The Coalition for America's Priorities is a new independent 501(c) 4 corporation comprised of members from the business, non-profit and educational communities, and its mission is to win a responsible reform of the estate tax. They have launched a new website which provides information on the estate tax and resources with which to take action. The site also documents latest analyses and the pro-estate tax ads which the group puts out.

The Treasury Department has told Democratic senator Max Baucus (D-MT) that the $8.184 trillion ceiling on government borrowing will not need to be raised this year, confirming speculation that the improvement in tax receipts seen in 2005 will allow Congress to avoid the politically charged issue for the first year since 2001. Despite this seemingly good news, Baucus called attention to the continually disturbing broader financial picture, noting that the debt limit has been raised four times and over $3 billion since 2002. "In the face of record deficits, the government needs to show more fiscal discipline," Baucus said in a news release. Taxing Internet Porn Speaking of tax receipts, Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and eight other democratic senators have introduced the Internet Safety and Child Protection Act of 2005 (S.1507), which would impose a 25 percent tax on "Internet pornography transactions." The revenues would be dedicated to a fund to support law enforcers and organizations that combat Internet and pornography-related crimes against children. News Coverage: Arkansas News Bureau Washington Post

Although President Bush and Congressional Republicans have tried to sell the tax breaks in the energy bill as providing support for alternative energy and increased efficiency, the $14.5 billion tax package does not award nearly enough to these endeavors. Instead, 58 percent of this will go to tax breaks for traditional energy industries, including oil, natural gas, coal, electric utilities and nuclear power. This tax package, which was negotiated behind closed doors, will most likely be approved by Congress later this week. Keith Ashdown, vice president of policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said, "They've created a complicated scheme of making sure a lot of different profitable energy industries are going to make off like bandits." He also said the tax breaks help companies "pad their bottom line, but it doesn't really create new behavior in the energy industry." Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) of the Finance Committee commented that he wanted to see more spent on alternative energy and conservation. The $14.5 billion in tax breaks will be partially offset by $3 billion in revenue that the bill will generate. The Joint Committee on Taxation has scored the bill as having a net cost of $11.5 billion over 10 years.

Washington Post: Energy Tax Breaks Total $14.5 Billion (7/28/05)

Taxpayers for Common Sense: Statement on the Energy Bill

Joint Committee on Taxation: Estimated Budget Effects of the Conference Agreement for Title XIII of H.R. 6, the "The Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005"

Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a fact sheet today highlighting the estate tax. The fact sheet shows that estate tax repeal would save the heirs of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and the Cabinet somewhere between $91 - $344 million, aggregate. These numbers are based on the estimated wealth of Bush, Cheney, and 11 members of the cabinet. Estate tax repeal, which may see a floor vote this week, would benefit less than the top 2% of the wealthiest families in America, at the expense of social programs, the charitable sector, and the nation's fiscal health.