It's been a slow day at the BudgetBlog, so we thought we'd point out a few interesting links. Tax & Business Law Commentary Blog has two good posts up, one about howBig Pharma is stiffing the IRS on taxes it owes on its foreign sales and assets, and another on how Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) is stiffing the IRS on taxes he owes on his property sales. Feel free to ponder the potential meta-connections between the posts. And check out this article from the Rapid City Journal on the effects that federal budget cuts may have on water supply issues in South Dakota. It's pretty frightening stuff.

What Matt says. I can't believe they're going to trying to kill Social Security again. There is, however, a new wrinkle this time around - President Bush wants to put Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block as well. Didn't the Anti-Safety Net coalition learn its lesson last time - that Americans overwhelming do not support Social Security privatization? From today's WaPo:

Legislation to create a free, searchable database with government information on all federal grants and contracts picked up the endorsement of Republican Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels last week (Daniels is a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget). Daniels sent seperate letters to Indiana Senators Evan Bayh (D) and Richard Lugar (R) urging them to support the bill.

House Democrats are challenging a recent move by the IRS to downsize its estate tax auditing department (More here and here). Rep. John Olver (D-MA) just threw his hat into the ring, too. From BNA (subscription required): Olver expressed "strong concern" despite IRS's assertions that the change is due to the declining number of returns as a result of a bigger exemption. The Massachusetts Democrat pointed out that estates of more than $2 million are still subject to the tax.