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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Tax Policy Should Not Cater to the Wealthy

Jun 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

This June 7 editorial in the New York Times - The Bush Economy - is extremely pertinent to some of the tax reform legislation being considered by Congress right now. The article points out that if all of Bush's tax cuts are made permanent, in ten years people making between $100,000 and $200,000 will pay five to nine percentage points more of their income in federal taxes than those making over $1 million per year. Those making less than $80,000 per year will see their share of taxes rise slightly or stay the same. As the article says, at this level the tax cuts are about "giving more money to those who have nothing to do with it except amass enormous estates for their heirs." And some of the current legislation being considered by Congress is unfortunately not helping us move in the other direction. Many Senators, from both sides of the aisle, are currently focusing a good deal of time to discussions on reforming both the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax (AMT). Repeal of the estate tax, which passed the House but most likely doesn't have the 60 votes needed in the Senate, would cost close to a trillion dollars in lost revenue over ten years. (Irresponsible reform could be almost as damaging.) Repeal of the AMT - rather than reform to make the tax more fair - would add nearly $1.2 trillion to deficits and the federal debt over the next ten years, assuming the tax cuts are made permanent. Lawmakers seem to be jumping at the chance to "fix" fairness issues in our tax system by looking to repeal the estate tax and the AMT. However, these reforms would only further protect the super-wealthy in our society from paying their fair share of taxes, and would leave more of the tax burden on everybody else. Congress should be looking for ways, instead, to raise revenues and constrain spending in order to bring down these unsustainable deficits; which, in the long term, will not only worsen our fiscal situation, but will worsen it disproportionately for the bottom 90 percent of taxpaying Americans.

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The Rich Are Getting Richer

Jun 6, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Click here for a great article in yesterday's New York Times about the growing gap in wealth between the richest and the poorest in our society. The very richest are getting richer, while everybody else is left to split the rest of the pie. In the meantime, the Alternative Minimum Tax (which does not affect the super-wealthy as much because it doesn't tax dividends and investment gains) is affecting a greater percentage of the "middle chunk" of the population more every year. The result is that the wealthiest in our society pay far less of a percentage of their income in taxes than the middle - and even moderately wealthy people - do. This article includes some very interesting charts and statistics on wealth trends in this country, and is worth a read.

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Job Growth Lags in May

Jun 6, 2005 by Guest Blogger

On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation's payroll only expanded by 78,000 in the month of May. This was 100,000 jobs below the expectations of jobs forecasters. This downward trend in May was coupled with other weak economic indicators including continued slow wage growth, losses in manufacturing, and ongoing high levels of long-term unemployment. Despite this low-level of job-growth, unemployment did dip down slightly, from 5.2 percent to 5.1 percent. Since May 2003, job growth has averaged 147,000 jobs per month. This level, according to the Economic Policy Institute, is enough to sustain the economic recovery, but the overall pattern of job creation over the past two years "suggests that a convincingly strong labor market recovery has yet to take hold." The Center for American Progress notes in this report that no American President since the Great Depression has, until now, sustained a net loss in private-sector jobs 52 months into their presidency. For more information, click here.

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Keeping The Focus on Economic Policy

Jun 1, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Center for American Progress' John Irons recently wrote an interesting column describing various important budget and economic issues we are currently facing such as the estate tax, entitlement and discretionary cuts, and the cutting of health care for low-income earners. Irons' column suggests that while the fight to save Social Security is important, it is perhaps a tactic being used by the administration to shift some focus and attention away from important budget and economic issues, and on to Social Security. The column can be read here.

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April Job Increases Not Good News For Everyone

May 12, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Despite the recent surge in jobs created during April, there are millions of Americans still suffering through a slow economic recovery that has done little for workers and much for corporations. In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert showcases one particular segment of the population still hurting: young people. The Young and the Jobless

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Strong, Widespread Job Growth Surprises Analysts

May 6, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

In contrast to a number of recent disappointing reports on the economy, last month's job market performance was surprisingly upbeat. According to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment grew by 274,000, easily beating forecasters' expectations of gains of around 170,000. Furthermore, job gains for February and March were revised up by a combined amount of 93,000. With these additions, the average monthly growth of payrolls over the past year has been 181,000. While this rate of job growth is less robust than during past recoveries (monthly employment growth over a comparable period in the last recovery was over 300,000 according to the Economic Policy Institute) it is at least strong enough to keep pace with population growth. Even though businesses are adding more jobs (a sign of increased demand and profits), workers are not necessarily benefiting with higher wages. Read EPIs Senior Economist Jared Bernstein's analysis

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House Adopts Emergency Supplemental Measure

May 6, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Yesterday the House adopted the conference report on the 2005 emergency supplemental (H.R. 1268) to fund war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Next week the Senate will most likely approve the bill as well and it will go to the President for his signature. In clearing the measure, the House narrowly rejected a Democratic effort to add another $284 million in border security funding through a motion to recommit the measure back to conference. The $82 billion measure appropriates $75.9 billion towards war spending, bringing the total level of war spending since the spring of 2003 to $228.4 billion. See the National Priorities Project for a great breakdown of the cost of the war by state

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CBO Says Deficit May Fall in 2005

May 6, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released a monthy budget update for FY 2005, in which they said the budget deficit could drop to as low as $350 billion (the deficit last year reached a record-high $412 billion). CBO states this drop is attributable to non-witheld income and payroll tax receipts jumping by 33 percent (the highest rate in four years) and corporate tax receipts jumping 47 percent, increasing overall revenue well beyond projections. While Republicans claim the CBO estimate means their fiscal policies to reduce deficits are working, Democrats counter the deficit would still be rampant, whether or not it fell, and that continuous deficits are adding to the deterioration of the fiscal health of the nation. The updated projections that the deficit may drop by $65 billion this year does not alter the fact Bush came into office with a projected 10-year $5.6 trillion surplus and quickly instituted structural deficits through irresponsible tax and spending policies. Despite historically large deficits, the president has continued to push some of the same policies that brought the U.S. so far into the red, including his debt-financed Social Security proposal and extension of the first term tax cuts. While CBO is predicting in their monthly budget review the budget deficit may be smaller than originally thought, it is important to remember this is a short timeframe. Looking at the effect of the president's tax policies beyond the narrow five-year window included in the congressional budget resolution, we see the costs of those policies explode. So while news of increased tax receipts is good for a government running large deficits, it is important to remember the future costs of some of Bush's economic policies to put in context the direction the deficit is headed.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Economic Recovery Still Shortchanging Workers

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States grew at a slower pace than expected during the first quarter of 2005 according to data released by the Commerce Department. At just 3.1 percent, it was the slowest rate of growth in over two years since the first quarter of 2003.

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Connecitcut House Passes Minimum Wage Increase

May 2, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Connecticut House approved a measure late last week to increase the minimum wage to $7.65 an hour over two years, the Hartford Courant reported. The Democratic-controlled House voted 96-44, primarily along party lines, to increase the wage by 30 cents next year and 55 cents in 2007. Connecticut's $7.10 an hour minimum wage is one of the highest in the nation, slightly above the wage in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Many Republicans opposed the increase, saying it would hurt workers as small employers would cut back on hours and jobs to avoid rising labor costs. Supporters say the increase would help low-income families, many of which depend on minimum wage jobs. Lawmakers stated there are 39,000 families in Connecticut living on the minimum wage. "We're making it better for people who are just barely making it," said House Majority Leader Christopher Donovan, a Democrat.

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