Tax Havens, Animated
Apr 11, 2013 by Patrick Lester
Tax Havens 101: The high cost of going offshore, an animation by The Washington Post, illustrates how offshore tax havens allow investors to legally – and quite easily – dodge taxes and accountability. This loophole costs our country billions in lost revenue. A recent report by U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) found that these tax havens cost the average taxpayer $1,026 and each small business $3,067 each year.
read in full
New Bowles-Simpson Deficit Plan Emphasizes Spending Cuts
Feb 21, 2013 by Patrick Lester
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of a presidentially appointed bipartisan commission that failed to reach agreement on a deficit reduction plan in 2010, released a new plan on Feb. 19 to reduce the federal deficit by an additional $2.4 trillion over the next ten years. Most of the proposed new deficit reduction is achieved through spending cuts.
read in full
Payroll Tax Cut Extension Back on the Table?
Nov 5, 2012 by Craig Jennings
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) made a few waves in October when he said that the payroll tax cut should be extended beyond the end of the year. Van Hollen noted that, given the state of the economy, extending the payroll tax cut would put money into the "pockets of working Americans who actually go out and spend that money."
read in full
European Consideration of Tax on Financial Transactions: A Model for the U.S.?
Oct 15, 2012 by Craig Jennings
As Congress considers options to halt a slide down the fiscal slope, it should look to the financial transactions tax (FTT). The FTT can raise large sums of revenue with small rates while tamping down on the excesses of an industry that most Americans feel hurts the economy more than it helps, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center. American lawmakers are wrestling with how to handle the expiration of the Bush tax cuts while closing the federal budget deficit, but finance ministers in the European Union (EU) who are also facing budget shortfalls have advanced the FTT closer to European law.
read in full
Paul Ryan's Revenue Reforms Slash Taxes on the Rich
Mar 21, 2012 by Sam Rosen-Amy
Yesterday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his latest budget proposal, called "The Path to Prosperity," which serves as an update to his plan from last year. The proposal, which is the draft of the fiscal year (FY) 2013 House budget resolution, is supposed to be a fiscal framework for the House for the coming year. However, the congressman's tax plan is not a serious proposal for change.
read in full
Small Biz Owners: Big Businesses, Millionaires Not Paying Fair Share
Feb 7, 2012 by Gary Therkildsen*
The American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance, and Small Business Majority released a new poll yesterday gauging small business owners’ opinions on taxes. On everything from the tax rates of the wealthy to corporations' exploitation of loopholes in the tax code, small business owners from across the nation say big businesses and millionaires aren’t paying their fair share.
read in full
State of the Union's Call for Tax Fairness is a Good Start
Jan 26, 2012 by Sam Rosen-Amy
“The state of the union is getting stronger.” That is how President Obama characterized the current state of the union. But, as we wrote in our State of the Union preview on Tuesday, we still have a long way to go before the economy is back on its feet. In our article, we recommended doing away with the looming budget cuts, increasing taxes on capital gains and financial transactions, and using the additional revenue to pay for more infrastructure projects and public protections. So what fiscal issues did Obama talk about in his speech on Tuesday?
read in full
IRS: Tax Gap Stands at Nearly Half a Trillion
Jan 18, 2012 by Gary Therkildsen*
Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released an updated analysis of the tax gap – the difference between the total amount in federal taxes owed by people and businesses, and the total paid. What did the IRS find? In 2006, the most recent year for which information is available, Americans underpaid their taxes by $450 billion. Extended over a decade, this could represent a shortfall of trillions, robbing the country of needed funds for infrastructure and other investments.
read in full
Super Committee "Failure" Is Anything But
Nov 28, 2011 by Craig Jennings
On Monday evening (Nov. 21), the Super Committee formally announced that it was unable to reach an agreement for reducing the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion. While others are decrying the lack of agreement by the Super Committee and calling it a failure, we at OMB Watch believe that each of us should, instead, be relieved.
read in full
Latest Super Committee Proposals Steer Clear of Fiscal Responsibility
Nov 16, 2011 by Craig Jennings
Members of the Super Committee appear as far apart as ever when it comes to agreeing to a deal that would reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years and the latest offer from some Democrats on the committee indicates that if a deal does actually win approval, it will be deeply irresponsible. A deal of this sort would maintain current inequities in the tax code while slashing funding for public protections and health care programs that are vital to working families and retirees.
read in full
