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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GAO Comptroller: Evaluation of Tax Expenditures Necessary

Sep 27, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Last Friday, General Accountability Office Comptroller David Walker strongly urged a "strategic, long range, and integrated" examination of tax expenditures to test their relevance and priority during a time when the federal budget is experiencing increasing strains. His comments came during the unveiling of a new GAO report recommending that the OMB and the Treasury take steps to ensure greater transparency of, and accountability for, tax expenditures. Walker emphasized to reporters, as he has in the past, the importance of putting the nation on a more "prudent and sustainable course for the long term." He insisted that doling out tax preferences has an impact on the government's bottom line, and at a time when we are experiencing high deficits, it is important to reevaluate some of those expenditures.

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More On Cost of Rebuilding; Congress Passes Tax Bill

Sep 21, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Many Republican leaders in the House and Senate are worried about the costs of rebuilding after Katrina, even though President Bush has promised, and rightly so, to devote all the funds needed to help the devastated region. Republicans who are worried about excessive deficit-financed spending are pushing for the costs will be offset (most are suggesting by cutting the budget elsewhere). To appease them, OMB Director Josh Bolten said Tuesday that the administration would consider offsets, but did not offer any details about what would be cut and by how much. As Stan Collender correctly points out (subscription required), any offsets proposed by the administration would to little, if anything, to reduce the amount Katrina relief spending will add to the deficit, and the national debt. Because President Bush refuses to even consider not extending or rolling back some of his first term tax cuts, it will be future generations who will be paying for reconstructing the Gulf Coast. The federal government is required by law to pay at least 75 percent of the cost of rebuilding public infrastructure after a disaster (1988 Stafford Act). To comply, Congress -- besides approving about $64 billion in emergency spending -- has agreed on a tax-relief bill to expand deductions this year for victims. The final bill was scored by the Joint Committee on Taxation as costing $6.1 billion over 10 years. Congress hopes these targeted tax cuts will spur employment of low-income workers on the Gulf Coast. In addition, President Bush signed three bills today to help in the aftermath of the disaster. The bills waive Pell Grant and other federal student loan requirements for displaced college students and expand Temporary Assistance to Needy Families eligibility for victims. CNN.com: House Passes Tax Breaks for Hurricane Katrina Victims

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Bush Decision to Waive Wage Protections Could Be Illegal

Sep 16, 2005 by Guest Blogger

As many surely know by now, the White House decision to suspend its obligations under the Davis-Bacon Act to require a fair minimum wage for contractors working on the reconstruction and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina will have a direct and drastically negative impact on many of the very victims of the hurricane. Some have noted the irony of this decision given that the hurricane's devastation was compounded by years of poverty and low-wages throughout the Gulf region.

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$51.8 Billion Package Requested By President

Sep 7, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Associated Press is reporting President Bush will request $51.8 billion in additional emergency relief funding for Hurricane Katrina from Congress. As the cost of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's daily operations in the Gulf Coast climbed to over $700 million, it became clear the previous emergency supplemental approved last week for $10.5 billion would not last long. The request could be approved by Congress as early as tomorrow. The second supplemental request will include $1.4 billion for the military and $400 million for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is working to repair breaks in the levee system around New Orleans. The remaining $50 billion will go to FEMA. This is unlikely to be the last emergency funding for this disaster, as Congressional leaders and recovery experts are expecting the total damages to cost upwards of $150 billion. In addition, yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report examining the economic repercussions of Hurricane Katrina to Congressional leaders. The CBO found the economic effects of the disaster could be as severe as a one-percentage point drop in econonmic growth and the possible loss of up to 400,000 jobs by the end of 2005.

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Despite Recovering Economy, Poverty On the Rise for Fourth Straight Year

This year's Census Bureau report on nation-wide levels of poverty, income, and health insurance made clear that, although the U.S. economy expanded in 2004, the expansion did not extend to all Americans, in particular missing households most in need of a boost. The real income of a typical household has fallen for the past five years, despite steady economic expansion over the last three years. At the same time, the number of Americans living in poverty and lacking health insurance has increased steadily.

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Census Data Shows American Continue to Struggle

Aug 30, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty, income, and health insurance in the United States and the news is not good. The number of Americans living in poverty rose for the forth year in a row as 1.1 million more Americans were officially poor in 2004 than the year before. The data shows almost 1 in 5 American children live in poverty. In additon, almost 1 million more Americans lacked health insurance, primarily due to a decrease in employer-provided health care. Unfortunately for working families, total household income remained stagnant and income for men and women employed in full-time jobs decreased significantly. This is the first time ever that household income has failed to increase for five straight years. The Census data give just a glimpse of the reality being faced by more and more working Americans who are being forced to live without health insurance and have less money with which to purchase their own as employers increasingly focus on their profit margins at the expense of their workers. The current economic policies are not working for most Americans - only those already well-off. The decline in indicators of poverty and income for the fourth straight year should be a wake-up call for members of Congress and the administration who are seeking to make those policies permanent. It is time for a change. Read More: > Census Data Full Report> Income Stagnated and Poverty Rose in 2004, Census Shows > Coalition on Human Needs Release on Census Poverty Data > Economic Recovery Failed to Benefit Much of Population in 2004

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Continuing Bad News for Americans

Last month's economic news has been far from encouraging for most Americans, with a continuation of an uneven and unpredictable job market, rising consumer prices, and declining earnings. Yet, despite the grim realities faced by most working families in the U.S. the recovery period has been very good to business, with corporate profits up over 15 percent since it began. A survey of indicators shows the Bush administration's economic policies, specifically how they value profits for corporations over the bottom line for average Americans, have further eroded the country's economic health.

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More Bad News For Average Americans

Aug 16, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Labor Department released economic data today showing consumer prices rose significantly in July by 0.5 percent. The rise was mostly driven by rising energy and food costs, particularly the record high prices of oil. In a separate release, the Labor Department also reported workers' earnings (adjusted for inflation) declined by 0.2 percent in July. This combination is bad news for average Americans, many of whom are struggling with mounting personal debt, living from paycheck to paycheck, and saving very little money. Not only are Americans paying more for necessities like food, heating and cooling costs, and gasoline, but they have less money with which to do so. NY Times: Fuel Costs Drive Consumer Prices Slightly Higher in July

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CBO Releases More Realistic Budget Projections

Aug 15, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

About a month after the White House released its highly misleading and overly optimistic budget projections, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their projections today. The CBO report projects a $331 billion deficit for FY05, a $33 billion reduction since they released an initial estimate earlier this year in March. CBO also has increased their estimate of the total deficits over the next ten years by more than $1.1 trillion to $2.1 trillion. These estimates are much more worrisome than OMB projections released last month as CBO and OMB differ over the ten-year deficits from 2006 - 2015 by more than $600 billion. Unlike the OMB numbers, CBO finds very little reason to be optimistic about the future health of the federal government. They write, "Although the deficit for 2005 is lower than previously expected, the fiscal outlook for the coming decade remains about the same as what CBO described in March." In March, CBO described a very dark future if current policies are continued. This CBO report casts further doubt on administration claims that their economic policies are working to spur strong economic growth and will continue to shrink deficits. CBO has confirmed what many private analysts have reported - that the recent jump in federal revenues are due to short-term and temporary factors that are unsustainable and that over the long-term, the country still faces many large and difficult fiscal challenges. CBO concludes, "Over the long-term, then, growing resource demands...will exert pressure on the budget that economic growth alone will not eliminate." Most strikingly, the CBO report states that if the tax cuts from the administration's first term are extended (with the exception of policies related to the alternative minimum tax), as President Bush has been strongly advocating, deficits over the next decade would increase $1.6 trillion on top of their current projections. The Senate Budget Committee's most senior Democrat Kent Conrad (D-ND) believes the nation needs a "serious fiscal wake-up call" if we are to correct the long-term budget shortfalls that "threaten our economic security." It's time for President Bush to be straight-forward with the American people and begin an honest conversation about adopting alternative policies that will return the country to a sound and sustainable fiscal foundation.

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Sec. Snow Conceeds Economy Not Benefiting All

Aug 12, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Earlier this week, Secretary of the Treasury John Snow conceded the slowly-progressing economic recovery has not benefited all Americans equally. Snow said, "The idea...is to explore the things that produce broad-based prosperity and one of the things we know is that less educated people have seen their incomes and wages grow more slowly." Snow's comments come amid slightly more positive economic indicators and increasing business optimism about the economy, but also in conjunction with the release of two reports showing the recovery has been anything but good for most Americans. This week the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report comparing this economic recovery with previous recovery periods and finds that not only is this one less robust but that it is much more unevenly distributed, with corporate profits reaping nearly all the benefits at the exclusion of the labor market. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office released a background paper examining employment during and after the economic recession of 2001. Among its interesting findings, the CBO writes, "both the magnitude and persistence of the decline in the labor force [participation rate] during the past several years are unprecedented."

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