Rates ranging from zero in seven states to 11 percent in Hawaii and 10.3 percent in California.

In our tax code, “loopholes and subsidies” are formally called tax expenditures. The name comes from the fact that they are arithmetically equivalent to spending government money.

Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance

WSJ Blog -- "Soaring oil prices in the spring of 2008 sent gasoline prices surging and accelerated the recession. Now, rising gas prices are threatening the recovery. But lower natural gas and utility costs this time around might limit some of the damage, says Deutsche Bank chief U.S. economist Joseph LaVorgna. In a note to clients last Tuesday,... More

Our corporate tax system plays favorites among different businesses and activities, often with no good reason.

The economy is doing better. Why isn't the president's approval rating?

Retail sales taxes are a transparent way to collect tax revenue. People can reach into their pocket and see the rate printed on a receipt. Less known, however, are the local sales taxes collected in 36 states. These rates can be substantial, so a state with a moderate state sales tax rate could actually have a very high combined state-local rate compared to other states.

How a reduction in Iran's oil production might influence world prices.

Most small businesses that aren’t hiring say they don’t want to bring on new employees at this time because of concerns about the economy, as well as fears about the cost of health care, according to a new poll.

Manufacturing is not the basket case of political lore, and America really is still "making things."

The metro areas that should grow fastest will then be those where fast-growing industries are concentrated. Among the largest 100 metro areas, the big winner would be the Washington, D.C. area, thanks to its large share of professional services jobs.

Forget about all the perceived problems with the American higher education system, and ponder these two numbers: 12.8 million and 3.4 million. The first is the estimate of Americans actively looking for work and unemployed. The second is the number of job openings in the U.S. as of the end of December, according to the Labor Department.There are jobs to be had if only...More

Marriage across racial and ethnic lines continues to be on the rise in the United States. The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from each other increased to 15.1% in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%.

It's not just gasoline consumption that's declining--petroleum and electricity consumption are also dropping. Is that indicative of economic growth?

We can see that the most recent official recession, running from December 2007 through June 2009, was especially severe compared to the previous two recessions, in that the number of vehicle miles accumulated on U.S. roads fell dramatically.

Strapped Jersey taxpayers are spending $10.3 billion over 30 years to pay off a pension borrowing gimmick the state employed back in 1998. The growing annual burden, $300 million this year rising to $500 million annually by the end of the decade, illustrates how past gimmicks haunt state and local finances today.

Based on OECD data on 34 member countries between 2000 and 2010, there is no significant relationship between payroll taxes and long-term economic growth. In contrast, corporate income taxes have a highly significant and negative effect on long-term growth. The estimates suggest that cutting the corporate rate by 10 percentage points is associated with an increase in total real GDP growth of 11.1 percentage ... More

The Great Recession dramatically reduced U.S. income inequality. In fact, income inequality—at least as measured by the income share of the top 1 percent of earners—is back to where it was in 1996-1997.

One of the direct results of the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policies has been a massive reduction in interest income going to households. Since 2008, household interest income has fallen by about $400 billion annually. That’s $400 billion each year that families have not had to spend.

The App Economy now is responsible for roughly 466,000 jobs in the United States, up from zero in 2007 when the iPhone was introduced.

Adjusted for years of age, Mr Zuckerberg will be the richest man in the world after the Facebook IPO.

Housing analysts have been confidently predicting a bottom for the housing market for the last three years and they have been totally wrong.  Anyone who acted on their advice and purchased a home has taken a beating.  The clamor about a bottom finally arriving this year is just as loud and will be just as wrong.

Neither the rich, nor government employees, nor.....

Attention, children and grandchildren of Baby Boomers: save early and save often. Eventually, the average monthly premiums required for Medicare and out-of-pocket spending for Medicare-covered services (i.e., deductibles and coinsurance) will equal the average monthly Social Security check

In 2011, Americans remained pessimistic about the national economy, but residents of the District of Columbia, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Nebraska were less pessimistic. Economic confidence was lowest among West Virginia and Maine residents.

The U.S. homeownership rate fell in 2011 to 66.15%. That was the lowest homeownership rate in 14 years, since the 65.7% rate in 1997.

We've heard countless stories about the manufacturing job losses, but haven't heard much about the major rebound and renaissance of profitability in American manufacturing, which likely surged to all-time historical levels in 2011.

What industries contribute most to Google's revenues?

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds that federal workers are better compensated than their counterparts in the private-sector.