that would slice $525 million from the Internal Revenue Service , and a House bill that would reduce agency spending by $650 million “would lead to noticeable degradation of both service and enforcement and would have a serious detrimental impact on voluntary compliance for years to come,” Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman said in the letter. The IRS budget is about $12.5 billion. Read full article > >

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IRS chief: Budget cuts would hurt U.S., taxpayers

Ben S. Bernanke went to Congress on Tuesday with a message: Cut out the brinkmanship over tax and spending policy and slash budget deficits more than planned — but don’t do it so fast that it undermines economic growth. In making this unusually explicit push, the Federal Reserve chairman told lawmakers that the increasingly likely scenario — that they do nothing to put the nation’s finances on a sound footing and let the nation lurch from crisis to crisis — is not an acceptable option. Read full article > >

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Bernanke tells Congress to cut out the brinkmanship over budget

The departure of a member of the “Gang of Six” initially seems like it would be a major setback to the process of reaching an agreement between the two parties on reducing the long-term national budget deficit. But the prospect of a deal remains as likely as it did before Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) decided to leave the talks: President Obama and either House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) probably will need to hash out and sign off on any agreement for it to be accepted by members of both parties in Congress. Read full article > >

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West Wing briefing: For budget deal, ‘Gangs’ less important than Obama, GOP leaders

Even after receiving budget increases, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are struggling.

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DealBook: Patrolling Wall Street on the Cheap

We will not be able to control our budget deficits without raising taxes. That simple reality has brought us to a moment of truth in American politics. President Obama’s speech Wednesday lived up to that moment, and now Democrats and Republicans in Congress must take a similar stand.

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As in 1984, we need the courage to raise taxes

President Barack Obama lays out a fiscal policy “vision” to reduce the US budget deficit while upholding America’s social safety net.

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Obama outlines deficit cut plan

We in America have created suicidal government; the threatened federal shutdown and stubborn budget deficits are but symptoms. By suicidal, I mean that government has promised more than it can realistically deliver and, as a result, repeatedly disappoints by providing less than people expect or jeopardizing what they already have. But government can’t easily correct its excesses, because Americans depend on it for so much that any effort to change the status arouses a firestorm of opposition that virtually ensures defeat. Government’s very expansion has brought it into disrepute, paralyzed politics and impeded it from acting in the national interest.

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Big government on the brink

Canada’s Conservative Party says in its election platform it will eliminate the nation’s budget deficit sooner than planned, a claim disputed by opposition parties.

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Canada Tories set out deficit aim

Governors are making a historic retrenchment in the reach of state and local government to deal with huge budget deficits.

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GOP revamps state, local agendas

A majority said they opposed efforts to weaken collective bargaining rights and were against cutting the pay or benefits of public employees to reduce state budget deficits.

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Poll Shows Support for Embattled Public Sector Workers

Mayor Angel Taveras said the termination notices that went out this week were a pre-emptive move to give the school district some flexibility in addressing its budget deficit.

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Mayor Tries to Reassure Providence Teachers as Furor Grows Over Firing Notices

The Congressional Budget Office reports that the budget deficit continues to balloon.

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The Caucus: Deficit at $1.5 Trillion, Postwar Record