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

House Democrats to Begin Crafting Stimulus Package

Oct 14, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Following a closed-door meeting with economic experts, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that she is instructing various committee chairs to begin holding hearings on what should be included in an economic stimulus package that could be voted on in Nove

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Timely CTJ Report Pushes for Reagan Tax Proposal

Oct 2, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Citizens for Tax Justice released a timely report yesterday examining the special tax breaks and subsidies that are currently handed out to Wall Street firms (and other companies). One in particular this report dissects is the special low rate on capital gains and dividends.

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CBPP: Updated Child Tax Credit Expansion Analysis

Sep 22, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has updated their analysis of the proposed expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) that is currently being debated in Congress. The CTC expansion is included as part of the "tax extenders" package of tax cuts that is scheduled to be debated this week. Looks like the expansion would help some pretty hard working folks:

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What About the Rest of Us?

Sep 19, 2008 by Craig Jennings

As Wall Street collapses under the weight of its greed, bad luck, and basic stupidity, the Free MarketTM crusaders of the Bush White House have come out of the pro-regulation, big-government closet. This morning, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the federal government will ride to the rescue of the investors in distress.

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A Chance to Change Wall Street

Sep 19, 2008 by Craig Jennings

If anything, the meltdown on Wall Street has shown that executive compensation and performance are hardly related.

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Happy Birthday OMB Watch!

Sep 17, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

We'll be shutting down the BudgetBrigade a bit early today to head off to OMB Watch's 25th Anniversary celebration. Yup, that's right. OMBW is 25 years young this year and we're primed and ready for our quarter life crisis! We're taking some time to celebrate tonight with friends and supporters and remember 25 years of fighting for a more transparent and accountable federal government.

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We Should Import More from Sweden Than Just Furniture

Sep 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Swedes' public finance policies could do wonders for your home, life Via TaxProf Blog, we read a commentary in TaxAnalysts by tax guru David Cay Johnston pointing out a few facts the revenue haters would prefer be kept under wraps.

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Shocking Developments at the IRS

Sep 15, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

I came across more good news from the IRS today (well, Friday actually) and I'm not really sure what to do with myself. BNA reported late on Friday afternoon that Lisa McCaughey, a senior tax analyst with the Small Business/Self-Employed Division reported that the IRS is reducing the staggering number of audits they conduct each year of taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit (EITC). Woohoo!

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The Declining Return on Education

Sep 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Via Shaw Fremstad at Inclusionist, we read in the Wall Street Journal that even the highly educated have seen their real earnings decrease since 2000. The inflation-adjusted median salary for people with professional degrees [such as doctors and lawyers] was $89,602 in 2007, up about 3% from 2000, when the median salary was $87,158, according to the Census.

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Second Stimulus Package In The Works?

Sep 9, 2008 by Craig Jennings

CongressDaily and CQ are both reporting that Congressional Democratic leadership are signaling that they will attempt to move a second stimulus package before they adjourn for the year.