Inequality and Poverty

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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more news

Bush, Blacks, and the Estate Tax

Aug 2, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Fantastic op-ed article from William Spriggs, chairman of the economics department at Howard University and former executive director at the National Urban League, on the chutzpah President Bush displayed urging help in repealing the estate tax in front of the NAACP. Spriggs finds Bush's tactics insulting, and pulls no punches in suggesting so:

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Minimum Wage and The Estate Tax: Who Benefits?

Jul 31, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Joel Friedman and Aviva Aron-Dine at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have put together a great article comparing the benefits of a minimum wage hike and a reduction of the estate tax. [The Economic Policy Institute] estimates that the average yearly wage increase for the 6.6 million workers who would benefit directly from the minimum wage change would total about $1,200. [...]

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Minimum Wage Bill Moving Through House

Jul 28, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The House is unexpectedly expected to vote on a minimum wage bill today. House GOP members are trying to tie the $2.10 minimum wage hike to a health insurance provision affecting small businesses. There is also speculation that Republicans are going to attempt attaching a permanent estate tax cut to the bill. BNA (subscription required):

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Household Debt: A Growing Challenge for American Families and Federal Policy

Mirroring the federal government's penchant for spending more money than it collects, the American public now has a negative net savings rate. Home prices, medical care, and college tuition are all growing faster than wages, and debt has become increasingly pervasive among American households. These are facts that have not escaped the attention of American consumers, 82 percent of whom now recognize household debt as a serious problem, according to a recent survey sponsored by the Center for American Progress.

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Americans Concerned About Household Debt

Jul 25, 2006 by Craig Jennings

As real wages stagnate and as energy prices continue their steep climb, Americans have reached the bottom of their pockets and have found only credit cards. Going into debt is becoming increasingly common as many Americans see their wages fail to keep pace with inflation.

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Wealth/Income Trends Reported In Wall Street Journal

Jul 17, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

A great article (sub. required) appeared today in the Wall Street Journal sheading light on another trend that can be seen within the new deficit projections released last week by the administration.

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OMB Mid-Session Review Gives Limited Picture Of Budget Crisis

Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual Mid-Session Budget Review, and has lowered by $127 billion the projected FY 2006 budget deficit - from $423 billion estimated earlier this year to $296 billion. The reduction is attributed to an unexpected rise in corporate and personal income tax receipts and revenues from capital gains taxes. Beneath the increased tax revenue, however, is a frightening reality: the ever-widening gap between the very rich and the rest of us.

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More on the Mid-Session Review

Jul 11, 2006 by Craig Jennings

As the spender-in-chief pats himself on the back for managing to shirk the deficit to the fourth largest in U.S. history (via ThinkProgress), let’s take a look at a few things: 1. The surge in tax receipts is the result of a growing economy. Economic expansion is not dependent on tax rates. In fact, President Clinton raised taxes and the economy grew at what most would call a "good" pace. If marginal tax rates are 1% or 99%, an expanding economy will result in increased revenues.

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Racial Income Gap Widening

Jul 6, 2006 by Craig Jennings

While the Bush administration likes to say that their fiscal policies are good for the economy and therefore good for all Americans, the facts reveal otherwise. This week’s EPI Snapshot focuses our attention on the racial income gap. While African-American median income had been growing as proportion of white income since 1995, the latest data indicate that there has been a reversal of that trend. Compared to the full-employment job market of the latter 1990s, the weaker post-2000 labor market has reversed significant progress in racial income gaps.

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Democratic Leadership Takes Stand on Minimum Wage

Jun 28, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said yesterday that he would block any pay raise for the Senate until the federal minimum wage is raised. CNN: In arguing for the minimum-wage increase, Democrats are emphasizing that salaries for members of Congress have risen $31,600 during the time the minimum wage has been frozen. They complain that rising costs for gasoline, utilities, education and food have taken a chunk out of minimum-wage paychecks, which sometimes have to support entire families.

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