Analysts and policymakers are losing their most consistent, thorough source of state and local finance data for 2001 and 2003. The US Census Bureau did not publish state-by-state data on local government finance for fiscal year 2001 and will not be publishing it for 2003, a practice begun in 1970. In lieu of this data, the Census Bureau is publishing local finance estimates for the country as a whole. However, the Census Bureau will report the state level data for 2002 through the Census of Governments Report, and this data will be functionally similar to what was available before the Bureau stopped publishing such information, according to the government agency.

While the administration continues to push for tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy, whose tax avoidance is estimated to cost the government $75 billion a year, it is also working to establish a rigorous pre-certification process for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) recipients.

There has been little public or media attention to the “Program Assessment Performance Tool” (PART) developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), even though its explicit and primary purpose is to evaluate and tie program “performance” to budget appropriations. OMB Is also taking this effort very seriously. Why this sudden renewed attention to “government performance?”

During the past three years, OMB Watch has sought to increase the participation of nonprofit groups in the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). On July 3, OMB Watch submitted comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the recently issued Program Assessment Ratings Tool (PART) arising from the first meeting of the Performance Measurement Advisory Council.