As we've said time and again, one of the main reasons why the Bush tax cuts are so egregious -- besides the fact that they are draining the Treasury of revenues and causing important federal programs to get squeezed -- is the that the beneficiaries of these tax cuts are overwhelmingly the very richest people in our society. As this well-written article puts it, "things will get even worse if the Bush administration gets its way.

It was announced today that U.S. Trade Representative and former Congressman Rob Portman will most likely be the one to replace Josh Bolten as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Portman -- a long time friend of the President's who has claimed to "owe his career" to the Bush family -- shares the President's views on taxation, claiming today in the Rose Garden: "Now is not the time to risk losing ground by raising taxes," and stating his support of the administration’s agenda of extending tax cuts.

A growing number of lawmakers are increasing their criticism of the dependence on repeated supplemental or emergency funding requests from the White House. While in the past the criticism has been from a limited group of lawmakers (mostly deficit hawks) and was mostly rhetorical, the increasing unease of lawmakers has pushed congressional appropriators to take action.

Interesting article yesterday from the Associated Press about who prepares the tax forms for the members of Congress who are responsible for writing the tax code. Turns out three out of the top four lawmakers in Congress who have jurisdiction over the U.S. tax code use private preparers to file their tax returns. The lawmaker who still prepares his own taxes is Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA), who chairs the Ways and Means Committee. About sixty percent of Americans use a private preparation company or service when it comes to filing their own returns.