Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

Battlelines in the 2008 Economic Policy Primary

Apr 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This stuff can get a little wonky on the stump. But in the end, should a Democrat be elected president in 2008, it could determine everything from the value of the dollar to whether Americans get universal health care coverage. It's the economic blueprint that Hillary Clinton advisors and former Clinton administration Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and Rubin deputy Roger Altman are developing -- heavy on free trade and balanced budgets, lighter on protecting workers from global competition and deficit-financing domestic social programs.

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Watcher: April 3, 2007

Apr 4, 2007 by Matt Lewis

GSA Administrator Testifies on Misconduct Allegations Congress Approves War Funding; Pressures Bush to Withdraw Troops Budget Resolution Conference Faces Key Choices on PAYGO, Taxes Support Mounts to End IRS Privatization Program

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OMB 2005 Earmarks Database Up and Running

Apr 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Without fanfare or forewarning, OMB has, as of this morning, put up its long-promised database on the number and cost of 2005 earmarks, displaying that information by agency and state. The website has very limited sortability functions. But most earmarks entries include a citation back to specific authorizing legislative or report language or, failing that, a citation summary. OMB says there's more to come, including "Browse authorization earmarks" and "Search Website full text" functions.

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Recess Round-Up II: The Status of AMT Reform

Apr 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Work continues behind the scenes in the House on AMT legislation as Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) chair of the House Ways and Means Suncommittee on Select Revenue Measures consults with Ways and Means and Budget Committee chairs Charles Rangel (D-NY) and John Spratt (D-SC). Reportedly under consideration: permanent, deficit-neutral AMT reform built around an exclusion for households below a given level, with increased rates making up the lost revenue -- less drastic than full repeal, previously advocated by Neal.

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BudgetBlogging on TPM Cafe

Apr 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Check out Dana's latest post on TPM Cafe- The Budget Resolutions: Whose Largest Tax Increase in History?

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Recess Round-Up: Capital Gains and Losses

Apr 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

First Vote to Extend Capital Gains Rate Fails During its deliberations a couple of weeks ago on the budget resolution, the House Budget Committee "shot down a proposed amendment to extend the 15 percent capital gains tax rate [in] the first vote on the extension of these critical tax cuts," according to the American Shareholders Association blog, Shareholders' Corner. The Committee vote was party-line. An extension of the rate would not have been binding, but the vote offers a glimpse at the rate's future under Democratic leadership. 20/20 foresight?

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CTJ: Biggest Tax Increase in History?

Apr 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Citizens For Tax Justice has a good piece on the "biggest tax increase in history" line being used by every Republican on the planet. The budget resolutions in the Senate and the House do not by themselves increase or decrease taxes, but they do make Congress "pay for" any further tax cuts by setting up PAYGO rules that ensure that new tax cuts do not increase the deficit. Enacting more tax cuts is what, in a legal sense, extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts would be, since they expire in 2010, and new legislation would have to be passed to continue them.

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Relative Revenue Realism: State vs. Federal Indicators

Apr 2, 2007 by Dana Chasin

We've remarked before on what appear to be overly optimistic revenue growth rate projections by the President and Congress. Both President Bush's proposed FY 2008 budget (which assumes extension of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts) and in the House and Senate budget resolutions (which do not) project 5-7 percent annual revenue growth through 2012. A column in last week's New York Times points out that federal revenue jumped 12.7 percent in 2005 and 11.8 percent in 2006. But it adds a cautionary note about future receipts:

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Suspect Contract in the Vice President's Office

Apr 2, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

A good story in the American Prospect on contract cronyism. The contract in question is another one of these contracts that's put up for competition, but, mysteriously, ends up in the hands of a close associate of powerful people in government. More than just "no-bid" contracts are susceptible to political manipulation- even fully competed contracts can get shady. Makes you wonder if it's worth taking the risk of contracting these services out in the first place. UPDATE: Check out FedSpending.org for the profile of the contractor in this article - MZM, Inc..

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Not Oversight Is Oversight Through Oversight

Apr 1, 2007 by Craig Jennings

In weird sort of Zen meditation on the nature of oversight, the Department of Education overlooks a stark conflict of interest by selecting the company which implemented a billion-dollar reading program to evaluate the very program that it implemented. And the company in question has been criticized by the Ed. Dept.'s inspector general for failing to avoid conflict of interest problems when it originally implemented the program.

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