Blog: The Fine Print / Revenue & Spending

Post's Editorial Malpractice in Front-Page Story on Iraq Funding

May 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Washington Post led today's edition with a large-font, top-of-the-front-page article entitled "Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable" that opened as follows: President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq.

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Temporary New Head of the IRS

May 3, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

A spokesman at the IRS announced yesterday that Deputy Commissioner Kevin Brown will become acting IRS commissioner May 4. Current Commissioner Mark Everson has accepted a position heading up the American Red Cross (see here and here for more on Everson's departure). In much the way a senior in college decided to go to graduate school to put off a decision about what to do with their life, the IRS said Brown would only be the acting commissioner for 25 days. For him to continue beyond that time would require White House approval.

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Rangel's New Timetable for ATM Reform Bill: June

May 2, 2007 by Dana Chasin

In a column published in The Hill today, House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) reprises the case for AMT reform. He points out that, without reform or another set of hold harmless "patches": ...working families making under $100,000 are increasingly more likely to pay the tax than those making more than a million dollars. This amounts to an average $3,600 tax increase that will hit one out of every three taxpayers. This would amount to one of the biggest tax increases on the middle class in the history of our country.

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All You Ever Wanted to Know about Public Infrastructure Privatization

May 2, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Business Week has an interesting article on public infrastructure privatization... Steve Hogan was in a bind. The executive director of Colorado's Northwest Parkway Public Highway Authority had run up $416 million in debt to build the 10-mile toll road between north Denver and the Boulder Turnpike, and he was starting to worry about the high payments. So he tried to refinance, asking bankers in late 2005 to pitch investors on new, lower-interest-rate bonds. But none of the hundreds of investors canvassed was interested.

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House Falls Short in Override Vote on Bush's Supplemental Veto

May 2, 2007 by Dana Chasin

As expected, the House bid to override President Bush's veto of the war spending supplemental bill failed in a 222-203 vote this afternoon, well short of the short of the two-thirds needed to override the veto.

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Estate Tax Audits- Important?

May 2, 2007 by Matt Lewis

There's a good Wall Street Journal article today on the importance of estate tax audits. But it's missing some critical context. On one of the people in the story, a former estate tax auditor: Ms. New started auditing estate-tax returns in the IRS's Detroit office in the 1980s. She managed an estate-tax group from 2001 until early this year, when she took a buyout and went into private practice.

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Watcher: May 1, 2007

May 2, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Mapping out the Post-Veto Supplemental Landscape President George W. Bush and Congress are continuing their power struggle over policies related to the war in Iraq, with a war funding bill containing a "goal" timeline for withdrawal of soldiers headed for an almost certain veto. Senate Still Without Strong Earmark Disclosure ProvisionsWhile the House passed earmark disclosure provisions in its initial rules package in January, a stronger proposal for earmark disclosure passed by the Senate as part of a larger lobbying and ethics reform bill has languished for months.

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IRS Privatization Debate Heats Up

May 1, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-SD) and Patty Murray (D-WA) released a "Dear Colleague" letter, or a message between representatives, in favor of S. 335, a bill that would end the IRS private debt collection program. The letter is part of the congressional war of words over the bills that would end the IRS program. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) have sent letters defending the program. Here's Grassley's letter, and here's the first and second part of Gordon's letter.

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Preview of House Hearing on USDA Security Breaches

May 1, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

As we reported last Friuday, the House Agriculture Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow on security breaches at the Department of Agriculture. This hearing is a follow-up to reports earlier in April of personally identifiable information being contained within USDA data that is widely available on the internet. This security issue was discovered on April 13 by a user of our FedSpending.org website.

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Which Comes First, the Budget or the Bills?

May 1, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Congress' focus on the emergency war spending supplemental has come at the cost of momentum on the FY 2008 budget resolution. House Appropriations subcommittee chairs hope to meet the goal set by the Democratic leadership of having all 12 annual appropriations bills adopted by the July 4 recess, leaving the Senate and conference committees adequate time to complete the bills by Oct. 1, the start of FY 2008. So, while they wait for a vote on the conference committee budget resolution, the Appropriations chairs are starting in on their spending bills. This creates a problem.

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