Federal Debt and Deficit

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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Claims of "Magical" Tax Cuts Continue

Jul 21, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a new report discussing the oft-cited, and completely false claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. Even though this statement has been refuted many times, by CBPP, by outside academics, and even by President Bush's own Treasury Department, the claim continues to float around. CBPP does a nice job hammering home the facts again about the impact of tax cuts in a very digestible brief:

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New CBO Report Shows Dire Consequences of Bush Tax Cuts, AMT Patching

Jul 17, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The CBO has released a report detailing the effects of indexing the the AMT to inflation (i.e. "patching" it so that fewer households would pay it than otherwise anticipated) and extending the 2001-2003 Bush tax cuts without offsetting the revenue loss.

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State Budget Problems Cause Economic Hardship

Jul 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has once again released an analysis of state government budget health, and the news continues to deteriorate. In their lastest analysis, they rank all 50 states according to changes in three main economic indicators - employment, poverty, and housing foreclosures. The report finds:

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Competiting Claims on Our Fiscal Future

Jul 11, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a report from leading economists and budget experts criticing a recent paper from the Brookings Institute and the Heritage Foundation called "Taking Back Our Fiscal Future." From the CBPP

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New TPC Analysis of AMT Legislation

Jul 9, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Tax Policy Center has published a distributional analysis of the recently House-passed Alternative Minimum Tax legislation (H.R. 6275). The TPC has produced distributional estimates for H.R. 6275, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch legislation passed by the House on June 25, 2008. In addition, we have updated our estimates of the number of AMT taxpayers, AMT revenue, and the distribution of AMT liability. Finally, we have published an updated list of 12 key facts and projections about the AMT. Read the TPC Analysis

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Monthly Budget Review: June, 2008

Jul 8, 2008 by Craig Jennings

CBO has released its Monthly Budget Review for June. It finds that while the stimulus payments accounted for a $21 billion decline in monthly revenue (compared to last June), June's surplus would still have been lower than last year's when the rebates are accounted for. Details below.

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Fiscal Policy Agenda Returns to Washington

Jul 7, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Fiscal Policy Team and Congress both return to action this week with a number of fiscal policy issues to be tackled during the next five weeks. Below is a rundown of issues coming up soon, with most of the action happening in the Senate:

Debate continues between Senate Democrats and Republicans over whether to offset the cost of a popular package of tax breaks called the "extenders." The latest development is that Senate Republicans are now challenging Democrats to offset the cost of the package with spending cuts rather than other tax increases. BNA ($)

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BudgetBlog on Hiatus for Holiday: Happy Fourth Everyone!

Jun 27, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Happy Fourth of July! Just wanted to let our loyal BudgetBlog readers know we're going on a short hiatus next week. With Congress heading out of town for a short summer recess and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday next week, the Fiscal Policy team is heading out of town in order to escape the heat for some well-deserved vacation. This means, though, that the BudgetBlog will be dormant next week. But don't despair. Craig and I will return in one short week on July 7 to continue to bring you all the news, gossip, information, and analysis on federal fiscal policy you've come to expect.

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Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear ... Market

Jun 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Wuzzy, Willie B. or Izzy a ... Recession? (click to enlarge)

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CBPP: Tax Extenders Need Comprehensive Review

Jun 10, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a helpful policy brief out today that runs through all the reasons the upcoming package of tax cuts -- popularly referred to as the "extenders" package -- should be offset. We couldn't agree with CBPP more. In their brief, they make four main points, the last of which is probably the most important:

Congress should pay for the tax extenders, as its budget rules require.
Arguments against applying PAYGO to the extenders bill do not withstand scrutiny..
The offsets in the House-passed bill are reasonable policy.

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