Long-Term Fiscal Gap

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

Estate Tax - Cost of Repeal

Jan 26, 2004 by Adam Hughes*

The CBO today released its baseline budget estimates for 2005-2014. Included in the document is the cost of extending the repeal of the estate tax.

For the 2005-2014 period, an extension of the repeal would cost $205.6 billion. See page 93 for details. The yearly breakdown is below.

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10 trillion dollar turnaround

Jan 26, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The Century foundation has just released a report entitled "How the Federal Budget Forecast Went From $5 Trillion in the Black to $5 Trillion in the Red In Just Two and a Half Years," by Bernard Wasow.

The report shows how we went from record surpluses to massive deficits.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: CBO Projecting Large Deficits

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released their baseline budget estimates for 2005-2014. The analysis shows that in 2004 deficits will likely reach $477 billion - which is 4.2% of GDP - and that deficits will continue over the next decade, reaching a cumulative $1.9 trillion baseline over the next 10 years.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Lowering the Deficit Bar

According to the president's State of the Union address, the administration claims it will "cut the deficit in half over the next five years."

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Longer-run Economic Performance

Jan 6, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Sustained Budget Deficits: Longer-Run U.S. Economic Performance and the Risk of Financial and Fiscal Disarray Robert E. Rubin, Peter Orszag, and Allen Sinai

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The Bush Tax

While much has been made of 2001 and 2003 tax legislation, much less attention has been paid to the hidden “Bush Tax.”

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Taking the Long View

Current economic policy is becoming unsustainable. Current and projected federal deficits are reaching the point where many economic commentators worry about the long-run viability of current policy.

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New Watcher Articles

Sep 9, 2003 by Guest Blogger

OMB Watch - The Watcher - September 8, 2003 Vol.4 No.18 -

Federal Budget Watcher Articles:

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Half of 2004 Deficit Deterioration Due to Revenue-Reduction

Sep 4, 2003 by Guest Blogger

OMB Watch - Half of 2004 Deficit Deterioration Due to Revenue-Reduction Legislation

Half of 2004 Deficit Deterioration Due to Revenue-Reduction Legislation

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Half of 2004 Deficit Deterioration Due to Revenue-Reduction Legislation

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is currently estimating a baseline $401 billion deficit for 2003 and a $480 billion deficit for 2004. In March, just six months ago, the CBO’s baseline indicated a much smaller $246 billion deficit for 2003 and a $200 billion deficit for 2004.

For 2004, this represents a $279 billion deterioration in the budget outlook (see Table 1). A detailed breakdown of the CBO data shows that 48% of the budget deterioration that occurred between March and August was due to legislative changes affecting revenue (see Table 2). At just over 16 percent of gross domestic product, revenue is now at its lowest level in 40 years. Download full report (.pdf)

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