What We Focus On:
Budget
Doing What Works means a government that delivers bang for the buck—whether spending comes in the form of direct outlays or tax expenditures. Waste must not be tolerated. But reckless budget cuts and arbitrary spending caps are also dangerous. Programs should be evaluated for effectiveness, and any budget cuts should be conducted with a scalpel, not an axe.
Tax Expenditures
Doing What Works means subjecting more than $1 trillion in annual tax breaks to the same level of scrutiny as programs that spend taxpayer money directly. Exclusions, deductions, and credits targeted toward specific taxpayers or activities are effectively a form of government spending, which is why they're known as "tax expenditures." They should be evaluated for results. Those that don't serve important public purposes should be scrapped. Those that aren't cost effective should be reformed. All tax expenditures should be integrated into the budget process and made more transparent to all taxpayers.
Government Reform
Doing What Works means a government that squeezes out operational waste and effectively implements policy directives. The public sector can dramatically boost productivity if political leaders prioritize management and operational issues. Officials should set ambitious high-priority goals, track progress toward achieving them, and make decisions based on data and evidence.
Domestic Policy
Doing What Works means applying a relentlessly evidence-driven approach to all areas of domestic and foreign policy, including energy, economic competitiveness, health care, and education. No matter the area, we should invest in critical government programs that work well, and reform or cut those that are ineffective, redundant, or low priorities.
Featured Content
'Pay-for-Success' Bonds Gain Adherents:
Jitinder Kohli and Douglas J. Besharov describe recent progress in Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and New York City toward adopting pay-for-success bonds.
The State of Our Tax Code Is Weak:
Seth Hanlon argues for trimming wasteful tax expenditures as Congress heads into the 2012 legislative session.
Series on U.S. Science, Innovation, and Economic Competitiveness:
Two CAP teams, one from Science Progress and the other from the Doing What Works project, release a series of reports focusing on different building blocks of our national competitiveness.
Innovation for the Public Good
What does innovation in the public sector actually mean? Who is doing it well? And what should agency leaders do to promote innovation? These are among the questions this series will answer.
Not Fixing Our Infrastructure, Not Creating Jobs:
Donna Cooper details why legislation that would rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create hundreds of thousands of jobs was blocked because of partisanship over patriotism.
Five Canards About Job-Killing Regulations:
Kristina Costa and Michael Linden point out the absurdities in conservative arguments that regulations are holding back our economy, not lack of demand.
Six Principles for Tax Expenditure Reform:
Fixing the excessive and expensive system of tax breaks, credits, and loopholes is key to any deficit reduction plan. Seth Hanlon suggests six principles to guide Congress’s work in this area.