Government Performance

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Taxpayer Advocate Says AMT Top Priority

Jan 9, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The taxpayer advocate service (TAS), an independent office within the IRS, put out the taxpayer advocate's annual report to Congress today (click here for the executive summary). The TAS decided that the most important issues facing taxpayers this year is the alternative minimum tax, followed by the "tax gap." Its top legislative priorities: creating a special procedure for IRS appropriations, and repealing the IRS privatization program. There's a summary of the top legislative priorities after the break.

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House Adopts Lobby and Ethics Reform Package

Jan 5, 2007 by Dana Chasin

In the first legislative act of the 110th Congress, the House adopted an initial set of "honest leadership" rules changes yesterday by a vote of 430-1. A floor vote on a second set of rules changes, covering "civility and fiscal responsibility," is expected today. Yesterday's package of rules changes provides the following:

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War Supplemental: A Pentagon "Feeding Frenzy"

Jan 4, 2007 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article ($) detailing the expected supplemental spending request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a perfect illustration of the problems that emergency funding bills present and why Congressional oversight of such spending is badly needed.

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An Unimpressive Century of Food Safety

Jan 3, 2007 by Matthew Madia

This week marks the 100th Anniversary of the implementation of the Pure Food and Drug Act, a landmark piece of legislation calling for federal inspection of food products and paving the way for the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. However, as a January 2 New York Times editorial points out, advances in food safety are far from adequate considering how much time has elapsed.

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Interior Shows Waste in Oil Royalty Program

Dec 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The latest in a NYT series on how well the federal government treats the oil and gas industry shows just how wasteful this nice treatment is. The article focuses on an Interior Department study that found almost no benefit to giving energy companies a royalty break for drilling on public property. Over 40 years, these breaks will cost around $48 billion- and probably won't produce a drop of oil that wouldn't have otherwise been pumped. The report estimates that the current incentives would have a tiny impact that is far exceeded by swings in market prices.

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Financial Improprieties at Homeland Security?

Dec 22, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General released a report Wednesday in which Auditor KPMG warned the Department of multiple potential violations of a fiscal law barring agencies from spending money in excess of appropriations. On top of that, the New York Times reports today that: KPMG LLP said for the third straight year that it could not provide an opinion on the balance sheet of the $40.3 billion department, the second-largest federal agency, because of its lax financial controls and oversight.

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Corporate Tax Audits Down, TRAC Reports

Dec 20, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Syracuse University's TRAC has finally obtained data from the IRS on auditing trends regarding large corporations. Unsurprisingly, the released data shows that the annual audit rate for large corporations has declined this last year. IRS audited 35.3 percent of all corporations with assets of $250 million or more, down from 44.1 percent last year. The projected rate of hours of work spent per audit also fell from 978 hours/audit to 958.

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MoJo: Road Privatization Just The Beginning

Dec 19, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Mother Jones has a good article on the privatization fad that's sweeping the nation. A deal in Indiana to sell a toll road to a private company has started up conversations across the country about privatizing other roads. Which public assets are next? And how far will privatization go?

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OMB Reveals Lack of Progress on E-Gov

Dec 19, 2006 by Matt Lewis

GovExec reports today that the Bush administration's push for "E-government" has not yet to show big returns, according a report by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). E-gov is one of the five planks of the President's management agenda. The basic idea is to make government programs and data easier to use by setting up "one-stop shop" websites. A lot of these websites are up and running. Check out Grants.gov for a good example.

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OMB Watch Speaks Out On GSA Missteps

Dec 14, 2006 by Matt Lewis

OMB Watch has made a public statement on the General Service Adminstration's (GSA) controversial decision to reduce and outsource oversight over government contracts. To reduce oversight, GSA wants to undercut its accomplished Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The GSA OIG has exposed irresponsible contractors at Abu Ghraib, and did investigations that led to the high-profile conviction of David Safavian, the former GSA chief of staff. So why is GSA trying to have OIG do less investigating? And how is it that manipulating oversight this way is even possible?

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